Beck v. Givens

309 P.2d 715, 77 Wyo. 176, 1957 Wyo. LEXIS 15
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 9, 1957
Docket2767
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 309 P.2d 715 (Beck v. Givens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beck v. Givens, 309 P.2d 715, 77 Wyo. 176, 1957 Wyo. LEXIS 15 (Wyo. 1957).

Opinions

[180]*180OPINION

Mr. Justice Parker

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff, Mae E. Beck, brought an action against Earl Givens, in his capacity as administrator of his father’s estate, seeking to be adjudged the owner of 165 sheep and all cattle bearing D/G brand, together with calves, which livestock were in possession of defendant. Plaintiff’s claim was based on two purported bills of sale to her from the deceased. Defendant’s resistance to the action stemmed from the claim that the bills of sale were ineffective to transfer title to plaintiff.

The answer admitted that deceased died on February 22, 1956, and admitted defendant’s possession of the livestock, but alleged that the animals had been the property of the deceased, that plaintiff’s claim to them was invalid, and that defendant properly held them as the representative of deceased’s estate.

On the trial, claimant’s witnesses were Mae E. Beck, the plaintiff; Sharon Beck, her daughter; and the defendant, who was called for the purpose of cross-examination. Defendant objected to testimony by plaintiff on the ground that § 3-2603, W.C.S.1945, the “dead man’s statute,” prohibited such testimony. This objection was sustained to all but a few questions, and plaintiff thereupon made an offer of proof covering [181]*181testimony which she proposed to present. The daughter, Sharon Beck, testified that plaintiff and deceased had. lived together some eleven years, that she had thought they were married. She identified Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 1, a brand inspection certificate covering some 159 sheep and containing thereon in the handwriting of deceased the following:

“February 4, 1956
“Sold to Mae Beck for 1000 and other valuable consideration Same being at Pitts Ranch
“Donald Givens”
testifying that on February 4, 1956, in her presence at their home decedent had given the instrument to the witness’s mother, stating that he wanted to give it to her, and that plaintiff had thereafter “put it up.” The witness also indentified Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 2, reading as follows:
“February 15, 1956
“Sold to Mae E Beck for 10/00 ten dollars and other valuable consideration
All cattle branded D/G numbering at least seven head
“Donald Givens”
and stated that the instrument had been found by plaintiff in her desk after decedent’s death. Both of these exhibits were introduced in evidence without objection from defendant.
At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, defendant moved for judgment. When the motion was denied, he took [182]*182the stand in his own defense and called Alvin Givens, a son of deceased. Plaintiff’s attempt to testify in rebuttal was limited by defendant’s further objection, based on the “dead man’s statute.”

The trial court found, inter alia, “That Donald Givens died * * * by his own hand * * * and * * * left in the plaintiff’s home two memorandums dated February 4th and February 15th, respectively, designated as Plaintiff’s Exhibits 1 and 2, which recite in Donald Givens’ handwriting, ‘Sold to Mae Beck for $10 and other valuable considerations’ certain livestock * * *. * * * that if the documents in question were intended by the deceased to evidence a gift inter vivos or causa mortis by the deceased to the plaintiff in contemplation of his suicide, the language of the documents themselves is insufficient to indicate such a gift, and the evidence does not disclose that the documents had been placed by the decedent beyond his control, so that in fact no delivery of the documents had been made prior to his death * *

The judgment on this finding stated that the instruments “are in effect only memorandums of an agreement of sale when in fact no agreement for the sale of the property in question had been entered upon or agreed to by the deceased and the plaintiff * *

Plaintiff’s specifications of error, dealing generally with the rejection of plaintiff’s testimony and with the alleged incorrectness of the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, are attacked by defendant as indefinite and objectionable. Defendant further insists that plaintiff’s argument in the brief departs from the specifications and approaches the appeal as if the matter is to be considered de novo rather than on appeal. Without passing upon any alleged inept[183]*183ness of the specifications or their lack of unity with the current argument, it is sufficient at this point to say that the propriety of the judgment depends upon three questions.

First. Did the trial court disregard the uncontra-dicted testimony of the daughter, Sharon Beck, and if so, was the court justified in so doing?

Second. Was the February 4 instrument, Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 1, a valid transfer of the animals described therein, notwithstanding the fact that the parties had failed to move the animals?

Third. Was the February 15 instrument, Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 2, a valid transfer of the animals described therein, notwithstanding the fact that the parties had failed to move the animals?

Considering the first question thus presented, we are unable to say whether or not the trial court disregarded the testimony of Sharon Beck. The judgment does not evaluate her testimony or state what the evidence shows, and the record contains no indication in this regard. However, defendant in his brief states:

“* * * It is believed, further, that the nature of the testimony of Sharon Beck, daughter of plaintiff, in direct and cross-examination, in its uncertainty, its contradictions, its misstatements, and its admitted attempt to testify to matters as they had been told to her by her mother, the plaintiff and appellant, rather than of her own knowledge, was such that the court would have been at liberty to disregard it in its entirety.”

In the light of this rather sweeping observation, it seems appropriate that we state our views on the subject.

[184]*184The right of a trial court to disregard the uncontra-dicted testimony of a witness poses a problem regarding which there has been a lack of unanimity of opinion. It has been stated that undiscredited testimony of a disinterested witness to facts of themselves not improbable constitutes a legal establishment of the facts about which testimony is given. It has also been said that the testimony of a witness even though un-contradicted is for the triers of fact, whether court or jury, who are not bound thereby, and that the testimony may be disregarded if evasive, equivocal, improbable, impossible, or contrary to physical facts, laws of nature, or scientific principles. See generally on the subject 20 Am.Jur., Evidence § 1180; Annotations, 8 A.L.R. 796, 72 A.L.R. 27; Haywood v. Kukuchka, 55 Wyo. 41, 95 P.2d 71.

As will be indicated by a search of Evidence, Key-Number 594, West’s American Digest System, the cases on the subject are multitudinous and the decisions divergent depending on the facts in each instance. A few statements from representative cases are worthy of consideration:

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Beck v. Givens
309 P.2d 715 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
309 P.2d 715, 77 Wyo. 176, 1957 Wyo. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beck-v-givens-wyo-1957.