Young v. Martin

• Decision Date: 09 January 1961
• Docket Number: No. 41603,41603
• Citation: 239 Miss. 861,125 So.2d 734
• Parties: Mrs. Hosea YOUNG v. Roy J. MARTIN, Jr., et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 734

125 So.2d 734

239 Miss. 861

Mrs. Hosea YOUNG v. Roy J. MARTIN, Jr., et al.

No. 41603.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Jan. 9, 1961.

Motion to Correct Overruled Feb. 6, 1961.

See 126 So.2d 529. Gordon & Gordon, Liberty, Breed O. Mounger, Tylertown, for appellant.

King & King, Durant, Clay B. Tucker, Woodville, for appellee.

LEE, Justice.

Roy J. Martin died on December 29, 1958. Thereafter on February 11, 1959, Mrs. Hosea Young filed her petition to probate in solemn form the alleged last will and testament of this decedent. The will provided bequests of one dollar each to his three sons, Roy, Jr., William Richard, and Van Gene, and one dollar to his wife, Mrs. Mary Emma Martin. The remainder of his property was bequeathed to his sister, Mrs. Young, the petitioner. The three sons, on June 12, 1959, filed a caveat and objections to the probate. The charged that their father, at the time, was mentally incompetent to make a will; and that Mrs. Hosea Young, together with a brother, Gene Martin, and his son, W. E. Martin, and a sister of the testator, Mrs. Vivian Douglas, and the husbands and wives of those parties, over a period beginning about July 28, 1954, when the testator suffered a severe injury resulting in the loss of both legs, until January 17, 1957, the date of the alleged will, and thereafter, used undue influence and coerced their father into making the will after they had destroyed his free agency by gross misrepresentations as to them and had alienated him from them and caused him to disinherit them. Mrs. Martin had obtained a divorce in January 1958 and was no longer an heir of the testator.

At the conclusion of the evidence the issue was submitted to a jury, who found against the will and in favor of the contestants. From the decree entered thereon, Mrs. Young appealed.

The appellant's requested peremptory instructions on both issues were refused. She complains of errors in the rulings on those requests, in the admission of certain evidence, in the giving of a certain instruction for the contestants, and that the trial court erred in overruling her motion for a new trial because the verdict of the jury was contrary to the great weight of the evidence.

There was little, if any, refutation of the contestants' evidence on the issue of undue influence. There was a sharp dispute however in the evidence on the question of mental capacity. Inasmuch as the jury decided against the will, it is requisite that the evidence for the contestants should be viewed in its most favorable light. In substance it was as follows:

Mrs. Mary Emma Martin testified that she and Roy J. Martin were married on November 26, 1931. Three boys, the contestants, were born to them. While their economic state was difficult at times, they had a happy family. Unfortunately her husband suffered nervous breakdowns in 1934, 1938, 1941, and 1952, and each time he had to be taken to Whitfield for treatment. He was working for the Illinois Central Railroad on July 28, 1954, when he was struck by a train. One leg had to be amputated immediately. About a year it was necessary to remove the other. His first hospitalization lasted about 3 months. But, almost immediately after his return to his home in Durant, his condition became grave, and it was necessary for him to be hospitalized again. Mrs. Martin obtained furloughs for the two sons who were in the armed forces, and she and the boys ministered to and comforted their husband and father in every way that they could. She stayed with him in the hospital all of the time. Not having money to buy food, much of the time she ate the leavings on his plate. Roy's brothers and sisters, including Mrs. Hosea Young and other kin, visited him in the hospital. At first they were friendy, but later, when they came to see him, they would ask Mrs. Martin to leave the room. They conversed with him in whispers.

Roy's attitude toward his wife and his sons became cold and indifferent. On this point, there was corroboration by his foreman, two former pastors of the church to which he belonged, and a practical nurse, all of whom had seen Roy a number of times. One of the witnesses told of Roy's despondency and of his accusation that the boys merely wanted his money when William Richard offered a Father's Day gift. This same witness was also of the opinion that Roy had 'a very disturbing element' in his mind. Another witness, who doubted Roy's competency, testified that Roy said that Mrs. Young and other members of his family had told him that his sons had turned against him, and he believed that the report of Roy Jr.'s committal to Whitfield was a mere ruse on the part of his wife and sons to get him into that institution. A nephew of the decedent did not think that his uncle was insane, but was of the opinion that he was unstable, and, at times, was easily influenced.

The testimony of Mrs. Martin pointed out certain specific incidents as follows: (1) Mrs. Vivian Douglas tried to have Roy's insurance changed to her. (2) W. E. Martin, just before the second operation, tried to get a will signed by Roy. (3) Mrs. Young, on one occasion, accused Mrs. Martin of neglecting both Roy Jr. and his father, and said 'we are going to take him and get him out of that trouble.' (4) W. E. Martin ignored a 'No Visitor' sign and bolted into the hospital room, saying to Mrs. Martin, 'we are going to give you a settlement and send you home', to which all of the family assented; and Mrs. Martin was forced to call the police to quell their disorder. (5) The family accused Mrs. Martin of poisoning her own father and told Roy that she would do the same thing to him. (6) Against Mrs. Martin's wishes, the hospital authorities in New Orleans released Roy to a claim agent of the railroad company, who took him to Lexington, Miss., where he filed a suit against her for a divorce. (7) When Mrs. Martin returned to New Orleans, a notice had been posted on the bulletin board barring her and her sons from entry into the hospital. (8) Roy Jr. was so affected by the charges against his mother and the coldness of his father that he lost his job and had to be placed in Whitfield for a period of seven months; and the boy's father, although earnestly solicited to do so, did not visit him at all.

Because of her husband's coldness toward her, and being fearful that he would sacrifice or lose his rights against the railroad company, Mrs. Martin, after counseling with her pastor, in June 1956, filed a petition in the Chancery Court of Holmes County for the appointment of a guardian for him. The boys, she said, had nothing whatever to do with that matter. However, no order thereon was ever made.

The decedent, on July 9, 1956, filed suit against his wife in the same chancery court to obtain a divorce. The bill charged her with habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, culminating in her effort to place a guardian over him. That suit was never tried.

The evidence for the appellant was to the effect that the decedent, an January 17, 1957, was driven to the office of Hon. Mayes McGehee, an attorney in Meadville, by Mr. Douglas, the husband of Vivian, Roy's sister. McGehee testified that the decedent's object was to discuss his claim against the railroad company and to make a will. When Roy expressed the desire to leave his wife and sons only one dollar each, the lawyer explained that his wife could renounce the will and get one-fourth of the property. Notwithstanding this advice, Roy was determined to fix the will that way because his sons, as he said, never came to see him in the hospital, and they participated with their mother in trying to have him placed under a guardian. Besides his wife disturbed him about his lawsuit, and attempted to hire a lawyer to file a suit. In the opinion of this witness, Roy had his full mental capacity; he was perfectly capable of attending to his business; and he was competent to make the will. Consequently McGehee prepared the will in accordance with Roy's wishes and was one of the subscribing withesses to it. He represented Roy thereafter in his claim against the railroad and in the divorce action. In all of his relations with the decedent at the time of making the will, and since, he saw no change in Roy's mental condition. Mrs. Gene Horton, legal secretary of attorney McGehee, to whom the will was dictated and who was the other...