66 So. 71 | Ala. | 1914
This appeal was taken from a decree of the- chancery court of Lowndes county overruling the demurrer of the respondents to a bill of complaint as amended, wherein the complainant prayed that a contract which was made by her with the respondents to convey to them a plantation situated in Lowndes county to be set aside and held to be null and void because of what, in a court of conscience, is the equivalent of an actual fraud which, so the bill as amended alleges, was practiced, in the procurement of the contract,- by the respondents upon the complainant. We are therefore, on this appeal,
■ 1. If the facts alleged in the bill are true, the complainant in our opinion, has been led by the respondents into making to them, npon a grossly inadequate consideration, at a time when the complainant, owing to the relations of trust and confidence which existed between her and the respondents, had a right to rely, and at a time when she actually relied, upon the good faith and fairness of respondents in their dealings with her, a contract to convey to them a valuable plantation in Lowndes county. If the allegations of the bill as amended correctly state the facts of the transaction, the contract should, in our opinion, be canceled and declared to be null and void.
2. The facts of this case, as they are stated in the bill as amended, are substantially as follows: Willett T. Brightman died on June '3, 1909, leaving a large landed estate which was heavily mortgaged. At the time of his death he left debts unsecured which were sufficient in amount to render- his estate insolvent.
Among the unsecured creditors was the firm of E. L. & C. P. Rogers, Jr. This firm held a debt against the estate of $5,400. Another of the unsecured creditors was Haigler Mercantile Company, a partnership composed of W. L. C. Haigler and the said Willett T. Brightman, deceased." This firm held a debt against the -estate for $9,600. These two debts, as will be seen, aggregated $15,000, and, owing to the insolvency of the estate, were, if the facts stated in the bill are true, of but little, if any, value. It seems that Willett T. Brightman owned two plantations, one of 1,680 acres,known as the “Tyson swamp place,” and one of 854
At the time of the death of her husband on June 3, 1909, the mother of complainant was suffering from a dangerous malady, and was. then in an infirmary in the city of Montgomery. Prom that time until the déath of the mother, which occurred on August 19, 1909,' complainant was practically all of the time at the bedside of her mother, and' during that period she took only an occasional trip to Lowndes county. The contract which is attached, to this proceeding was executed and delivered on October 25, 1909, less, than five months after the death of the husband, and only two months after the death of the mother.
The bill further alleges that her husband left an insurance on his life, for the benefit of his said wife, the sum of $17,000; that after his death she, while attending her sick mother, made, on July 5, 1909, a loan of $5,000 of this money to E. L. and C. P. Rogers, Jr., on their promissory note, the loan being made as a result of a conversation with said C. P. Rogers, Jr; and that on July 31, 1909, she, while still in attendance upon her sick mother, at the instance and request of said O. P. Rogers, Jr., made another loan of $3,000 of said insurance money to said E. L. and C. P. Rogers, Jr., and that the only security which she was given for this loan was a paid-up policy on the life of C. P. Rogers, Jr., payable to the deceased wife of said C. P. Rogers, Jr. The bill further alleges that when this last loan was made said C. P. Rogers, Jr., requested her to put the policy in a safety deposit vault in the bank and to take good care of same. He also
The bill further alleges that subsequent to her husbands’ death she, at the suggestion and under the advice of the said Haigler and C. P. Rogers, Jr., expended. $3,000 of her own money in repairing the. mill property to which we have above referred, although she owned only a half interest in the same, and although the half interest of her husband was heavily mortgaged as above shown.
