Fecht v. Freeman

• Decision Date: 11 October 1911
• Citation: 251 Ill. 84,95 N.E. 1043
• Parties: FECHT v. FREEMAN et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

251 Ill. 84

95 N.E. 1043

FECHT

v.FREEMAN et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 20, 1911.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 11, 1911.

Appeal from Circuit, Champaign County; Solon Philbrick, Judge.

Bill by John Fecht by William H. Wheat, his conservator, against Gus T. Freeman and others. From a decree dismissing the bill without prejudice, complainant appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.

H. I. Green and O. B. Dobbins, for appellant.

Le Forgee, Vail & Miller, for appellees.

HAND, J.

This was a bill in chancery filed in the circuit court of Champaign county by John Fecht, by his conservator, against Gus T. Freeman and Alice J. Freeman, his wife, to set aside a deed to the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 25, in township 20 N., range 10 E. of the third principal meridian, in Champaign county, Ill., exectued by John Fecht to Gus T. Freeman on May 4, 1908, and recorded in the recorder's office of the said county on May 5, 1908, and for other relief. An answer and replication were filed, and the case was referred to a special master to take the proofs and report his conclusions. The master took the proofs, and after overruling objections thereto filed a report, finding as follows:

(1) That the court had jurisdiction of the parties and subject-matter.

(2) That the equities of the cause are with the complainant.

(3) That John Fecht was on the 4th day of May, 1908, at the time of the transaction mentioned in said bill of complaint, and for several years previous thereto, and still is, a person of unsound mind and not capable of taking charge of his property and affairs; that from childhood up his mental ability has been so weak and undeveloped that he has been the creature of mere suggestion, and was so addicted to the use of intoxicating liquor that he would dispose of any of his effects and property without any consideration for their real value, in order to get a little money with which to purchase intoxicating liquor.

(4) That Henry Johnson was duly and regularly appointed conservator for the estate of the said John Fecht by a court of competent jurisdiction, and qualified as such prior to beginning this action.

(5) That on the 4th day of May, 1908, the said John Fecht was the owner of the following described real estate: The E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 25, township 20 N., range 10 E. of the third principal meridian, Champaign county, Ill., subject to a mortgage indebtedness of $500 to the Trevett-Mattis Banking Company of Champaign, Ill., said mortgage for $500 bearing date of March 2, 1906, and due in five years thereafter, with interest at 5 per cent. per annum, which said land he received as the heir and devisee of his father, Martin H. Fecht, who departed this life on or about the 19th day of January, 1906, leaving a last will and testament devising the above-described land to his son, John Fecht, which said will was duly probated in the county court of Champaign county, Ill., and that the land so owned by John Fecht was of the fair cash market value of $13,000.

(7) That on the 4th day of May, 1908, the said John Fecht made a deed to said land conveying the same to the defendant Gus T. Freeman.

(8) That the defendants, Gus T. Freeman and Alice J. Freeman, are husband and wife.

(9) That the defendant Gus T. Freeman on the 4th day of May, 1908, was possessed of certificates of 58,466 shares of stock in the Lewis & Clark Gold Mining Company of Grant's Pass, Or., which certificates represented the shares of stock to be of the value of $1 each.

(10) That said gold mine had been abandoned long previous to May 4, 1908, and the shares of stock were not of the value of $1 each, nor of any market value whatever, and were not worth the paper they were written upon, and the defendant Gus T. Freeman had knowledge of the same.

(11) That Alice J. Freeman on the 4th day of May, 1908, was the owner of lot 7 of S. H. Busey's Third addition to the city of Urbana, Ill., Champaign county, upon which lot was located a house.

(12) That on the 4th day of May, 1908, the fair cash market value of said house and lot was $3,000.

(13) That on the 4th day of May, 1908, the said Alice J. Freeman, with Gus T. Freeman, her husband, executed a mortgage upon said lot 7 of S. H. Busey's Third addition to the city of Urbana, Ill., for $3,500 to George W. Busey, trustee for M. W. Busey, said mortgage purporting to secure one note of even date therewith for the principal sum of $3,500, bearing interest at 6 per cent. per annum, payable semiannually, and due one year after date thereof, and the acknowledgment bearing date of May 1, 1908, being made and executed on the 4th day of May, 1908, and dated back by said defendants and filed for record on the 5th day of May, 1908, and the consideration for the same being paid on the 5th day of May, 1908, and the said mortgage was for $500 more than the fair cash market value of said property.

