Rhoade v. Fuller

• Decision Date: 11 May 1897
• Citation: 40 S.W. 760,139 Mo. 179
• Parties: RHOADES et ux. v. FULLER.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

40 S.W. 760

139 Mo. 179

RHOADES et ux. v. FULLER.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

May 11, 1897.

INSANITY — INQUEST AS EVIDENCE — WAIVER OF OBJECTION — AVOIDING EXCHANGE.

1. Where, in a suit to set aside an exchange of land on the ground of plaintiff's insanity, the record of an inquest held 20 days after the exchange, and adjudging plaintiff insane, was admitted, against defendant's objection, to prove insanity at the time of the exchange, defendant did not waive such objection by afterwards allowing the record to be introduced to show insanity at the time of inquest.

2. In a suit to set aside an exchange on the ground of plaintiff's insanity, the record of an inquest held 20 days after the exchange, and adjudging plaintiff insane, was not admissible.

3. Plaintiff was not entitled to have an exchange set aside on the ground of his insanity, though he offered to restore what he had received, where there was no evidence of knowledge of the insanity or fraud on part of defendant, and plaintiff was not under guardianship at the time of the exchange.

Appeal from circuit court, Mercer county; P. C. Stepp, Judge.

Suit by Jesse B. Rhoades, by his guardian, T. I. Carter, and Rebecca Rhoades, his wife, against Justin Fuller. From a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Reversed.

This is a suit in equity by Jesse B. Rhoades, who sues by his guardian, T. I. Carter, and Rebecca Rhoades, the wife of said Jesse, against defendant, to rescind the contract for the exchange of a farm in Mercer county, Mo., conveyed by said Rhoades and wife to said defendant, Fuller, for a house and lot in Princeton, in said county, upon the ground of the insanity of said Rhoades at the time of the trade or exchange. The petition alleges that Rhoades is an insane person, and that before the commencement of this suit T. I. Carter had been duly appointed and qualified as his guardian; that on November 1, 1893, plaintiff Rhoades was the owner of 125 acres of land in Mercer county, which was incumbered by a mortgage of $1,000 to Deering & Co. and the Omaha Loan & Trust Company; that the said Rhoades had long been an insane person; that the defendant and his attorney falsely represented to said Rhoades that his farm was about to be sold under the said mortgages, and by said representations induced Rhoades and his wife to exchange said lands subject to said mortgage for a house and lot in Princeton, which house and lot, it is alleged, were falsely represented by the defendant to be of the value of $750, when in fact they were not worth more than $150; that the said Rhoades was at the time of making the trade incompetent to transact business by reason of insanity. It also alleges that the defendant, with the intent to cheat and defraud plaintiff Rhoades, and to get his land at less than its value, falsely and fraudulently stated and represented to him that said land would be sold within two days thereafter under said mortgages, unless he arranged to pay them off. The petition alleges that plaintiffs offer to reconvey the house and lot to defendant, to refund to him all moneys paid out by him on the mortgages, and prays that the contract for the exchange of the properties, and the deed from Rhoades and wife to defendant for the farm, be canceled. The answer denied the allegations in the petition, and alleged that at the time of the exchange of the farm for the house and lot there were three mortgages or deeds of trust on said farm, two of which, and the interest on the other, was then past due, and that said Rhoades stated to the defendant that the same was about to be foreclosed; that defendant, on the 25th day of November, 1893, paid Deering & Co. on their said mortgage the sum of $32.34, being the amount then due on the same, and on the 13th day of November, 1893, he paid on the Omaha Loan & Trust Company deed of trust interest due thereon amounting to $30.40; that he also, on the 16th day of November, 1893, paid the principal and interest of another mortgage, held by the Omaha Loan & Trust Company, amounting to $81, and at the request of said Rhoades he paid a judgment against him amounting to $4.39. Rhoades bought the land in question in 1890 for $1,400. He borrowed nearly all of the money to pay for it, giving a mortgage on the land to secure the borrowed money. At the time of the trade there was about $1,000 against it. There was one mortgage for about $80, and the interest on the mortgage to the Omaha Company, and also the principal mortgage which became due on account of default having been made in the payment of interest when it became due; all due at the time of the trade. The holders of the mortgages were demanding payment, and the Omaha Company had, on Novembeer 1, 1893, notified Rhoades that, unless the amount due upon its loan was paid within 30 days or earlier, the land would be advertised for sale, as provided for in such circumstances under their mortgage. Rhoades then began to look around for a purchaser for his farm, and through E. C. Hyde arranged a meeting with defendant, and finally made the trade with him. Rhoades made a personal examination of the house and lot, and agreed to take them in exchange for the land, defendant assuming the payment of the incumbrances against it. The amount paid out by defendant up to the time of the institution of this suit on the liens was $191.91. This, however, included other liens upon the land not known to exist at the time of the trade, amounting to the sum of $43, which defendant paid off, and plaintiff Rhoades executed to him a mortgage on the house and lot to secure the payment of that sum. The evidence as to the values of the properties exchanged was conflicting. The value of the farm was variously estimated by the witnesses at from $1,200 to $2,000, and the house and lot at from $125 to $400. Rhoades had for three years next preceding the trade lived in Mercer county, and during that time had managed his farm and transacted his business, and, while somewhat eccentric, manifested no evidences of insanity...