Yosti v. Laughran

• Citation: 49 Mo. 594
• Parties: THOMAS JOSEPH YOSTI et al., Respondents, v. THOMAS LAUGHRAN et al., Appellants.
• Decision Date: 31 March 1872
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

49 Mo. 594

THOMAS JOSEPH YOSTI et al., Respondents,

v.THOMAS LAUGHRAN et al., Appellants.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March Term, 1872.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court.

Bakewell & Farish, for appellants.

Cline, Jamison & Day, and Chas. Jones, for respondents.

BLISS, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff was an aged woman, the owner of a valuable farm of 148 acres in St. Louis county, and the mother of seven living children, of whom the defendant Margaret Laughran was the youngest. It is shown by the witnesses on both sides that she was an impulsive and somewhat capricious woman that she possessed strong likes and dislikes, often changing their object, and was easily influenced by those who for the time being possessed her confidence. In March, 1860, being then about sixty-six years of age, she conveyed in fee simple to the defendant Margaret the said farm, being all the real estate she possessed, and the present proceeding is to set aside the conveyance upon the ground of fraud and undue influence.

The petition charges that the plaintiff, being infirm and dependent upon others for the management of her business, and having a large amount of personal property, and as the sole legatee of a deceased son, having come into possession of a large amount of bonds, bills and notes, turned over to said Thomas Laughran all her business and the entire management of her farm; that he and his wife came to live in the same house with her; by art and management obtained her confidence and a control over her, and obtained her signature to the deed spoken of by pretending that it was a mortgage to secure some advances made by him for improvements upon the place. The petition is full, and charges this fraud in detail, and also that the deed was obtained by undue influence acquired by their relations.

The charge of actual fraud, as laid, I do not find to be sustained. The plaintiff is very positive in her testimony that she did not design to convey the property, but the contradictory evidence is so conclusive that there can be little doubt as to her intention at the time. But the earnestness and apparent sincerity with which she asserts her ignorance of the true character of the transaction, impresses me with the frailty of her intellect and her great susceptibility to surrounding influence. The evidence, however, establishes the fact that there was either fraud in regard to the consideration, or a total failure of it, so far as it was to be received by the grantor. Mrs. Yosti, according to the evidence submitted by defendants, only intended to give Mrs. Laughran the farm after her death, and had no idea of surrendering the control of it during her life. She was brought by Laughran to his conveyancer, and was told that she could not grant a reversion, but was advised to give a regular deed and take a life-lease. She executed and acknowledged the deed to Mrs. Laughran, left it with Mr. Laughran and the conveyancer, and trusted the matter of the lease entirely to him. Laughran, it appears, executed the lease in his own name, and while the deed to his wife was recorded, the lease was withheld from record, and does not appear ever to have been delivered.

Taking the defendants' own version of the transaction, this was a fraud upon her, although they may never have intended to disturb her possession. Laughran was acting as her general agent at the time, and even if that fact of itself did not affect the transaction, he was bound to the most scrupulous good faith. He had no right against her will to make her a mere pensioner, to throw her upon the charity of her children. And yet such was the effect of the transaction. He testifies that he gave her the lease, but she denies it, and circumstances support her statement.

After their disagreement, and she had found out the deception practiced upon her, or had repented of her act, a son of Mrs. Yosti called in Judge Thomas, a neighbor, to help settle their difficulties. One of her complaints was that Laughran had promised to give her a deed, but would not do it. Her version is that she had reproached him with the fraud in obtaining the conveyance, and he had promised that the land should be deeded back, while he claims that she only referred to the life-lease. Mr. Thomas testifies that during their altercation she said to Laughran, “You know you promised to make me deed.” “Well,” he said, “I will make it at a proper time.” He never made it, whether it was to be a lease or a reconveyance, and thus the transaction was not completed as to a material part.

Mrs. Yosti died after the commencement of this suit, and defendants now claim that, as she has had the enjoyment of the farm during her life, it does not matter whether she had a lease or not. But she made the conveyance upon an express condition, and trusted defendant Laughran as her agent, to see that the condition was complied with. That trust he betrayed, and thereby took a greater estate than she ever intended to grant. She had, then, a right to repudiate, as she did, the whole transaction, and seek to be restored to her own.

Another objection to this deed arises from the relation of the parties. Counsel claim that the confidential and fiduciary relation afterward created did not exist until long after its execution, and that nothing can be presumed against it in...