(14) That the said John Fecht, under the direction of one J. F. Geddes, of the city of Danville, came to the office of said Gus T. Freeman, in the city of Urbana, in company with and was introduced by one Robert Swift to Gus T. Freeman on or about the 1st day of May, 1908, and at said time the defendant Gus T. Freeman, in accordance with a previous arrangement with the said J. F. Geddes, of Danville, Ill., made a rpoposition to John Fecht to trade for his 80 acres of land described, giving said John Fecht for said land the house and lot above described of the defendant Alice J. Freeman, together with the certificates of shares of the gold mining stock in possession of defendant Gus T. Freeman and about $1,000 in cash.

(15) That at that time the said John Fecht was of unsound mind and was not capable of taking charge of his property, and had not the mental ability to understand the nature and extent of such a transaction, and had not the mental ability to understand the value of the said 80 acres of land above described which he at that time owned, and that the enfeebled mental condition of the said John Fecht was of such an extent and character and so manifest that any person could observe the same in a few minutes' conversation with him, and that the mind of the said John Fecht was so manifestly weak that he would follow the suggestion of any person who would offer him or give him a small amount of money.

(16) That on the 4th day of May, 1908, again in company with one Robert Swift, the said John Fecht came from the office of J. F. Geddes, in the city of Danville, to the said city of Urbana, to the office of the defendant Gus T. Freeman, who thereupon took him to the office of one L. B. Saffer, in said city of Urbana, and consummated with said John Fecht a trade, the said John Fecht conveying by a warranty deed to Gus T. Freeman the 80 acres of land so owned by him, namely, the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 25, in township 20 N., range 10 E. of the third principal meridian, in Champaign county, Ill., subject to a mortgage of $500 thereon to the Trevett-Mattis Banking Company, and said Gus T. Freeman gave to the said John Fecht for said real estate a warranty deed made and executed by Alice J. Freeman and Gus T. Freeman, her husband, for lot 7 of S. H. Busey's Third addition to the city of Urbana, Illinois, subject to a mortgage (which mortgage, by the terms of the deed, the said John Fecht assumed and agreed to pay), certificates of 58,466 shares of stock in the Lewis & Clark Gold Mining Company of Grant's Pass, Or., and $1,250 in cash.

(17) That at the time the said trade was made the said John Fecht was so weak mentally that he did not understand the nature and extent of the trade in which he was entering, and that said defendants, Gus T. Freeman and Alice J. Freeman, together with the agents that were working for the said defendants, knew, or by the exercise of reasonable care could have known, of his weak mental condition at said time.

(18) That the said will of Martin H. Fecht, by which the said John Fecht received title to the 80 acres of land in question, contained a clause as follows: ‘With this provision, that he shall not sell or dispose of the said land until he shall have reached the age of forty-five years'-which provision the said Gus T. Freeman knew and concerning which he consulted with attorneys previous to the time of making any arrangements with the said John Fecht concerning the said trade, and the said Gus T. Freeman knew that the said John Fecht at the time was of about 25 years of age, which provision, together with the age of the said John Fecht, should have put the defendant Gus T. Freeman upon his inquiry as to the mental capacity of John Fecht.

(19) That the defendant Alice J. Freeman on the 4th day of May, 1908, knew that the fair cash market value of lot 7 in S. H. Busey's Third addition to the city of Urbana did not exceed $3,000, and that she, together with her husband, at the time of the trade in question, executed a mortgage upon said property for $3,500, which the said Alice J. Freeman and her husband knew was far in excess of the fair cash market value of said property, and the defendants, Alice J. Freeman and Gus T. Freeman, knew that the price asked in said trade, with the incumbrance upon said property of $3,500, was so grossly inadequate that they were constructively conspiring to defraud and take advantage of the enfeebled mental condition of John Fecht in said trade, by causing the said John Fecht, by the terms of said trade, to assume and agree to pay said mortgage of $3,500.

(20) That the reasonable fair cash market value of the 80 acres of land so conveyed by John Fecht to Gus T. Freeman was $12,000, and that the reasonable fair cash market value of the house and lot conveyed by Alice J. Freeman to John Fecht was $3,000, subject to a mortgage of $3,500, which John Fecht assumed and agreed to pay, that the fair cash market value of the gold mining stock was not anything, and that the only thing that John Fecht received for his 80 acres of...