McGahee v. Walden
| Decision Date | 06 October 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 21020,21020 |
| Citation | 216 Ga. 352,116 S.E.2d 559 |
| Parties | Luvada McGAHEE, by Executor, v. Robert H. WALDEN et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Jack D. Evans, Thomson, for plaintiff in error.
Stevens & Stevens, Thomson, for defendant in error.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
This is an action by the executor of an estate to recover certain personal property and a sum of money allegedly given to the defendants by the deceased while under the undue influence of the defendants, standing in a confidential or fiduciary relationship with the deceased, who was a sick, aged, and infirm person, suffering from a brain tumor from which she died. The case proceeded to trial and the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. A motion for new trial, as later amended, was filed and denied, and the exception is to this judgment. Held:
1. Both the evidence and the pleadings showing that the deceased was an infirm and aged woman, suffering from a brain tumor, whose mental and physical condition declined during the last years of her life, weakened by the damage to her brain by the illness from which she died, and that the defendant stood in a confidential and fiduciary capacity to her under Code, § 37-707, whereby they administered her medicines to her and cared for her in her illness, took care of her personal business, hired nurses for her, cared for her in their home, and she changed her bank account to make it a joint one with her nephew, one of the defendants, there arose a presumption of undue influence, and the court should have charged on undue influence and the shifting of the burden of proof, and erred in failing to charge thereon. The fourth special ground, complaining of the failure to charge on undue influence, confidential or fiduciary relationship, and the shifting of the burden of proof, was meritorious, and the court erred in denying...
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Wheeless v. Gelzer, 1:89-cv-2177-RHH.
...relationship with the donor, the donor is of weak mentality, and the beneficiary occupies a dominant position. McGahee v. Walden, 216 Ga. 352, 353, 116 S.E.2d 559 (1960); Childs v. Shepard, 213 Ga. 381, 382, 99 S.E.2d 129 (1957); Trustees of Jesse Parker Williams Hosp. v. Nisbet, 191 Ga. 82......
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...between plaintiff [Ernie Thornton] and the late [James Thornton] involving the same property [here at issue]." McGahee v. Walden, 216 Ga. 352, 116 S.E.2d 559 and Harrison v. Harrison, 214 Ga. 393, 105 S.E.2d 214, cited by appellant, are factually distinguishable and not controlling. (c). Th......
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...capacity to make a deed is a question of fact to be determined by a jury" unless "the evidence demands a finding"); McGahee v. Walden, 216 Ga. 352, 353, 116 S.E.2d 559 (1960) (explaining that where the evidence of undue influence "is in conflict, it is a question for the jury to determine")......
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...and took care of his financial affairs was some evidence of a confidential relationship between Haddock and Jones. McGahee v. Walden, 216 Ga. 352(1), 116 S.E.2d 559 (1960). Testimony that Haddock gave Jones a financial power of attorney which Jones used to write checks on an account owned b......