194 Iowa 390 | Iowa | 1922
I. On March. 1, 1918, Amanda Smith executed, as a gift to the Iowa Seventh Day Adventist Association, Incorporated, deeds to two pieces of property located in Charles City, Iowa. On June 27, 1919, Amanda Smith died intestate, at the age of 70 years. She was a widow, and left surviving her, as her only heirs at law, plaintiffs in this action, Hubert West and Leora Warner. The property conveyed to the association was worth approximately $2,500. She had other real estate, money, and other personal property, which she did not convey, worth about $3,000.
■ This action was brought to set aside the deeds to the association, and for a decree establishing ownership by inheritance in plaintiffs.
From her childhood until within a few years of her death, Amanda Smith had been a member of the Methodist Church. During the last five or six years of her life, she was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. .Plaintiffs claim that Amanda Smith had become, at the time of the execution of the deeds in question, entirely under the influence of defendant, and particularly of the officers of the Iowa conference of defendant association and the local minister of the church, and was governed entirely by said minister and officers; that said minister and officers unduly influenced Amanda Smith to deed the two pieces of property to said association; that, at the time of the execution of the deeds, Amanda Smith had not mental capacity to understand or comprehend the nature and consequence of the execution of said deeds; that, at and prior to said time, she was in such a weakened mental condition that she became insane on religion, and especially the religion preached and practiced by the defendant association; and that her weakened mind was overcome and influenced by the officers of defendant association and its ministers to such an extent that she was induced to execute the deeds in question; that the deeds were without consideration, and were for the financial use of said association, and were procured by undue influence by the officers and ministers of said association.
Upon the issues thus joined, the cause was tried. The court made findings of fact and conclusions of law in substance as follows:
That there existed between Amanda Smith and her pastor, Rev. F. W. Meyers, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Charles City, Iowa, at and prior to the execution of the deeds in question, the relation of parishioner and pastor, and that there also existed between Amanda Smith and Rev. A. R. Ogden, the president of the defendant corporation, at said time, and Meta Meyers, wife of said Rev. W. F. Meyers, the relation of spiritual advisers to said Amanda Smith; that, because of said relations and the peculiar religious notion of Amanda Smith in relation to what she deemed her religious duty, as being commanded by the Lord to convey said real estate, and why she must do so, said parties, or some of them, obtained and held influence over said Amanda Smith, at and prior to the time in question, whereby she was deprived of or did not possess the power to exercise a deliberate judgment in the matter; that, by virtue of such relations, the pastor and officers of said defendant church organization, or some of them, acquired influence over said Amanda Smith. The court held, as a matter of law, that, in the transactions under investigation, there was an undue exercise of such influence. The court decreed the deeds to be void, and set them aside, and quieted title to the property in plaintiffs, from which decree defendant appeals.
Involved in the case are the questions of the mental capacity of Amanda Smith to mate the deeds, and whether she was unduly influenced by the defendant, through its officers and ministers, to execute the deeds.
The record in this case is very voluminous. It would be impracticable to attempt to state the facts in detail, and it is not necessary to a decision of this case to do so.
II.' Amanda Smith had been a member of the Methodist church from childhood up to within five or six years of her
The soundness of Amanda Smith’s mind is not seriously challenged, upon any other subject than religion. Some witnesses detail some small financial transactions with her, wherein they think that her actions indicated unsoundness of mind. She was in error in the financial disputes, and did and said untoward things, and displayed ill temper, but not unsoundness of mind. She had always been a good business woman, and frugal and economical. She conserved her property well. There is no challenge of her business capacity, except the- transaction in question, and that is ascribed to religious fanaticism and unsoundness of mind therefrom resulting. There is in the record a volume of opinion testimony, offered to prove that Amanda Smith was insane on the subject of the Seventh Day Adventist religion. But we are bound to say that the law pronounces no
To accord with the record, it must be said that Amanda Smith did not keep secret her intention to give a portion of her property to the church. She told neighbors that she was going to give these two properties to the church. She told her daughter, Leora Warner, that she intended to give some property to the church. Nor did she keep secret that she had given this property to the church. She told her neighbors quite generally, whenever she met them, that she had done so. It is true that her son and her daughter did not know that she had given the property to the church until after the transaction. Her son and daughter did not know of the execution of the deeds at the time of their execution. No one besides Ogden and Rev. Meyers and his wife and Amanda Smith were present when arrangement was made for conveyance of the property, and only Meyers and
III. We will now set forth with some particularity material portions of the testimony of F. W. Meyers, the local pastor at Charles City, and his wife, who was a missionary in the church, and A. R. Ogden, president of the defendant association, who were present at the home of Amanda Smith when arrangements were made for conveyance of the property to defendant association by Amanda Smith; and also the testimony pertaining to the execution of the deeds in question later. We set out this testimony quite fully, because we are disposed to hold contrary to the decision of the learned court below.
