Thomas v. Lockwood
| Decision Date | 13 October 1944 |
| Docket Number | 14944. |
| Citation | 31 S.E.2d 791,198 Ga. 437 |
| Parties | THOMAS v. LOCKWOOD. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. In order to avoid a deed on the ground of mental incapacity of the grantor, he must have been non compos mentis, that is entirely without understanding, at the time the deed was executed.
(a) The evidence in this case was insufficient to show such incapacity on the part of the grantor, and therefore the verdict for the plaintiff, cancelling the deed, was contrary to the evidence and without evidence to support it as related to that issue.
2. Nor did the evidence authorize a finding that the deed was never delivered.
3. The judge charge the jury:
(a) The instruction was not erroneous as against the defendant because of a failure to charge on the presumption of sanity and the burden of proof.
(b) The complaint in the motion for new trial that the verdict was contrary to the quoted excerpt presented no question which was not raised by the general ground that the verdict was contrary to law, and hence need not be separately passed upon.
(c) There is no merit in the contention that the foregoing charge was erroneous because of the clause therein referring to 'decided and rational desire.'
4. The judge did not err in failing to charge the law in ragard to gifts causa mortis, as stated in the Code, § 48-201. Such a charge would not have been applicable to any issue in the case.
5. As indicated in the first and second notes, supra, and corresponding divisions of the opinion, the verdict for the plaintiff was contrary to the evidence and without evidence to support it, and for this reason alone it was error to refuse a new trial.
Minnie Lockwood filed, in the superior court of Richmond County, a suit against Norma Thomas, for an injunction and the cancellation of a deed. The defendant filed an answer, after which the plaintiff amended her petition. It appears from the record that Minnie Lockwood was the wife of the grantor, now deceased, and that Norma Thomas was his sister-in-law by a former marriage.
The petition as amended alleged: The plaintiff is the widow and sole heir at law of Tony Lockwood, who died intestate on November 8, 1942, leaving an estate consisting of real and personal property. Besides other real estate, he left a described tract situated on Market Street in Augusta Georgia, which has been set aside as a year's support to the plaintiff. She is now in possession of this property, and has been since the death of her husband; and the defendant is trespassing on said property and interfering with the plaintiff's right of possession and enjoyment. The defendant is claiming the property under a deed from Tony Lockwood, executed on November 7, 1942. Tony Lockwood was unconscious and in a dying condition at the time he executed this deed, being in the last stages of Bright's disease and suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage. He did not know and could not have known that he was executing a deed to his property, and he was mentally incapable of executing the same. Nor was the deed ever delivered. Therefore the deed is void and should be cancelled.
The defendant's answer alleged that the deed was executed to her by the grantor when he was mentally sound, that the consideration was good and valid, and that she was entitled to possession of the property. On the trial before a jury, they returned a verdict for the plaintiff cancelling the deed. The defendant's motion for a new trial was overruled and she excepted.
The following evidence was introduced by Minnie Lockwood, the plaintiff: She testified:
Isaac McManus testified:
Rosa Brooks testified:
Harris Peek testified: Elizabeth Gates testified:
The plaintiff rested.
The following evidence was introduced by the defendant: Albert B Ingram, the attorney who drew the...
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Jones v. Smith
... ... of the maker, he must have been non compos mentis, that is, ... entirely without understanding, at the time the contract was ... executed. Thomas v. Lockwood, 198 Ga. 437, 31 S.E.2d ... (b) In ... the instant case taking the evidence most favorable to the ... contentions ... ...
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Pantone v. Pantone, 16878
...or other trier of the facts upon the mere surmise that it perhaps might not be in accord with the truth'; and that in Thomas v. Lockwood, 198 Ga. 437, 31 S.E.2d 791, it was held that, applying the ruling made in the Lankford case to the evidence in that case, it was insufficient to show inc......
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Hamilton v. State
...S.E.2d 640. Moreover, "It is the duty of jurors to reconcile the testimony of witnesses if it can be reasonably done." Thomas v. Lockwood, 198 Ga. 437, 447, 31 S.E.2d 791. In Parsons v. State, 32 Ga.App. 504(1), 123 S.E. 922, this court approved a charge: "If there are material conflicts in......
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Espy v. Preston
...Ga. 371, 15 S.E.2d 418; Scott v. Gibson, 194 Ga. 503, 22 S.E.2d 51; Orr v. Blalock, 195 Ga. 863, 25 S.E.2d 668; Thomas v. Lockwood, 198 Ga. 437, 31 S.E.2d 791. (a) case differs on its facts from Morgan v. Bell, 189 Ga. 432, 5 S.E.2d 897, and Manley v. Combs, 197 Ga. 768(1), 30 S.E.2d 485 as......
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Wills, Trusts, Guardianships, and Fiduciary Administration - Mary F. Radford
...58. Id. Sec. 53-4-11(a). 59. See Joiner v. Joiner, 225 Ga. 699, 703, 171 S.E.2d 297, 300 (1969). 60. See, e.g., Thomas v. Lockwood, 198 Ga. 437, 448-49, 31 S.E.2d 791, 798 (1944). The court in Thomas approved the following jury instruction on the capacity to make a deed: "If one should have......