Graham v. Barnes

• Decision Date: 21 May 1927
• Citation: 259 Mass. 534,156 N.E. 865
• Parties: GRAHAM v. BARNES et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

259 Mass. 534

156 N.E. 865

GRAHAM

v.BARNES et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

May 21, 1927.

Appeal from Superior Court, Suffolk County; John D. McLaughlin, Judge.

Bill in equity by Blanche A. Graham, administratrix, against Clarence A. Barnes and others to recover possession of Liberty bonds. From a decree for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

T. W. Proctor and A. T. Johnson, both of Boston, for appellant.

F. W. Fisher and C. A. Barnes, both of Boston, for appellees.

CROSBY, J.

This is a bill in equity brought by the administratrix of the estate of Eugene T. Adams to recover possession of 7 United States Liberty coupon bonds of $1,000 each. The defendant Janie B. Lavelle contends that the title to the bonds is vested in her. She will hereafter be referred to as the defendant. The case was tried before a judge of the superior court, who found that the bonds and coupons attached were the property of the defendant and ordered the bill dismissed without costs.

The evidence which is reported warranted a finding of the following facts: Eugene T. Adams, in the fall of 1916, when he was about 60 years of age, became acquainted with the defendant who was then about 29 years old; at that time she worked in a box factory and lived with her mother and a niece and nephew. Adams and the defendant became intimate and were frequently in the company of each other. A few months after their acquaintance began, at his request, she gave up work and he made her a weekly cash allowance and from time to time gave her valuable presents. They took frequent trips together, traveling as husband and wife.

The defendant testified that a few months after their acquaintance began Adams told her at different times that he intended to obtain a divorce from his wife and to marry her, and often promised to do so; that early in 1918 he told her he would give her $3,000 in cash and $7,000 in Liberty bonds, and the next day he gave her $3,000 in bills, which she deposited in her name in two banks; that at that time he owned three nonnegotiable $1,000 Liberty bonds; that on March 29, 1918, he withdrew $4,000 in cash from a bank, and on the same day they went together to the Commonwealth Trust Company, in Boston, where they received the seven $1,000 bonds involved in this suit in return for the three $1,000 nonnegotiable bonds and $4,000 in bills and $47.91, which Adams paid; that they went to the Security Safe Deposit Company, in Boston, and there leased a box in their joint names in the vault of that company and placed the seven bonds in the box. She further testified that a few days before March 29, 1918, when the bonds were so deposited, Adams brought the three nonnegotiable $1,000 bonds and the $4,000 in bills to her house in Haverhill and gave them to her, and that they then went to Boston and left them with the Commonwealth Trust Company and ordered the seven bonds; that when she received the bonds Adams advised her that they should be placed in ‘a joint box and he could have access to it so that if I was tempted he could advise me in spending it,’ to which arrangement she consented; and that he told her that in the event of his death she could go to the box and get the bonds upon showing a certificate of his death.

When the box was engaged and the bonds were placed in it, a card was furnished by the bank and signed by the defendant and Adams, on which was the following:

‘Safe No. 5545 Title (Mrs.) Janie B. Lavallee and Eugene T. Adams from Mch. 29, 1918, to Apl. 1, 1919. Rate $10. Password Northport. * * * Mch. 29, 1918. We hereby direct and agree that access to this safe shall be by the above-named jointly. Mrs. Janie B. Lavallee. Eugene T. Adams.’

On the reverse side of the card was the following, excepting certain terms and provisions respecting the use of safes which are not material:

‘Safe No. 5545. Title Mrs. Janie B. Lavallee and Eugene T. Adams from Mch. 29, 1918, to Apl. 1, 1919. Rate $10. Password Northport. We hereby accept the use of the above safe subject to the terms and provisions hereinbefore set forth, and to all reasonable rules and regulations of the said Security Safe Deposit Company now or hereafter in force, and acknowledge receipt of 2 keys thereto. Date 3/29/18. Witness, M. A. Kenney. Signature: Mrs. Janie B. Lavellee. Eugene T. Adams.’

Two keys to the safe were furnished by the bank, both of which were delivered to and kept by the defendant. The receipt for the rent of the safe contained the following provision:

‘In cases where a safe is held by two or more, right of access or control shall not pass to the legal representatives of a deceased safeholder but shall remain exclusively in the survivor or survivors.’

The defendant testified that during the entire time the safe was rented she paid each year the rental, and there was no evidence to the contrary. On two occasions the defendant and Adams visited the box together and cut off and cashed coupons that had become payable.

The trial judge made the following and other findings:

‘In March, 1918, he [Adams] formed the intention of creating a fund for her benefit in the amount of $10,000. In the execution of this purpose, he gave her $3,000 outright in bills, which she deposited to her credit in certain banks in Haverhill, but intended, as I believe, that the balance of the fund, composed of the seven Liberty bonds which this suit concerns, should not, while he lived, pass wholly out of his control, and that during his life the property in them should not be exclusively hers. Without going into the details of Mrs. Lavalle's testimony, it might be found, if her account of the matter were taken as substantially true, that before the bonds were placed with the...