3. In addition to the above allegations, the bill as amended shows that Willett T. Brightman left a last will and testament, and that he committed the administration of his estate into the hands of his said wife, Laura K. Brightman, and the said W. L. C. Haigler and C. P. Rogers, Jr., as the executrix and executors of his said will without bond, and that shortly after his death the will was probated and the complainant and respondents became the executrix and executors thereof, without bond. The bill as amended further shows that said W. L. C. Haigler is the husband of a sister of the said Willett T. Brightman; that he and the said Brightman, at the time of the death of said Brightman, were-associated together as partners in the mercantile business; that they, for many years, had been personal friends and business associates; and that the said W. L. C. Haigler possessed the confidence and esteem of said Brightman, not only as a man of good personal character, but also as a man of good business methods and judgment. The bill as amended further shows that for many years prior to his death the said Brightman and the said C. P. Rogers, Jr., had been personal friends, and that said Brightman regarded the said Rogers, Jr., as a man of excellent personal character, of good business habits and of good
The bill as amended further alleges that: “At this time your oratrix was in feeble health and in a very depressed condition, both mentally and physically, and when she suggested to said Rogers and Haigler the condition of her health and her inability to manage the property and her inability to repay the money that it would be necessary to borrow, they, in substance, advised oratrix that they would look after and manage her affairs, and that if she would make a will appointing them executors, without bond, that they would, in case of her death, continue to' look after her estate and manage her affairs and pay off the indebtedness which might be incurred in taking up said mortgages, and, in substance, said to oratrix, ‘Now, if we. do all of this for your, what are you going to do for us?’ And, in substance, oratrix replied, ‘I don’t know. What do you want me to do for you. Can I set aside some piece of property for you after the debts are all paid?’ And they in substance replied,. ‘Yes, give us the Holcombe place.’ And oratrix agreed, in substance, that if they would procure the money which she did not have, to take up the mortgages above referred to and look after her affairs, or assist her in looking after
The bill as amended further alleges that the said Rogers, Jr., and Haigler stated to her that an attorney in Montgomery should be employed to advise with the executors of said estate and with her personally, and that it was her understanding that one had been so employed. The bill as amended further shows that, acting upon the suggestion of the said Haigler and Rogers, Jr., she came to Montgomery and went to the office of the attorney, where the contract, of which “Exhibit A” to the bill as amended is a copy (and which the reporter wall set out), was read over to her, and that, acting upon the assumption that the attorney who prepared the paper had been employed to advise with her as to her personal matters as well as in her capa.city as executrix, and acting in the light of the trust and confidence which she had reposed in said Haigler and Rogers, Jr., she signed the paper, and that, on the same occasion, she executed a last will and testament by which she made the said Rogers and Haigler her executors without bond.
The bill further shows that E. L. and C. P. Rogers, Jr., have paid to her no part of the |8,000 which they borrowed from her, and that she has brought a suit against them to collect the amount due; that Haigler and Rogers Jr., have failed to carry into' effect the representations which they made to her to induce her to sign said contract, and that she has been thrown upon her own efforts and resources to protect herself against the prior mortgages on her said husband’s lands, etc
“If,” says Collier, C. J., speaking for this court, in Juzan et al. v. Toulmin, 9 Ala. 662, 44 Am. Dec. 448, “in such a case, there is .any misrepresentation or concealment of any material fact, or any just suspicion of artifice, or undue influence, courts of equity will interpose, and pronounce the transaction void, and, as far as possible, restore the parties to their original rights.”
The rule which we have quoted applies not only where (the legal relationship of trust and confidence exists between two or more person. “It is not essential that any formal or technical relationship of a fiduciary character has been established between the parties. It suffices that they stand in such relation to each other that, while it continues, confidence is justifiably reposed by one, and the influence which naturally grows out of that confidence is possessed by the other.”—Kyle v. Perdue, 95 Ala. 584, 585, 10 South. 104, 105; Cannon v. Gilmer, 135 Ala. 302, 33 South. 659.
We know of no better way for a man to be introduced to a woman’s confidence, faith, and trust than for the husband of that woman to appoint that man, along with his wife, the executor, without bond, of his last will and testament.
In this case, when the husband of complainant, in executing his last will and. testament, committed the settlement of his estate to his wife and to C. P. Rog
The above expression, “well-grounded suspicion of artifice or undue influence,” is used by us advisedly, for while, in such cases, a court of equity will not set aside a contract made by parties who occupy fiduciax*y relations towards each other merely upon the ground of suspicion, nevertheless, when such a contract is assailed on the grounds indicated by the party who has, as the natural sequence of the fiduciary relationship, reposed confidence and trust in the other party, then a court of equity presumes the contract to be void, and casts the burden upon the other party to show, by competent evidence, that the transaction was “fair and righteous.” — Cannon v. Gilmer, supra, Kyle v. Perdue, supra; Martin v. Evans, 163 Ala. 657, 50 South. 997.
5. The contract, it is true, was prepared by an attorney and was ■ read over to the complainant, before she signed it, by the attorney in his office. It is not
That Mrs. Brightman has, by her bill as amended, made out a case which brings her within the doctrines which we have quoted from the authorities above cited we see no reason to doubt.
When Willett T. Brightman died he left two plantations and some other real estate heavily mortgaged to Bell, Merriweather, and Griel Bros., which, necessarily, for her own protection as a junior mortgagee,
It seems to us, therefore, that the bill as amended shows that Rogers, Jr., and Haigler must show that their transactions with complainant have been fair and righteous, and that the chancellor committed no error in overruling the demurrer to the bill as amended.
The decree of the court below is affirmed.
Affirmed.