Brice v. Brice

5 Barb. 533
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 5, 1849
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 5 Barb. 533 (Brice v. Brice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brice v. Brice, 5 Barb. 533 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1849).

Opinion

By the Court, Harris, P. J.

The evidence in this cause shows that at the time the conveyances of the 2d of January, 1833, were executed, the plaintiff was the owner of a farm worth from six to eight thousand dollars, and had a considerable amount of personal property, consisting of stock, farming implements, &c: That the only incumbrances upon his farm were a mortgage which he had a few months previously executed to the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company for $1800, and, perhaps, a judgment in favor of Mr. Wheaton for about $300 for a debt of his son James. That for several years James had exercised almost unlimited control over the plaintiff; that he had acted as his general agent and transacted most of his business; that he was accustomed to follow the suggestions and advice of James with the "most implicit confidence. That he had become old and feeble, and in the management of his affairs depended upon the aid and counsel of his son, and that thereby James had acquired great and controlling influence over him; that under these circumstances James [539]*539formed the purpose of obtaining from his father a conveyance of his property; and to effect that purpose he resolved to call in the aid of his friend and brother-in-law, Sebastian Lewis; that without disclosing to his father his purpose he went to Broadalbin and brought Lewis home with him; that immediately upon his return the plaintiff was sent for, and the proposition made to him that he should convey all his property to them, reserving to himself and his wife a support. That to induce him to comply with their proposal they referred to his present weakness and infirmities, told him that he had become old and foolish, alluded to the evidence of his imbecility in the fact of his having signed papers which he ought not to have signed, and thus artfully appealing to his fears, and betraying the child-like confidence he reposed in them, they advised him that it would be better for him to place his property in the hands of Lewis as a trustee, and thereby secure a support for himself and his wife. They found him a fit subject to be operated upon by their arts. He readily surrendered himself and his property into their hands, and on the same day or the next, they found themselves vested with the title to his entire estate, worth from four to six thousand dollars over and above the incumbrances, without having paid one cent of consideration, or incurred any liability, beyond a personal covenant to support the plaintiff and his wife during their respective lives. I am entirely satisfied that when the conveyance of the second of January, 1833, was made, the plaintiff was under the overruling influence of his son and Lewis; that the transaction was theirs, not his; that while he, with unsuspecting simplicity, yielded to their suggestions and counsel, they were treacherously contriving how they might most effectually profit by his misplaced confidence. I cannot bring myself to doubt that the plaintiff was induced to execute the conveyance by means of an undue influence exercised over his free will by his son and Lewis, and that the case is clearly within the principle and policy which govern courts of equity in avoiding deeds obtained under such circumstances. The relation of both child and confidential agent, which James R Brice sustained to the [540]*540plaintiff seems to me to bring this case most emphatically within what Lord Eldon called that great rule of the court, that “ he who bargains in a matter of advantage with a person placing confidence in him is bound to show that a reasonable use has been made of that confidence ; a rule applying to trustees, attorneys or any one else.” The plaintiff believed his son and his son’s brother-in-law to be his friends; and believing this, under the consciousness of his own infirmities, he was readily persuaded to do what they advised him would be for his advantage. The language of Justice Woodworth, in delivering the opinion of the court for the correction of errors in Whelan v. Whelan, (3 Cowen, 537,) is forcibly appropriate to such a case. “A contract obtained from one party, so much in the power of the other, cannot be sanctioned if confidence has been abused, if there is inadequacy of price, or the inference is plain that advantage has been taken of age and imbecility, and the partiality of a parent has been artfully made use of to strip him of his property and reduce him to a state of dependence and want.”

It was urged upon the argument, on behalf of the defendant Lewis, that though James R. Brice may have imposed upon the credulity of his father, the evidence was not sufficient to involve Lewis in the imposition. I think the proof justifies the conclusion that Lewis himself, with a full knowledge of the purpose of James R. Brice, freely lent himself to their accomplishment, and that ultimately he sought to derive to himself the chief benefit of the fraud he had contributed to practice upon the plaintiff. But however this may be, Lewis is not in a situation to claim protection as a bona fide purchaser, and it is enough that he received the conveyance infected with the undue influence and imposition of him from whom he received it. The obligation of restitution follows it into his hands. Though he may not be guilty of actual fraud himself,, the general rule, that in cases of fraud “ the whole transaction will be undone and all the parties replaced in their former situation,” will not allow him to avail himself of his own innocence to pro[541]*541tect the property against the party who has been deprived of it by fraud or imposition.

But it is insisted that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief upon the ground of undue influence, because it is not properly alleged in the bill. The learned assistant vice chancellor seems to have been of this opinion ; for he says “I conceive the bill as radically defective in charging the fraudulent acts in the alternative, upon the son or Lewis, and in charging it to be a mistake or fraud.” If it be true that the bill contains no such substantive allegation, then though the proof might warrant the relief sought, it cannot be granted. For it must appear from the bill, as well as the proof, that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief sought. Not, indeed, that any technical form of words is necessary; but such a state of facts must be found in the bill as will lead the court, upon an examination of all its allegations, to draw the inference of undue influence. The terms “ undue influence,” or “fraud,” or “mistake,” may not be found in the bill, and yet if either of these grounds of relief is substantially involved in the statements of the bill, relief will not be denied, for the want of proper allegations.

Testing the sufficiency of the allegations in the bill by this rule of pleading, I think they will be found to warrant the relief sought.

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Bluebook (online)
5 Barb. 533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brice-v-brice-nysupct-1849.