141 Minn. 475 | Minn. | 1919
Plaintiff brought this action to enforce specific performance of an oral contract alleged to have been made by Neis Gummeson, in 1906, by which he agreed to give her, at his death, all his property except two specified items. He died in 1915, leaving a will which revoked all prior wills and made no provision for plaintiff. The trial court found as a fact that, although Neis Gummeson had stated, in 1906, that he intended' to will some of his property to plaintiff, he had never made any contract to do so, and rendered judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appealed.
Neis Gummeson and his wife, Christine Gummeson, were natives of Sweden. They settled on a farm in Murray county in this state many years ago and seem to have been in comfortable circumstances. As early as 1898 they relieved themselves from farm work by renting the farm, but reserved to themselves certain rooms in the farmhouse in which they continued to reside. They had no children. Neis Gummeson had
Plaintiff claims that the contract in question was made during one of these visits in the fall of 1906. Those present at the time were Mr. and Mrs. Gummeson and plaintiff and her husband. As Mr. and Mrs. Gum-meson are both dead and the statute 'bars plaintiff from testifying to this conversation, the only evidence we have as to what took place is the testimony of plaintiff’s husband, Tollef Greenfield. .. He testified that Neis Gummeson said to her: “I don’t feel right about this farm that I bought of you and Tollef, and we are getting old and need some one to look after us and help us. You have been good to us these years and you got nothing for it and we want to see that you have pay, or do something for you. Now if you want to forgive me for this, if you want to forget that farm and forgive me and help Christine and myself and look after us and be like a child to us, we will give you what we have when we die, except I want to let John and Marie have the use of the south forty as long as they live, and I want to give Blenda $500 when we die, and I want to give you $500 cash and everything else when we die. We will go down and make out papers in a few days and so you don’t need to worry. You have been good to us all these years and have gotten nothing for it and we are going to fix it so you will be paid.” He further testified: “Ida said she would do her best to help them and Mrs. Gum-meson said that is the way she wanted it.”
After the transactions, the relations between the parties continued the same as before with no substantial change until 1908. In the spring of 1908, Christine Gummeson returned to Sweden, where she remained until her death in 1912. In the fall of 1908, Neis Gummeson also returned to Sweden, where he remained until his death in 1915. Plaintiff never saw either of them after they returned to Sweden and of course performed no services for them after their removal. Before leaving his farm, and on October 5, 1908, Neis Gummeson executed a will which has been duly admitted to probate in Murray county, and which in express terms revoked all prior wills. This will made no mention of plaintiff. Basing her claim on the facts and evidence above outlined, plaintiff insists that she is entitled to all the property, other than the excepted items, which Neis Gummeson possessed at the time of his death.
Defendant presented testimony, principally that of the tenants who lived in the same house with the Gummesons, tending to show that plaintiff merely made friendly visits to the Gummesons and did not perform services for them of any importance. It appears from the testimony of plaintiff and her husband that in 1906 she had six children ranging in age from two to fifteen years; that she cared for these children, did her own housework, and also assisted her husband in the farm work. The Gummesons had ceased operating their farm, had only themselves to care for and were able to hire help if needed. It seems unlikely that plaintiff, burdened with the multifarious duties of her own home, could
Judgment affirmed.