Dunnegan v. Gallop
| Decision Date | 09 January 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 8267,8267 |
| Citation | 374 S.W.2d 407 |
| Parties | Minta DUNNEGAN, Respondent, v. C. Rouss GALLOP, Director of the Department of Public Health and Welfare, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Thomas F. Eagleton, Atty. Gen., Moody Mansur, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for appellant.
No appearance for respondent.
This is an appeal by the Director of the Department of Public Health and Welfare from the judgment of the circuit court reversing and remanding for redetermination a decision of the director denying the application of Minta Dunnegan for old age assistance. The hearing before the referee was held on September 12, 1961, and the decision of the director was rendered on October 11, 1961. Some delay has resulted due to the fact that the director took the appeal to the Supreme Court. That court transferred the case to this court. (Dunnegan v. Gallop, Mo., 369 S.W.2d 206.)
The decision of the director denying the claimant was based upon a finding that Mrs. Dunnegan had transferred the sum of fifteen hundred dollars to a daughter without receiving fair and valuable consideration (Sec. 208.010, RSMo, V.A.M.S.) between April and August 1960.
Mrs. Dunnegan applied for old age assistance September 6, 1960 and was rejected. The case worker testified that upon investigation in regard to that application:
- A new application was made on June 12, 1961, and the transcript carries the record of hearing on that application.
At the time of the hearing Mrs. Dunnegan was seventy-eight years old. She was a widow, her husband having died in March 1950. She testified that she was indebted to her daughter, Nadine, in a sum of 'at least' fifteen hundred dollars, and the two checks, one for one thousand dollars on April 22, 1960, and the other for five hundred dollars on August 15, 1960, were cashed by her for the purpose of repaying the daughter. She said Nadine had been her only unmarried daughter and had taught at rural schools. Nadine would come home (presumably on week-ends). It was not feasible for Nadine to get to the bank and deposit her earnings; so she would give what funds she did not need to her mother to deposit for her. Mrs. Dunnegan deposited it in her own (Mrs. Dunnegan's) bank account. It was the understanding that she would give the money back to Nadine whenever Nadine called for it. It is difficult to arrive at any exact time or period Mrs. Dunnegan says these things occurred, but she says her daughter was teaching in 1949 and 1950. Subsequent to a teaching period, Nadine went to St. Louis and worked in a library. She fixes the period of the deposits of her daughter's money in the period between 1950 and 1957. At some time during this period, Nadine married. Mrs. Dunnegan testified (on September 12, 1960): 'She has been married six years this next November, and she give me money until just along before she was married. * * *.' Her testimony in regard to all this is somewhat confused and to some extent contradictory, but some of her confusion and lack of memory might be attributable to her age. However, she is positive of one thing, and that is that she never had a bank account except in the Bank of Poplar Bluff. It also appears that claimant lived with her daughter and son-in-law (apparently in St. Louis) for some eighteen months after that marriage. Nevertheless, Nadine never called for the return of the money until in April 1960, when she wanted one thousand dollars, and in August 1960, when she wanted five hundred dollars. On these occasions Mrs. Dunnegan cashed a check and gave the money to Nadine in cash. On the day the one-thousand-dollar check was cashed, Mrs. Dunnegan also transferred her bank account to a joint account in her own name and the name of another daughter.
Accepted as evidence was the affidavit of the daughter, Nadine Bellomy, of Arlington, Texas. It states in substance that during the years she taught in rural schools in several counties, it was a hardship for her to visit the Bank of Poplar Bluff. For that reason she entrusted to her mother a total of fifteen hundred dollars for deposit to her (Mrs. Dunnegan's) personal account with the understanding that it would be withdrawn and given to the affiant whenever she requested it. On April 22, 1960, she requested one thousand dollars and her mother drew a draft to cash for that amount and gave it to her. On August 15, 1960, she needed the balance, and her mother drew a draft to cash for five hundred dollars and gave it to her. It states that this was the return of her own money.
The ledger sheets of Mrs. Dunnegan in the Bank of Poplar Bluff (the only place she banked) for the years 1950 through 1960 are in the record by agreement at the hearing. The account was apparently opened on April 8, 1950, (this was shortly after her husband's death) with a deposit of one thousand dollars. After that only the following deposits were made:
December 16, 1950 180.00
April 9, 1951 2,640.00
June 19, 1951 160.00
April 28, 1955 290.00
July 10, 1956 7,591.25
This last deposit seems to have come from the sale of Mrs. Dunnegan's place. If we add the early part of the year 1957 to the list, we find a deposit of six hundred eight dollars and seventy-five cents on February 19.
The scope of judicial review is limited to determining (a) whether the petitioner was granted a fair hearing, and (b) whether the decision of the director was unreasonable. Sec. 208.100(5), RSMo, V.A.M.S.; ...
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Lee v. State Dept. of Public Health and Welfare, 9177
...to support the director's findings, his decision may not stand for it will be deemed arbitrary and unreasonable. Dunnegan v. Gallop, Mo.App., 374 S.W.2d 407, 410(2). 'The minimum standard for any administrative decision is that it be supproted by competent and substantial evidence' (midCont......
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Allen v. State Dept. of Public Health and Welfare, 34196
...for redetermination of the issues by said director.' In other words, was he given (1) a fair hearing procedurally, Dunnegan v. Gallop, Mo.App.1964, 374 S.W.2d 407; (2) a fair determination of his rights and eligibility under the law, Powers v. State Dept. of Public Health and Welfare, Mo.Ap......