Farr v. Lineberger
| Decision Date | 12 January 1948 |
| Docket Number | 40328 |
| Citation | 207 S.W.2d 455 |
| Parties | Ira Farr, Louie Farr, Linnie Hubbard, Isa (icie) Nease, Ora Linn, Elmer Farr, Paris Farr, Elsie Sumsch, Lawrence Farr, Carl Farr, Carrie Farr, Camel Byrd, Verda Steward, Letta Steward, Raymond L. Fesperman, John R. Fesperman, Jr., William L. Fesperman, James Fesperman, Troy Fesperman, Kenith Grey, George W. Fesperman, James Fesperman, Mary H. (Mollie) Reed, William F. Fesperman, Eliza Ford, Woodie (W. B.) Farr, Myrtle Reese, Maude Higdon, Oma Cline, Edith Rich, Etta Snyder, Cecil Farr, Leona Atwood, V. A. Farr, Fay Cox, Herbert Farr, Roby C. Farr, Vera Drake, Ula Spencer, John L. Farr, De Ann Kelley, Addie Farr, Charles A. Farr, Minnie Cureton, Any Craft, Charles Wallace, Areline Mattins, Orval (Oral) Wallace, Edna Clinkenbeard, Letha McLain, Ivy Francis, Nettie Thompson, Charles Farr, Dessie (Bessie) Johnson, Frank Farr, Lester Farr, Eva Crawford, Arthur Farr, Lonnie Farr, Lucian (Luchin) Farr, Pansy Martin, Ada Trusty, Ida Lacy, Elbern Wallace, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Virginia Lee Lineberger, Lester E. Lineberger, Horace Lineberger, Franklin Ziegler, Arthur Ziegler, Thelma Lineberger, Will Lineberger, Mra. J. V. Young, Effie Martin (Effie Verner), Defendants-Respondents |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
From the Circuit Court of Webster County, Civil Appeal, Judge C H. Jackson
Affirmed
Action to partition real property, the plaintiffs asserting title to an undivided half interest in the described land. Defendants by answer alleged certain deeds - under which plaintiffs claim title - to be invalid because of the mental incapacity of one Etta C. Farr to execute a conveyance of land. The trial court found the issues for defendants and rendered a decree cancelling the instruments.
Herein upon appeal the plaintiffs-appellants assign errors of the trial court in the admission of evidence, and they say the decree for defendants was against the greater weight of the competent evidence introduced.
Plaintiffs are the collateral heirs of Newton J. Farr, who died intestate June 15, 1945; and defendants - other than defendants Will Lineberger, Mrs. J. V. Young and Effie Martin - are the nephews and nieces (testamentary beneficiaries) of Etta C. Farr, who died testate February 21, 1946. Newton J Farr and Etta C. Farr were husband and wife. No lineal descendant survived them.
On June 16, 1944, title to the described land was in Etta C. Farr and on that day she and her husband executed a quitclaim deed to one E. C. (Elmer) Farr, nephew of Newton J. Farr, deceased, and a plaintiff-appellant herein. On the same day, June 16th, E. C. (Elmer) Farr and wife executed a deed conveying the land back to Newton J. Farr and Etta C. Farr "as tenants in common," and not as joint tenants, or as tenants by the entirety. If the two conveyances be considered valid, the heirs of Newton J. Farr should be held to be the owners of an undivided half interest in the described land. But, as stated, the trial chancellor, having heard the evidence introduced upon the issue of the mental capacity of Etta C. Farr, ordered the cancellation of both instruments.
Etta C. Farr was 78 years old when the deeds were executed; she was "four or five or six years" younger than her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Farr had resided for a number of years on the described land consisting of 206 acres in Webster County. When the deeds were made, Mrs. Farr was the owner of an additional 40 acres nearby.
Early in January 1943, Mrs. Farr had suffered "a stroke." A physician testified of treating her five or six times between January and August 22, 1943. Her left side was paralyzed; and she had high blood pressure, a kidney infection, and "a little disturbance as to her mental condition." The mental condition "was more of the type, what we would call senile dementia, that is, a gradual deterioration of the mind." The physician stated that senile dementia is incurable, and the usual course of the disorder is "progressively worse." He said Mrs. Farr's condition "grew steadily worse" during the period of his visits. Another physician treated Mrs. Farr on three occasions in October 1943. He testified, "She had had a stroke" and was unable to get up out of bed; she could not talk "intelligently." A third physician testified of treating Mrs. Farr twenty or thirty times, his first visit being on June 4, 1944, "or within a day or two thereafter." Her illness was progressive and incurable. He had diagnosed her illness as paralytic spasticity, due to hemiplegia, or cerebral hemorrhage. Her affliction was "such as might have been known (as) a form of senile dementia as is found in old people." The immediate cause of Mrs. Farr's death was bronchial pneumonia.
Defendants' lay witnesses testified of Mrs. Farr's physical and mental condition. One witness, a near neighbor, stated she was at the Farr home at a time in 1944 when "they were working in the hay." Mrs. Farr "seemed to have a sinking spell - - - she was lying there like she was kind of in a stupor - - - she didn't really carry on a conversation any time I was there; she just more or less would be yelling at them to help her up - - - I don't think she knew enough to know what she did want, really." Her face "was drawn" and her "speech was impaired." Will Lineberger, a brother of Mrs. Farr, testified, "they were making hay" in the month of June in the year 1944. After his sister had her stroke she grew gradually worse. She had no interest in business affairs. Before she was sick "she used to run their business, almost." During her illness Another witness told of her call at the Farr home in late September, 1943. Mrs. Farr was in bed, "She seemed to sort of recognize me when we first came in, and then her mind just seemed to - I don't know how to put it (in) words, hardly - to pass out; she didn't seem to recognize that we were there, after the first moment we were there; I don't know for sure that she really recognized us." J. P. Smith, an attorney and executor of Mrs. Farr's will (executed April 18, 1939), told of his visit to the Farr home the evening of May 27, 1944. Mrs. Farr was confined to her bed, "it seemed like she took no interest in anything; I talked to her and she couldn't answer me, and she would mumble something." The witness had gone to the Farr farm in the fall of 1943 to write a contract under the terms of which Elmer C. Farr and wife were to "stay on the (Farr) farm and look after it." It was the witness' recollection that Elmer Farr and Will Lineberger "are the ones that told me how to write it." He again visited the Farr home in October or November, 1944. Her "conversation wasn't any better" than it was in May. Elmer C. Farr talked to the witness two or three times about having a guardian appointed. Elmer said "he thought they ought to have a guardian; that they wasn't capable of transacting business." These conversations were "two or three weeks" before the witness was at the Farr home "on the 27th day of May."
The inventory of the estate of Etta C. Farr disclosed two United States Savings Bonds in the name of Mrs. Farr, one of February, and one of June 1944; and two other bonds in the name of Mr. Farr. B. F. Julian, a banker, who had been in charge of bond sales of "that school district," testified, The witness attempted to talk to Mrs. Farr, but "she never uttered a word; I did try to make her understand who I was, but I didn't seem to have any luck, and I don't think she ever did know me." Elmer C. Farr "spoke to me a time or two" about having a guardian appointed.
The conveyance was signed by both the grantors, Etta C. Farr and Newton J. Farr, by mark. The scrivener who wrote the deed had died prior to the trial. Plaintiffs produced the notary who had taken the acknowledgment and had witnessed the signatures of grantors. The witness testified that when he went to the Farr home, Mr. and Mrs. Farr were both in bed and The witness did not explain the legal...
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