In re Austin's Estate
| Decision Date | 15 December 1922 |
| Docket Number | 34628 |
| Citation | 191 N.W. 73,194 Iowa 1217 |
| Parties | IN RE ESTATE OF JULIA AUSTIN |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Clay District Court.--D. F. COYLE, Judge.
WILL contest, based on charges of mental incapacity and undue influence. The case was submitted to the jury on both issues. The jury found, on special interrogatories submitted, that testatrix was mentally incapable of making a will, but that she was not unduly influenced; and it returned a verdict for contestants. Judgment was rendered on the verdict and special findings setting aside the will. Proponents appeal.
Affirmed.
Healy & Breen, for appellants.
Lee & Garfield and Heald & Cook, for appellees.
FAVILLE J., takes no part.
I.
The principal contention of counsel for appellants in argument is that the evidence offered by contestants was not sufficient to warrant the court in submitting the case to the jury, and was insufficient to support the verdict, and that proponents' motion for a new trial should have been granted. Proponents, appellants here, made no motion for a directed verdict. Error is claimed, directed to the cross-examination of Dr. Munger, charging that the court erred in sustaining certain objections, and circumscribed counsel too closely in cross-examination; that error was made by the court with respect to submitting interrogatories and the special findings thereon, in refusing to tax attorney fees against the estate in favor of proponents' attorneys, and as to admission of certain exhibits, which assigned errors will be considered later. We will first take up appellants' contention that the verdict does not find sufficient support in the evidence.
II. The record is very lengthy. Some 40-odd witnesses testified. Only two of the witnesses were expert witnesses--doctors called by contestants. Proponents offered no expert testimony. It would be impracticable to attempt to set forth the testimony. We have carefully read the large volume of testimony, and will state our conclusions based on the record. Counsel cite a large number of authorities. Authorities in such a case as we have before us, where the principal contention is that the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdict, are of value in the way of comparison of the facts and holdings thereon in the cases cited, with the contentions in the case at bar. We have examined the authorities for that purpose. The large question is one of fact, and must be determined from the evidence presented to us. Some undisputed facts stand out prominently in the record, to which we call attention:
On March 27, 1918, Julia Austin signed the instrument in controversy, which was properly witnessed, wherein she bequeathed all her property to the proponents, A. M Leichliter and his wife. Leichliter and his wife were in no way related to the testatrix. Julia Austin, at the time she made the will, was nearly 80 years of age. She was of Norwegian birth, having come to this country when about 30 years old. She could neither read nor write, being unable to write so much as her own name. She could speak but little English. She was married to W. H. Austin about 1870. Mr. Austin died October 20, 1917. Julia Austin, at the time of the execution of the will, was feeble in body, and afterwards rapidly declined in health and mind, and on March 12, 1919, less than a year after the execution of the will, was placed under guardianship. A. M. Leichliter was appointed temporary guardian of her property. On July 25, 1919, information charging insanity was filed by Leichliter, and a hearing was had before the commissioners of insanity of Clay, County, Iowa, and Julia Austin was found insane, and taken to the hospital for the insane at Cherokee. She remained in that institution until her death, in February, 1920. Testatrix was almost, if not quite, devoid of her reason from the summer of 1919 until she died, in the winter following. Mrs. Austin was the unfortunate victim of epilepsy, and had been subject to epileptic seizures all her life. These attacks became more frequent as the years advanced, as well as increasing in intensity. Mrs. Austin never transacted any business herself. It appears without dispute that Leichliter, appellant, transacted all her business for her after the death of her husband. From the testimony of her neighbors, who had known her for a long time, it appears that in her earlier years she was clean and neat of person, active and industrious; that, prior to the time the will was made, she became filthy of person and lazy and indolent in her habits. Appellant Leichliter and his wife both testified that, during the 15 months preceding her confinement in the hospital for the insane, when she was living with them, they could not induce her to take a bath; that, during all of that time, she stayed in bed until from 12 o'clock, noon, to 2 o'clock in the afternoon, taking her first meal of the day at from 12 to 2. She commenced living with appellants about 30 days after the execution of the will, but appellants had intimately known her for some years before. Formerly, she was on most friendly terms with her relatives, but during her later years, she was suspicious of them, accusing them, without any foundation whatever, of seeking to rob her of her money, of scraping the gold off the edges of her china, of tearing her books, etc. From the 1st of July, 1919, up to her death, in February, 1920, it is conceded that she was devoid of all her mental faculties, unable during all that time to know where she was, or to recognize her nurse or doctor in charge. When she was taken to the hospital, appellant Leichliter testified, at the hearing before the commissioners of insanity, that symptoms of her mental condition had manifested themselves for five years prior to July, 1919.
Dr. Donahoe, superintendent of the hospital at Cherokee, examined her on her entrance to the hospital on July 26, 1919, and saw her frequently during the seven months she was in the hospital. Donahoe testified, in substance, that she was afflicted with senile dementia in its most advanced stages, and that such condition was of long standing; that her disease was slowly progressive, and had been developing for years. Dr. Donahoe, from his personal examination of the old lady, testified that in his opinion she was insane on and prior to the date of the execution of the will.
Dr. Munger, of Spencer, who was a member of the commissioners of insanity, and who examined Mrs. Austin, stated as his opinion that Mrs. Austin's deranged mental condition, which was conceded to have existed a year after the will was executed, was of long standing--of years; that she was mentally unbalanced long prior to March 27, 1918, the date of the will.
Proponents offered no expert evidence to dispute the testimony of Dr. Donahoe and Dr. Munger.
We will not set forth the nonexpert testimony. It is sufficient to say that we have carefully examined the testimony of the witnesses who were neighbors of Mrs. Austin and knew her well, and such evidence strongly corroborates the testimony of the doctors, and to our minds is convincing that Mrs. Austin did not have sufficient mental capacity to make the will in question. It is conceded that Mrs. Austin was absolutely insane when the doctors examined her. The doctors stated it as...
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