Delaney v. Hall

• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
• Writing for the Court: Lord, J.
• Citation: Delaney v. Hall, 130 Mass. 524 (Mass. 1881)
• Decision Date: 08 April 1881
• Parties: Annie M. Delaney v. Orrin Hall

130 Mass. 524

Annie M. Delaney v. Orrin Hall

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

April 8, 1881

Argued September 29, 1880

Hampden. Contract for money had and received. Answer, a general denial. Trial in the Superior Court, before Wilkinson, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows:

The plaintiff's evidence tended to show that she was servant and housekeeper for the defendant for two or three years that, on February 19, 1877, he made her an unconditional gift of $ 500 in money, delivering it to her, and she accepted it that, afterward, on the same day, he took it to a savings bank to deposit for her, and brought back an ordinary savings-bank book from the Springfield Institution for Savings, by which it appeared that he had deposited there the sum of $ 500 in the name of "Orrin Hall, in trust for Annie M. Delaney," and handed her the book, which she took and kept in her possession to the time of the trial. There was no evidence that she ever made any objection to the form in which the deposit was made, or that any question arose about the matter until the following May, after the plaintiff had left the defendant's service, except the plaintiff's testimony that, the same day of the deposit when the book was handed to her by the defendant, she asked him why the money was deposited in trust, as the book said, instead of in her name, and he said he did it because the treasurer of the bank said it was the best way, and that it would make no difference. She also testified that she was unfamiliar with that kind of business.

The defendant testified that he never gave the plaintiff the money in question, but that he made the deposit in the form shown by the book, with a view to keep the control of the deposit, and to hold it as his own as long as he lived, but that he told the clerk at the bank, at the time, that he desired, if the plaintiff continued to live with him and take care of him as long as he lived, that after his death the deposit should be hers; and that he made the deposit with the desire and purpose so expressed to the clerk; that he afterward told the plaintiff of his having made the deposit, and said that, if she continued to take care of him and live with him like a daughter as long as he lived, she should have the money after his death. The bank clerk corroborated the defendant's statement of what was said at the time the deposit was made. The defendant further testified that he never delivered the book to the plaintiff, but that she had access to the place where he kept his books and papers; and that, when she left his service, in May 1877, she carried away the book with her, and that he was never able to obtain it afterwards.

It was proved, and not disputed, that the plaintiff, soon after she left the service of the defendant, notified the savings bank that she claimed the money deposited as her own, and that she forbade the bank paying the money to the defendant, or to any one but herself; and she testified that she then intended to terminate all rights of the defendant to draw said money, or to deal with it in any way.

It was also in evidence, and undisputed, that, in the following August, the defendant obtained the money from the savings bank under a claim of right to draw it as his own property, and gave the bank a bond of indemnity against the claims of other parties.

The defendant contended that the action could not be maintained and that the plaintiff's remedy, if any, was against the bank; and requested the judge to instruct the jury as follows: "If the plaintiff took and received the bank book in the form in which it appears, and kept it without objection, that would be evidence which would warrant the jury in finding a ratification of the defendant's act in making the deposit. If the jury believe that the plaintiff took and kept possession of the book, and ratified the defendant's act of deposit, and notified the savings bank not to pay the money to the defendant, with a view to prevent its coming to his hands, and to terminate his right to receive it for her, and the defendant afterward obtained it under a claim of right, solely in his own...