Reder v. Kuss
| Decision Date | 06 June 1966 |
| Citation | 351 Mass. 15,217 N.E.2d 904 |
| Parties | Michael REDER v. Joseph KUSS et al. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
David Entin, Fall River, for respondents Joseph Kuss and others.
Anna F. McManus, Fall River, for John A. Reder, administrator.
William A. Torphy and Frederic J. Torphy, Fall River, for petitioner.
Before WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, CUTTER, KIRK, and SPIEGEL, JJ.
This is an appeal from a decree of the Probate Court ordering the respondents, who are the heirs at law of one Anna Kuss, to convey to the petitioner all of their right, title and interest in certain real estate which stood in the names of the petitioner and Anna Kuss 'as tenants in common.' The trial judge made a 'voluntary report of material facts,' and the evidence is reported.
The petitioner testified through an interpreter that he spoke Polish and '(n) ot much' English. There was evidence that the petitioner was seventy-six years old and in 1914 he had come to the United States from Poland. In 1928 he went with Anna Kuss to a lawyer of 'Polish extraction' to 'make the agreement' concerning the premises in question and the petitioner spoke to the lawyer in Polish. He told the lawyer that he was buying the property 'so that it would be him and her.' The property was purchased by a deed dated June 19, 1928, for the sum of $15,200. Sixty-two hundred dollars was paid in cash, of which sum the petitioner paid $4,600 (which he withdrew from his account in a savings bank) and Anna Kuss paid $1,600. '(T)hey both assumed a mortgage for $9,000 to make the $15,200. The petitioner testified that '(t)here was talk and understanding that if he (the petitioner) died she (Anna Kuss) would get the property.' After the purchase Anna lived in a tenement on the property with her mother. The petitioner also lived there. He managed the property, and paid for repairs, taxes, insurance and other costs of maintenance out of his own funds. Anna died in December, 1961. John Reder, a nephew of both the petitioner and Anna Kuss, testified that shortly before she died, Anna Kuss told him that she said to the petitioner, 'After I am gone, the house is yours,' and 'You will have both houses when I am gone and you will have the social security to take care of yourself.' Various relatives of Anna Kuss offered testimony which was inconsistent with the foregoing.
The judge found that the petitioner 'was certain in his own mind that having both names on the deed was all that was sufficient to insure having the property pass to him if Anna Kuss died, and that she believed the same thing.' The judge further found that 'there was a mutual mistake, made by non-English speaking, uneducated immigrants, who, in many respects, acted like a married couple, and both of them expected to become sole owner of the property if the other died.'
The respondents contend that the findings of the judge are incorrect, and that 'there is not an iota of evidence that Anna Kuss thought she was entering into any agreement other than that set out in the deed.' We are of opinion that the evidence supports the...
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Mickelson v. Barnet
...the language adopted by the parties did not reflect their true intent. Such a mutual mistake is reformable. See, e.g., Reder v. Kuss, 351 Mass. 15, 217 N.E.2d 904 (1966); White v. White, 346 Mass. 76, 190 N.E.2d 102 (1963); Franz v. Franz, 308 Mass. 262, 32 N.E.2d 205 (1941); Dickman v. McC......
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In re Freeman, 12–10050–JNF.
...of his argument that the deed can be reformed to effectuate the intent of the grantor, the Debtor cites, among other cases, Reder v. Kuss, 351 Mass. 15, 217 N.E.2d 904 (1966) (affirming trial court's findings that two non-English speaking uneducated immigrants had made mutual mistake by pla......
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In re Freeman
...of his argument that the deed can be reformed to effectuate the intent of the grantor, the Debtor cites, among other cases, Reder v. Kuss, 351 Mass. 15, 217 N.E.2d 904 (1966) (affirming trial court's findings that two non-English speaking uneducated immigrants had made mutual mistake by pla......
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In re Freeman
...of his argument that the deed can be reformed to effectuate the intent of the grantor, the Debtor cites, among other cases, Reder v. Kuss, 351 Mass. 15, 217 N.E.2d 904 (1966) (affirming trial court's findings that two non-English speaking uneducated immigrants had made mutual mistake by pla......