Cooley v. Cody
| Decision Date | 11 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. LL-427,LL-427 |
| Parties | Eloise COOLEY et al., Appellants, v. Jeff CODY et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jack Locklin, Jr., of Johnson, Green & Westmoreland, Milton, for appellants.
Robert R. Kimmell, Pensacola, for appellees.
Appellants/defendants appeal a final judgment entered by the trial court after a jury returned a verdict in favor of appellees/plaintiffs on their complaint for declaratory relief.
Appellees are the children and grandchildren of Fannie Bell Cody and John Green Cody. Appellant, Eloise Cooley, is also a child of Fannie Bell Cody and John Green Cody. The other appellant, Cody Cooley, is her husband. John Green Cody and Fannie Bell Cody, his wife, owned a parcel of property in Escambia County as their homestead. John Cody predeceased Fannie Bell Cody. Afterward, in 1972 Fannie Cody conveyed to appellants the land she owned in Escambia County. Also in 1972, she executed an instrument in affidavit form styled "Statement of Intent and Affirmation of Past Acts" which essentially states that she had deeded to the appellants her property as compensation to them for their past care and the assurance of their future care of her and that she did this of her own free will and desire without any undue influence or coercion by the defendants. In 1973, Fannie Cody executed a Corrected Warranty Deed to the property, correcting the property description and the name of appellant, Eloise Cooley. Fannie Cody died in June, 1973, at the age of 88 years. For approximately three years before her death, Fannie Bell Cody was in ill health and had lived with appellants.
Prior to the institution of this lawsuit, the property conveyed to appellants by Fannie Cody was sold at a favorable price with the consent of all the parties. The proceeds of the sale were placed in a trust account pending the resolution of the questions of ownership of the sale proceeds between appellants and appellees. The action below was commenced when appellees filed a declaratory complaint claiming that they along with the appellant, Eloise Cooley, were entitled each to a share of the proceeds of the sale of the property according to the intestate provisions of the Florida Probate Code. They claimed that the two deeds executed by Fannie Cody in favor of appellants were not effective because Fannie Cody was incompetent and lacked the requisite mental capacity to validly convey the property and because she was unduly influenced and fraudulently induced by appellants to execute the deeds.
In their pleadings, the appellees demanded "a trial by jury of all issues so triable." On April 12, 1978, the trial court entered its order setting jury trial for August 23, 1978. On May 2, 1978, appellants filed a "Motion to Determine Plaintiffs' Right to Trial By Jury." The motion stated that the suit was brought in equity for the purpose of rescinding a deed. Appellants' motion contended that the appellees had no right to trial by jury in an action grounded in equity and prayed that the trial court deny the appellees' right to trial by jury. No written disposition of this motion was made. The trial court's Order filed with this court reflects that said motion was considered by the trial court and that following hearing the trial court disposed of the motion by ordering jury trial.
Following the final arguments, the Court charged the jury. This charge included the following:
The trial court gave complete instructions as to the resolution of conflicting testimony, as to the burden of proof, as to the presumptions involved, and as to the law regarding incompetency and undue influence.
The trial court also gave instructions as to how the jury should fill out the verdict form which was supplied by the trial court. The verdict form submitted by the trial court to the jury was as follows:
"We, the jury, find as follows.
Myrtle Shell, Dewitt Cody, Joseph T. Wiggins,
Dora Vernell Thrash, James Dewey Wiggins, Epsy
Mae Sasnette and Clara Redd
[ ]
Cooley
[ ]
So say we all
____________________ ________________________
date Foreperson"
The action filed by appellees for declaratory relief...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Allen v. Dutton's Estate
...judges, continue to be appropriately resolved without juries. Estate of Fanelli, 336 So.2d 631 (Fla.2d DCA 1976); see Cooley v. Cody, 377 So.2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). We reject appellant's view that the new probate code makes jury trials mandatory to resolve all fact issues. Such a drasti......
-
Chabad House-Lubavitch of Palm Beach County, Inc. v. Banks, HOUSE-LUBAVITCH
...contract was cancelled due to mistake, which is "traditionally within the province of the equity court to determine." Cooley v. Cody, 377 So.2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). We briefly note appellant's other points on appeal only so as to inform the parties not to repeat, on remand, the errors s......
-
A.J. Stanton, Jr., P.A. v. Ivey, s. 93-2749 and 94-776
...submitted by the trial judge to a jury for its determination. See Hightower v. Bigoney, 156 So.2d 501 (Fla.1963); Cooley v. Cody, 377 So.2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). The jury returned a verdict for Ivey, which was "ratified" by the trial judge. Whether or not this action rectified the error ......
-
Hall v. Brooksville Glass, 90-1201
...$35,000 in corporate debts and the entering into a $1,000 per month rental agreement for the business premises.2 See Cooley v. Cody, 377 So.2d 796 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979).3 This is because the counterclaim based on misrepresentation involves issues which are related to the claim for breach of c......