Manos v. Papachrist, 89

• Decision Date: 08 February 1952
• Docket Number: No. 89,89
• Citation: 86 A.2d 474,199 Md. 257
• Parties: MANOS v. PAPACHRIST. PAPACHRIST v. MANOS.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 257

199 Md. 257

86 A.2d 474

MANOS v. PAPACHRIST.

PAPACHRIST v. MANOS.

No. 89.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Feb. 8, 1952.

J. Wilmer Cronin, Bel Air, for appellant.

A. Freeborn Brown, Bel Air (Howard S. O'Neill, Bel Air, on the brief), for appellee.

Before MARBURY, C. J., and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, HENDERSON and MARKELL, JJ.

DELAPLAINE, Judge.

Alexandria Manos, administratrix pendente lite of the estate of Christina Papachrist, deceased, brought this suit in the Circuit Court for Harford County to annul certain instruments which she executed for her husband, James Papachrist, shortly before her death.

Alexandria Manos and Christina Papachrist were sisters, born in Ohio and taken to Greece before they were five years old. In 1936 Alexandria, then 18, returned to the United States and became a resident of Nyack, New York. Several years later Christina returned to this country and lived with her sister. In 1940 Christina married defendant, who was born in Greece, immigrated to America, and became a naturalized American citizen. Defendant opened a restaurant in New Jersey but was unsuccessful, and in September, 1941, the couple moved from New Jersey to Maryland.

On November 27, 1941, after defendant had worked in Bel Air for several months as a cook in a restaurant, his wife entered into a partnership with three men to operate the recreation center, including a restaurant, soda fountain and bowling alley, in Bel Air and also a restaurant in Aberdeen. The partnership agreement provided that each partner should receive $35 per week as salary, and at the end of each month any profits were to be divided equally among the four partners. The agreement designated defendant as manager for his wife's interest in the business.

From 1941 to 1944 Mrs. Papachrist worked part of the time at the recreation center, but early in 1944 she was stricken with tuberculosis, and in March, 1944, she entered Eudowood Sanitarium at Towson. In December, 1944, she was taken to Gabriels Sanitarium, north of Saranac Lake, New York. In the spring of 1945 defendant stayed with his wife at the sanitarium for about a month. On May 14 he phoned to complainant's husband, William Manos, who was then in Bel Air, that Mrs. Papachrist had suffered a hemorrhage, and urged him to come to the sanitarium. Manos made some funeral arrangements in Nyack, and then continued on to the sanitarium, arriving there early on the morning of May 15.

Defendant then went back to Bel Air, where he conferred with his attorney, informing him that his wife was desperately ill and asking him to prepare papers for his wife to sign to give everything she had to him. The partnership business had been successful, and Mrs. Papachrist had saved about $10,000, which had been deposited in the Commercial and Savings Bank in Bel Air. The attorney hastily drew a will and an assignment of her interest in the business. He also obtained a card at the bank for the purpose of transferring the checking and savings accounts. He also suggested that the title to the automobile should be signed and acknowledged before a notary public.

On May 17 defendant again left for Gabriels, arriving there at 7 o'clock the next morning. He reached his wife's bedside before 8 o'clock and handed her the papers, which she could not read, as she could not read anything except Greek. Nevertheless, she immediately signed them. Two nurses witnessed the will, and one of them witnessed the assignment. Defendant took the assignment to a notary public for her signature. About 8 o'clock Manos entered the bedroom. He expressed surprise upon seeing defendant, as he did not expect him until the next day. Defendant hurried off to catch a train, and Manos walked with him to the station. While they were waiting for the train, defendant showed Manos the assignment.

Manos told defendant that he intended to go home by bus later that day. But he remained that night at the sanitarium, and on the following day he went back to see Mrs. Papachrist. He testified that when he entered her room, she was writing her will in Greek, and that when he called in two employees at the sanitarium to serve as witnesses, she was ready to sign her name. This will, which was executed May 19, 1945, left $8,000 to Mrs. Manos and $2,000 to a nephew, and contained the following statement: 'I annul the previously signed by me documents, because I was forced on the 18th of May, 1945, because they did not read them to me and I do not know what documents they were. These that I write, I write without being forced and of my own will.'

Mrs. Papachrist died on May 27, 1945. A caveat was filed to her last will, and the Orphans' Court of Harford County appointed Mrs. Manos administratrix pendente lite of her sister's estate.

The chancellor held that Mrs. Papachrist was mentally competent to execute the instruments, and not subjected to fraud or undue influence, but that the paper attempting to assign the interest in the business was invalid because it did not contain the name of any assignee. He accordingly entered a decree declaring: (1) that the transfer of the bank accounts and the automobile were valid, and (2) that the assignment of the interest in the business was invalid. Complainant appealed from the first part of the decree, and defendant appealed from the second part.

It is an accepted principle of equity that where there is a fiduciary or confidential relation between two parties wherein trust and confidence are reposed on one side and influence and control are exercised on the other, it is the duty of the dominant party to exercise the utmost good faith in any transaction with the confiding party, and if he fails to show this, the transaction...