Studabaker v. Faylor
| Decision Date | 25 February 1908 |
| Docket Number | 21,219 |
| Citation | 83 N.E. 747,170 Ind. 498 |
| Parties | Studabaker v. Faylor et al |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied June 2, 1908.
From Adams Circuit Court; Richard K. Erwin, Judge.
Suit by Thomas Faylor and others against David D. Studabaker. From a decree for plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Transferred from Appellate Court under subd. 2, § 1394 Burns 1908, Acts 1901, p. 590, § 10.
Reversed.
W. H Eichhorn, George A. Matlack, U. S. Lesh, John Burns and D. E Smith, for appellant.
Dailey, Simmons & Dailey, Sturgis & Stine and Mock & Sons, for appellees.
Appellees, the heirs of Catherine Faylor, deceased, commenced this suit in the Wells Circuit Court to set aside a deed of conveyance executed by her on April 1, 1901, whereby she conveyed to appellant certain real estate situated in Wells county, Indiana. The complaint is in four paragraphs, to each of which appellant demurred for insufficiency of facts. This demurrer was overruled, and proper exceptions reserved. Answer, the general denial. Upon the issues formed a trial was had in the Wells Circuit Court before a jury, which resulted in a verdict for appellees. Appellant, upon his application, was awarded a new trial as a matter of right under the statute. The venue of the cause was then changed to the Adams Circuit Court, wherein a third trial was had before a jury, which resulted in a verdict in favor of appellees.
Over appellant's motion for a new trial judgment was rendered upon this verdict, from which he appeals, and assigns as errors the overruling of his demurrer to each paragraph of the complaint, and the overruling of his motion for a new trial.
The third paragraph of the complaint is to quiet title, under § 1116 Burns 1908, § 1070 R. S. 1881, 2 Thornton's Civil Code, § 873, to the lands therein described, and the fourth is a statutory complaint in ejectment, under § 1096 Burns 1908, § 1050 R. S. 1881, 2 Thornton's Civil Code, § 853, to recover possession of the lands in controversy, and for damages for the detention thereof. The sufficiency of the latter two paragraphs is not controverted by appellant.
The following may be said to be a fair statement of the facts alleged in the first paragraph of the complaint: It discloses that Catherine Faylor died intestate on July 8, 1902, leaving the appellees as her heirs at law; that on April 1, 1901, and also at the time of her death, she was the owner of the lands described in the complaint, being 216 acres, 123 of which she held in fee simple and a life estate in the remaining ninety-three acres; that the value of the 123 acres at the time of the execution of the deed in question is averred to have been $ 12,000; that on said April 1, 1901, the defendant procured said Catherine Faylor to execute to him a pretended deed containing covenants of general warranty purporting and pretending to convey to him said described real estate, situated in Wells county, Indiana; that at the time said Catherine Faylor made the pretended deed in question she was about eighty-five years old and was greatly enfeebled and debilitated both in mind and body; that she was blind and paralyzed, and was in such a condition mentally that she was of unsound mind and incapable of comprehending the nature of a contract and deed; that the sole and only consideration for said deed was that the defendant should leave to said grantor, Catherine Faylor, the exclusive possession and use of the brick dwelling-house situated on the premises conveyed, together with the garden and appurtenances to said dwelling, for and during her natural life; that the defendant was to plant and attend to her garden, furnish and provide her with vegetables, provisions, groceries and household necessities, and procure a suitable and satisfactory person to live with and take care of her; that he was to transact all of her business affairs, and at her death he was to carve her name upon the tombstone of her deceased brother, Thomas Faylor. The paragraph then alleges facts to show a disaffirmance of the conveyance on the part of the plaintiffs, and alleges that they are the legal owners of the real estate described, and that the defendant, ever since the pretended execution of said pretended deed, has been in possession of said premises, enjoying the rents and profits thereof, which are of the value of $ 900 per year. The prayer is that the deed be set aside, and that plaintiffs be declared to be the owners of said real estate, and for all other and proper relief.
