Taylor v. Cory

• Decision Date: 31 July 1951
• Parties: TAYLOR et ux. v. CORY et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 820

53 So.2d 820

TAYLOR et ux. v. CORY et al.

Supreme Court of Florida, Special Division A.

July 31, 1951.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 31, 1951.

Frank B. Dowling, Miami, for appellants.

Loftin, Anderson, Scott, McCarthy & Preston, Miami, for Margaret Taylor, George T. Clark, Miami, for First Nat. Bank of Miami.

Robert M. Deehl, Miami, for Ethel T. Cory and H. O. Cory.

PARKS, Associate Justice.

George W. Taylor, joined by his wife, Hattie G. Taylor, brought his bill of complaint against his daughter, Ethel E. Cory and husband, H. O. Cory, and Margaret Taylor, widow and devisee of Ross E. Taylor, his deceased son, to set aside and cancel two warranty deeds executed by him and his wife, Hattie G. Taylor, one of which conveyed certain of his interests in the land to Ethel E. Cory, and the other conveying certain of his interests in the same tract to Ross E. Taylor. Briefly, he alleges that these conveyances were executed August 7, 1945 without consideration and at the joint and several requets of Ethel E. Cory and Ross E. Taylor and charges that they were procured from him upon their false and fraudulent representations that his interests would in no wise be affected or changed by their execution and were requested of him solely as an accommodation to enable the son and daughter to effectively carry out their plan to revise an existing division of the land between themselves which theretofore had been made. It is alleged that in making these conveyances he relied on these representations and imposed full trust and confidence in the son and daughter in respect thereto. The defendant, Margaret Taylor, was not present when the deeds were executed or on other occasions when the representations were alleged to have been made by Ross E. Taylor or Ethel E. Cory.

To this bill, in substance, Margaret Taylor answered and denied that any such representations as charged in the bill were made by Ross E. Taylor and avers that the deeds are good and valid conveyances of plaintiff's interests in the land and that she owns the fee simple title thereto. There are further averments touching her right or claim to improvements made by her and Ross E. Taylor after the conveyances were made which are not necessary to consider on this appeal.

The defendant, Ethel E. Cory, answered admitting in large part the allegations of the bill and offered to re-convey the interests she received to the plaintiff and do equity as the Court might decree. There are other pleadings unnecessary to mention here.

At the trial of the cause before the Chancellor the plaintiff offered to prove by witness, W. E. Casper,

'That if W. E. Casper were allowed to testify in this cause that he would testify that prior to August, 1945, on more than one occasion, Ross E. Taylor and his father, George W. Taylor, while visiting in W. E. Casper's place of business on Miami Beach, Florida, did discuss with him the redivision of the Taylor property on Northeast 79th Street and that Ross E. Taylor on those occasions did state to W. E. Casper that the redivision of the property would in no manner affect the life lease or reversionary interest of the plaintiff, George W. Taylor, in the premises aforesaid and that George W. Taylor told his son, Ross E. Taylor, on those occasions that he did not care what the children did with the property so long as his interest in the property was not changed in any respect; that after the execution of the two deeds sought to be cancelled, in August of 1945, that Ross. E. Taylor came to him, the said W. E. Casper, and told him he had obtained title to the northwest corner of the Taylor tract, without any strings to it; that the said W. E. Casper, surprised at such information, asked the said Ross E. Taylor how he had acquired clear title to the premises and Ross E. Taylor at that time and place told him that there was nothing to it, that they had simply supplied the information necessary to the lawyer and had gone down and signed the papers, all of which took less than 15 minutes; that he did not feel he had done anything wrong as the estate would get the property back when he was through with it, any way.'

and further offered to prove by witness W. C. Price, the attorney 'That in his office on the 25th day of August, 1945, before the signing and execution of the two conveyances in question, respectively Plaintiff's Exhibits 11 and 12, and in the presence of all those enumerated by the witness, W. C. Price as having been present in his office, that Mr. George W. Taylor asked that if in signing the conveyances in question he...