Rev. F. W. Meyers testified that he was the local minister for the Adventists at Charles City during 1917 and 1918 and up to May 1, 1919; that he had known Amanda Smith for five years; that she was a member of his church in Charles City; that she had previously been an isolated member of the Iowa conference of the church, which had its headquarters at Nevada, Iowa; that he saw and conversed with Amanda Smith, and called at her house frequently, and lived in her house for a while, in the fall of 1918, but was not living there when the deeds were made; that, six months before the deeds were made, she talked to him about giving the property to the church; that she said, in the summer of 1917, that she wanted to give these two properties, to help carry on the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ; that he did not suggest that she do this; that he never influenced her in any way; that she frequently mentioned giving the property to the church; that she asked him “if the property on Sixteenth Avenue would help any in spreading the gospel of Christ in Charles City,” and he told her it would; that this talk was about two or three weeks before she made the deeds; that she asked him to send for Mr. Ogden, saying that she wanted to give the property to the church; that she had been thinking about it for a long time, and had made up her mind to do it; that he then called Mr. Ogden, and about a week later, Og'den came to Charles City; that he went with Ogden to Mrs. Smith’s home, and upon their arrival, Mrs. Smith said to them that she had some property to give to the Iowa conference of Seventh Day Adventists; that they were at Mrs. Smith’s house
Meyers testified, also, that Mrs. Smith never told him, after she made the deeds, that she wanted Ogden to come up and see her; that, if she had told him that she wanted to talk with Ogden, he would have asked him to come up, and would have advised that, if she wanted the property back, her request should be complied with; that his church has no book of discipline save the Bible; that his church teaches the Bible as a whole; that he did not receive any financial aid or salary of any kind from the defendant association; that it made no difference to him, financially or personally, whether the grantee in the deeds keeps the property or whether it is given to the heirs; that Mrs. Smith believed in Christ, and as the Bible teaches regarding his birth; that his people think that, according to the Scriptures, Christ was born in June or July, and base their belief on the twelfth chapter of Exodus, the first chapter of Luke, and the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, because, in those texts, it is said that, at the time of the birth of Christ, the shepherds were herding their flocks, which they did not do in wintertime; that he did not advise Mrs. Smith that it was
A. R. Ogden testified tbat be was an Adventist minister, and, at the time of the transaction in question, was president of tbe defendant association, but was not, at the time of tbe trial, connected with tbe association; tbat be never requested Mrs. Smith to deed property to tbe church or to give anything to tbe church; that he did not know tbe nature of tbe business to be transacted, when be came to Charles City, in February, 1918, but merely understood tbat Mrs. Smith wanted to see bim about some property; tbat Meyers told bim tbat sbe wanted to see bim about some property, but did not give bim the particulars; tbat Mrs. Smith did not tell bim tbat sbe bad a command from God to convey the property’ to -the church; tbat sbe told bim tbat sbe was anxious tbat tbe work of tbe denomination be permanently established in Charles City; tbat bis church did not teach that people receive special communications or commands from God in a general way; tbat they used the Bible for their instruction; that they taught tbat people in other denominations will be saved, tbe same as their people; tbat they kept Saturday as tbe Sabbath, and worked six days, according to the fourth commandment of tbe Decalogue; tbat they did tbat because they believed that tbe Bible teaches it; tbat Mrs. Smith paid tithes to the church. —
Mrs. F. W. Meyers testified tbat sbe was a licensed missionary of the Seventh Day Adventist Conference; tbat she met Amanda Smith in 1913, and knew her continuously afterwards ; tbat she was present and heard tbe conversation between Mrs. Smith and Rev. Ogden in February, 1918; tbat Mr. Ogden said to Mrs. Smith, ‘ ‘ So you want to see me about disposing of some of your property,” and Mrs. Smith said “Yes,” tbat sbe bad
When Amanda Smith first entertained an intention to give her property to the church, we do not know; and that is not important. Important and perhaps pivotal questions are as to how the intention was produced, and whether the transaction of the execution of the deeds, entirely between the representatives of the association on one side and Amanda Smith on the other, without independent advice, and without the knowledge of her children, should be upheld or not, under our finding that
Counsel for appellees takes the position, and argues with much force, and supports his position with authorities from eminent courts, that undue influence, as a matter of law, is presumed to have been exerted by the defendant association, through its representatives, because, when arrangement for the conveyances, and also when the execution of the deeds took place, no independent advice was accorded Amanda Smith, and neither were her children advised of the transaction. The position of appellees was sustained by the lower court. If such rule should be conceded to obtain in this jurisdiction, and the burden cast upon defendant association to overcome a presumption of undue influence, then we conclude, from a careful examination of the whole record, fhat the defendant association has met the burden that would be imposed upon it, and has overcome any such presumption by clear and satisfactory evidence.
Appellees interposed objection to the testimony of Ogden, president of the defendant association at the time of the transactions in question, and Meyers, minister of the church at Charles City, and Mrs. Meyers, a missionary of the church, on the ground that they were prohibited from testifying by Code Section 4604. These witnesses were not interested in the defendant corporation, as contemplated by said section, and the objections were not well taken.
A reading of the cases holding that a presumption of undue influence obtained because of confidential relations between the parties discloses that, in most instances, the donor was very old, or ill near unto death. Not so in the instant ease. Amanda Smith was not an aged woman at the time of'the transaction. She was about 70 years old. She was in fair health and physical strength. It was after the transaction that she was weakened physically by a siege of the “flu.” Her business ability was
The decree of the court below is reversed. — Reversed.