Evans v. York
| Decision Date | 18 June 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 27012.,27012. |
| Parties | EVANS v. YORK. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Waldo C. Mayfield, Judge.
"Not to be reported in State Reports."
Proceeding by Anne M. Evans against Ben F. York, as guardian of the person and estate of William M. Valentin, an insane person, on a claim founded on an account for legal services, together with an item of expense incurred in connection with such services. The probate court disallowed the claim but after trial to a jury in circuit court judgment was rendered for plaintiff, and the defendant appeals. Pending the submission of the case in the Court of Appeals William M. Valentin died and Ben F. York, administrator cum testamento annexo of the estate of William M. Valentin, deceased, was substituted as defendant.
Judgment of circuit court reversed, and cause remanded with directions.
G. L. Seegers, of St. Louis, for appellant.
Gloria Lee Miller, of St. Louis, for respondent.
BENNICK, Commissioner.
This proceeding originated in the Probate Court of the City of St. Louis upon a demand presented by Anne M. Evans, an attorney, against the estate of William M. Valentin, an insane person. The claim was founded upon an account for legal services allegedly rendered by Miss Evans to Valentin from April 1, 1944, to October 1, 1944, together with items of expenses incurred in connection with such services. The item claimed for legal services alone was $1,500. The total account showed debits of $1,808.43, from which there was deducted a credit of $500, leaving a balance allegedly due Miss Evans of $1,308.43.
Miss Evans, in addition to practicing her profession as an attorney, had been a teacher in the St. Louis public schools, and in that capacity had become well acquainted with Valentin, who was also a member of the system. Valentin was unmarried, and for a number of years had occupied a room in the home of a family named Yakutis, who lived near the school in which he taught. His relatives, including a niece, Mae Kirk, and a nephew, Theodore Bradley, lived in nearby towns in the state of Illinois.
In the fall of 1943, when Valentin was about seventy years of age, he began to experience difficulty in his writing, vision, and speech, and because of his disability was forced to terminate his school activities.
On February 14, 1944, Valentin was received as a patient at McMillan Hospital, a clinic operated by the Washington University Medical School in connection with Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. The hospital record showed that upon his admission he complained of pain over the left side of his head, difficulty in speech, and poor memory. On March 2nd he was transferred from the neuro-psychiatry to the neuro-surgery division, where openings were made in the skull over the affected area as an aid in determining the cause of his condition. Four days later he was sent back to the neuro-psychiatry division for further examination and treatment. Symptoms of paralysis then appeared, at first confined to the right side of the face, but shortly progressing throughout the entire right side of the body. The aphasia, or impairment of speech, was practically complete. By March 28th he had shown some slight improvement; and on that date, after a conference between the hospital staff and certain of his relatives who were advised that his condition was such as to render him incapable of caring for himself or his affairs, he was discharged in the care of his relatives, and taken to a nursing home recommended by the hospital.
Some six or seven days later Valentin was removed from the nursing home and taken back to his room in the home of the Yakutis family. It appears that his removal was brought about by Miss Evans, and was accomplished without the knowledge or consent of his relatives who had arranged for his transfer to the nursing home.
On April 7, 1944, Valentin's nephew, Theodore Bradley, filed an information in the probate court charging that Valentin was a person of unsound mind and incapable of managing his affairs, and praying that an inquiry thereinto be had.
On April 11, 1944, four days after the filing of the information in the probate court, Miss Evans took Valentin to the office of Dr. Francis M. Barnes, a specialist in diseases of the mind and nervous system. Miss Evans had previously consulted with the doctor on two or more occasions in regard to Valentin's condition and the character of record history she should obtain for the doctor's information in making the examination. The purpose of the examination, according to Dr. Barnes, was to determine what Valentin's nervous and mental state might be.
Dr. Barnes noted the partial paralysis of the right side, and also the aphasia, or impairment of speech, which made it difficult for Valentin to express his thoughts in the proper words. The latter trouble was due to a disturbance of the speech center located in the left side of the brain. The doctor explained that an aphasia is not necessarily an indication of lack of mentality, and that during his examination, which occupied an hour or longer, Valentin would frequently indicate by impatient gestures that he was conscious of his inability to express himself correctly. As a result of the examination the doctor gave the opinion that Valentin was mentally capable of handling his affairs, subject only to the limitations imposed by his physical disability.
It appears that Miss Evans' purpose in having Valentin examined by Dr. Barnes was twofold, first, to secure the doctor's professional opinion upon the question of Valentin's sanity as a condition to his execution of an instrument conferring power of attorney upon Miss Evans; and second, to arrange for the doctor's attendance as an expert witness at the sanity hearing then pending in the probate court, as well as in any other proceeding in which the question of Valentin's mental condition might be involved. For all his services, embracing his preliminary consultations with Miss Evans, his examination of Valentin, his preparation of a written report of his findings, and his attendance in court as a witness on two or three occasions, the doctor was paid a fee of $175, which is one of the items included in Miss Evans' account.
At the conclusion of the examination from which Dr. Barnes had formed the opinion that Valentin, at that time, was mentally capable of managing his affairs, Miss Evans had Valentin forthwith execute a power of attorney constituting and appointing her as his attorney to handle all his financial affairs; collect money due him; use her own judgment in buying or selling real estate; arrange for the care of his person and for his living quarters; secure records from the hospital; and sue in his name for false imprisonment.
Valentin's estate was valued at some $65,000, and consisted in large part of real estate located in California, Arkansas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Illinois. The suit for false imprisonment referred to in the instrument was one which Miss Evans apparently had in mind growing out of the action of those of his relatives who had undertaken to be responsible for Valentin after the staff at the hospital had discharged him in their care upon a finding that he was incompetent of managing his own affairs.
As compensation for her services, the instrument purported to obligate Valentin to pay Miss Evans a contingent fee of 50% of any sum recovered by lawsuit; a fee of 35% of any amount recovered without suit; and a reasonable fee for all other services.
It is to be borne in mind that such power of attorney was executed on April 11, 1944, four days after the institution of the sanity proceeding in the probate court, and while Valentin and Miss Evans were still present in Dr. Barnes' office at the conclusion of the examination. The instrument was executed in the presence of Dr. Barnes and his secretary as witnesses, following which the doctor arranged for an acknowledgment to be taken before a notary public located on another floor of the same building. Miss Evans steadied Valentin's hand while he signed the instrument at Dr. Barnes' desk, and again assisted him in the same manner in giving his acknowledgment before the notary. Dr. Barnes testified that when Valentin signed the instrument, he "knew what it was and apparently that was what he wanted"; and similar testimony was given by the notary, who concluded from her observation of Valentin while his acknowledgment was being taken that he "was a man of sound mind, to make a contract".
Following the execution of the power of attorney, Miss Evans entered her appearance as Valentin's counsel in the probate court, and on April 26, 1944, a hearing was had before a jury, resulting in a verdict that Valentin was of unsound mind and incapable of managing his affairs.
Miss Evans thereupon appealed to the circuit court, where the court, on its own motion, appointed David McMullan of the local bar as associate counsel for Valentin. McMullan conferred with Miss Evans about the facts of the case, and then used his own judgment in conducting the trial, which consumed about two and one-half days. A verdict was returned on June 7, 1944, again finding that Valentin was of unsound mind and incapable of managing his affairs.
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