The second paragraph, after averring that the plaintiffs are the heirs of Catherine Faylor, who died intestate on July 8, 1902, alleges that said Catherine Faylor, on April 1, 1901, was the owner of the lands described in the complaint, being 216 acres, 123 of which she owned and held in fee simple, and that this tract was valued at $ 12,000, and the remaining ninety-three acres she held as a life tenant; that on April 1 she executed a pretended deed purporting to convey all the aforesaid described lands to the defendant; that at the time said Catherine made this pretended deed to the defendant she was about eighty-five years old, was blind and paralyzed, and was greatly enfeebled and debilitated in both mind and body, so much so that she was of unsound mind, and was incapable of comprehending the nature of a contract or deed; that the mental condition of said Catherine Faylor was well known to the defendant at the time he procured the pretended execution of said deed and possession of said real estate; that he, knowing said facts, for the purpose of procuring possession of said real estate, and of cheating and defrauding said Catherine Faylor out of the same, fraudulently represented to her that he was her friend, and truly sympathized with her in her loneliness and helplessness, that her relatives were a worthless "broken-up set," and cared nothing for her, that her nephew, Peter Faylor, was then engaged in an effort to send her to the poorhouse, that her niece, Elizabeth Stout, who had waited upon and cared for her a number of years prior to the time of said conveyance, cared nothing for her, and was also engaged in an effort to send her to the poorhouse, and that both said Peter Faylor and Elizabeth Stout, who had been actively concerned in looking after her interests, made him and her trouble every time they came upon the premises, and that he was going to order them off; that in addition thereto the defendant made to said Catherine Faylor great protestations of love and affection; that, by reason of her unsoundness of mind and said false and fraudulent representations so made by said defendant to said Catherine Faylor, which she believed to be true, and which she relied upon, he procured thereby the conveyance to himself of said land, for the pretended consideration of permitting her to live in her own dwelling-house, using the garden which he was to attend to for her, furnishing her such garden vegetables as she might need, doing her chores, furnishing her a person to live with and care for her, and carving her name upon the tombstone of her deceased brother, Thomas Faylor. Then follow averments of facts to show the disaffirmance upon the part of the plaintiffs, and the allegation that defendant, since the execution of said pretended deed, has had possession of said real estate and received the rents thereof, amounting to the sum of $ 900 per year. The prayer is that the deed in controversy be set aside, and that plaintiffs be declared to be the owners of said real estate, and for all other and proper relief.
It appears to be conceded by the parties to this suit that the first paragraph of the complaint, under the facts therein averred, proceeds upon the theory that Catherine Faylor, the deceased, at the time of the alleged execution of the deed of conveyance by her to appellant, was a person of unsound mind, but that she had not been judicially held to be such a person and placed under guardianship, therefore her deed in question was merely voidable. The infirmities imputed to this paragraph by appellant are (1) that it does not by any positive averments disclose that he, at the time he dealt with her and obtained the deed in controversy, as alleged, had any notice or knowledge that she was of unsound mind; (2) that the pleading on its face discloses that the deceased survived for over fifteen months after the execution of the deed to appellant and that during this period of time it must be assumed, as there is nothing in the paragraph to the contrary, that he discharged his duty under his agreement by performing the services and all the obligations which constituted the consideration for the conveyance, viz., planting and attending said Catherine's garden, furnishing and providing her with vegetables, groceries, provisions and household necessaries, and in procuring for her a suitable person as a caretaker; that, in addition to this, he, as obligated, transacted all of her business affairs. It is argued that these things must be considered as necessary to said Catherine and for her benefit; but notwithstanding it is so asserted, appellees in their pleading make no offer of restitution or in any manner to compensate appellant for his services and outlay in behalf of the deceased; or, in other words, that they make no offer whatever in their pleading to do equity in the premises. Had appellees been content not to plead specially, as they do in their first paragraph of complaint, in order to set aside the deed of Catherine Faylor upon the ground of her insanity, but had abided by the third and fourth paragraphs of the complaint to avoid the deed on the ground of mental incapacity of the grantor, then appellant, in respect to these paragraphs, could not have...
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