McNett v. Cooper
| Decision Date | 28 September 1882 |
| Citation | 13 F. 586 |
| Parties | McNETT, Guardian, etc., v. COOPER and others. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
J. L Hawes and O. W. Powers, for complainant.
J. W Breese and L. W. Wolcott, for defendants.
WHITHEY D.J.
The bill of complaint alleges that Charlotte E. Daly was insane in May, 1871,-- not competent to enter into a binding contract; that she owned land in Kalamazoo county, Michigan and then mortgaged it to defendants to secure the payment of promissory notes for $2,900, made by her and her husband to defendants for the purchase price of a steam saw-mill. The object of this suit is to have the mortgage, and all proceedings that have been taken to foreclose it, including the sale and master's deed, given to defendants as purchasers at a foreclosure sale, declared void. The mortgage was foreclosed in 1874; the sale under the decree was in November. Daly and wife were personally served, in the foreclosure suit, with subpoena, but failed to appear and defend. In January, 1875, McNett was appointed guardian of Mrs. Daly, on the application of her husband, by the probate court of Kalamazoo county. The answer denies the alleged insanity of Charlotte E. Daly, and all knowledge and information of any claim or pretense that she was insane at the time the mortgage was executed, or at any time anterior to the foreclosure of the mortgage. It alleges that James W Daly, husband of Charlotte, purchased from defendants a steam saw-mill for the price of $2,900, about the time the mortgage was given, and that the sale to Daly was made upon the understanding and faith that he would secure the purchase price by a mortgage upon the land in question; that at the time of the arrangement and sale of the mill they supposed the title to the land was in James W. Daly, but proved to be in his wife. They would not have sold the mill to Daly on credit without security.
The burden of proof rests on complainant to show that Mrs. Daly was not competent, mentally, to bind herself by contract on the eighteenth day of May, 1871. If once shown that she was generally insane prior to that date, the burden would be changed, and defendants be put to show that the mortgage was executed during a lucid interval. 4 Cow. 207; 1 T.B.Mon. 264. The witnesses who have testified are those who have known Mrs. Daly more or less intimately; two of her children, and two physicians who have been called to attend upon her or some of her family. Attention will be called to some of the testimony, which exhibits the character of evidence as to Mrs. Daly's mental condition. Mrs. Higgins, a neighbor, observed a change in Mrs. Daly's mental condition about 1866 or 1867. It took the form of melancholy-- a disposition to be alone; talking to herself, and reluctance to talk with others. In 1877 Mrs. Daly grew worse, talked to herself much, and acted as if seeking to drive some invisible person or object away from her; would strike at and talk as if some person were present. Mrs. Higgins noticed more or less of the same peculiarities up to 1876. Mrs. Daly's two sons testify to much the same, and add that she poured water on her head and person frequently.
In 1869 Mrs. Daly was ill with malarial fever. One of the sons testifies that it lasted about three months, but the attending physician limits the period to less than two weeks. A sister-in-law, residing at Richland, about 10 miles from Kalamazoo, where the Dalys resided in 1869 and 1870 and a part of 1871, also subsequent to 1872, who frequently saw Mrs. Daly, never observed anything peculiar in her mental condition until the time of her fever, in 1869. Mrs. Daly was at one time a believer in spiritualism, so-called, and it was noticed that she muttered and talked to herself a good deal. Dr. Stillwell made professional calls at Mrs. Daly's in 1869, 1870, 1871, 1873, and 1874. He attended Mrs. Daly in 1869, during a severe attack of malarial fever, accompanied with congestive chills, and some mental disturbance. At the close of about two weeks she was recovered in bodily health, but the mental disturbance remained to some extent, though she was much improved in that respect. The doctor at first attributed Mrs. Daly's mental condition entirely to the severity of the fever. Having learned that she read and studied the subject of spiritualism, and had attended spiritual meetings, so called, he was of opinion that these things contributed to her mental disturbance.
Dr. Stillwell, in 1870, attended a sick child of Mrs. Daly's, and then observed that she muttered and talked to herself as she had done in 1869. He observed the same thing in the subsequent years that he saw her, but noticed no other peculiarity to indicate mental derangement. On the occasion of his first visit to the child he prescribed a medicine, and gave the directions for administering it to Mrs. Daly, which she appeared to receive with proper understanding, and at his next visit was satisfied his directions had been followed, from the condition of the patient. Other testimony is of the same import as that referred to, to establish complainant's case.
On the other hand, it appears that Mrs. Daly was placed under no restraint by her husband or family, but permitted and was accustomed to go when and where she pleased alone and without...
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