69 Wash. 610 | Wash. | 1912
The appellant brought this action against the respondent to procure the cancellation, on the ground of want of consideration, duress and fraud, of a quitclaim deed executed by herself to the respondent. From the record it appears that one Benjamin F. Smith died, leaving a tract of land, one-half of which he devised to the appellant, and one-half to certain other parties. The estate was indebted in a considerable sum, and to pay the same the land was sold by the executor named in the will, at public sale. The respondent became the purchaser at the sale, paying for the land the amount of the obligations against the estate, some $700,
It is this quitclaim deed that the appellant sought to set aside in this action. The duress and fraud alleged is the taking advantage of the necessities of the appellant thus compelling her to enter into the agreement of settlement. She alleges, and testified at the trial, that the respondent threatened to foreclose the mortgage on her home unless she acceded to his terms of settlement; that she had a sick daughter living with her; and that this threat so far disturbed the daughter’s peace of mind as to render her condition dangerous, compelling the appellant to comply with the request in order to save the daughter’s life. But the evidence does not
The appellant next insists that she did not in fact acknowledge the quitclaim deed, and that the officer’s certificate thereon to that effect is false. But this claim is also without mei'it. She bases her charge of want of acknowledgment on the assertion that she refused to state to the notary taking the same that she executed the deed freely and voluntarily for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. But aside from the fact that she went before the notary for the purpose of acknowledging it, there is evidence that she actually did acknowledge it, sufficient to outweigh her denial.
The judgment is affirmed.