Burgedorff v. Hamer

145 N.W. 250, 95 Neb. 113, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 164
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 1914
DocketNo. 17,512
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 145 N.W. 250 (Burgedorff v. Hamer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burgedorff v. Hamer, 145 N.W. 250, 95 Neb. 113, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 164 (Neb. 1914).

Opinion

Barnes, J.

This action was brought in the district court for Phelps county against the defendant, Martha I. Hamer, on a promissory note for $2,f50, bearing interest at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum. The defendant, by her guardian, E. T. Grunden, and also in her own behalf, filed answers to‘the petition, in which she admitted signing the note in question, but alleged three matters of defense: First, that the note sued on was a part of, and attached to, a written instrument, which is set out in her answer, for the sale of a relinquishment of two certain homestead claims situated in the mountains of Colorado, and about four or five miles from Dawson Switch, and about 35 miles from the city of Denver. It was alleged in said answers that the note sued on was not to be paid until the fulfilment of the terms and conditions set out in the written contract of sale. Second, that the said note was obtained from the defendant by false and fraudulent representations made by the plaintiff Bridgeham G. Burgedorff and his son, George Burgedorff, to the defendant, relating to the value of the said claims, the amount and value of the timber, and the value of the improvements located on said claims; that the false and fraudulent representations were that the value of the timber growing upon said claims was $10,000, or thereabouts; that the value of the improvements was $1,000, and that the value of the land aside from the timber and improvements ay as about $1,400; that said representations were false, fraudulent, and untrue, [115]*115and defendant relied thereon to her great damage. Third, the answers further alleged that the defendant at the time of the making of said contract and the signing of said note was mentally incompetent to transact her business, and that she was under guardianship, a guardian having theretofore been appointed for her by the county court of Phelps county, Nebraska.

Plaintiffs filed a reply to defendant’s answers, in which they denied that they made any false or fraudulent representations to secure the note in question, denied that defendant is or was mentally incompetent, and alleged that ilie appointment of a guardian for her was secured under false representations on her part that she was an.incompetent person, and also that her guardian was appointed for the purpose of prosecuting a certain suit for her in Harlan county, Nebraska.

Plaintiffs further alleged, by way of reply, that they had pledged the note in question with the Colorado State & Savings Bank to secure the payment of certain moneys loaned by said bank to plaintiffs, and that at numerous times the defendant, Martha I. Hamer, went with the plaintiff Bridgeham C. Burgedorff to the Colorado State & Savings Bank, and that she then and there stated to one McCutchen, the president of the said bank, that she had given the note in question to Burgedorff, and that the same would be duly paid at maturity; that she did not at said times in any manner question the validity of the note, or the insufficiency of the consideration therefor.

The Colorado State & Savings Bank intervened, by leave of the court, and alleged that the note in suit was pledged to it as security for loans made to the Burgedorffs; that said note was duly indorsed and transferred by them to the bank to secure loans made to them, and that might thereafter be made to them; that there is due to the Colorado State & Savings Bank from the said Burgedorffs the sum of $1,511.85, with interest thereon, and prayed that the said defendant be adjudged to pay the intervener the said sum, together with interest, to which answer and [116]*116cross-petition of the intervener the defendant filed a general denial.

Upon the issues thus made there was a trial to a jury, who returned a general verdict for the defendant, and against the plaintiffs and the intervener. Motions for a new trial were filed and overruled, judgment was rendered on the verdict, and the plaintiffs and intervener have appealed to this court.

Appellants earnestly contend that the evidence does not establish fraud in the transaction by which the note in question was obtained, because the representations made to defendant were of value only, and fraud cannot be predicated thereon. It appears that the plaintiff, his son, and his son’s wife represented to- defendant that the buildings on the two homestead claims were of the value of at least $1,000 that there were 30 acres of good farm land on the claims; that the timber growing thereon was of the value of $10,000, and that with very little work that amount could be realized therefrom. A fair preponderance of the evidence discloses that these representations were false, and amounted to a gross exaggeration of the real facts relating to the value of the claims. It also appears that plaintiff had no knowledge such as would enable her to form a correct estimate of the value of the claims. Ordinarily fraud could not be predicated on such representations, yet, when we take into consideration the defendant’s mental condition, such representations would amount to fraud.

It appears that defendant, a few years before the transaction occurred, had been divorced from her husband, and had obtained a farm worth about $16,000 as alimony; that she had so mismanaged the farm, and the proceeds arising from mortgaging and selling it, as to require the appointment of a guardian of her person and estate, and at the time the note sued on was executed she was' under such guardianship in Phelps county, Nebraska, where she resided when the appointment was made. It also appears that after obtaining her divorce she became infatuated with one Fred N. Skiles, who was a widower, and had given him [117]*117$8,000 to start a saloon; that proceedings to recover this money, or a part of it, had been prosecuted to a partly successful determination; that defendant had paid Skiles’ attorney’s fees; that she had gone to Thomasville, Colorado, thereafter; had purchased a hotel and saloon, and had again started Skiles in business, which business had been a failure; that she was induced to purchase the relinquishment of the claims in question because she was told that Skiles could make money out of the timber thereon. These facts were in evidence, and were well known to the plaintiffs a.t the time the note was executed. It further appears that plaintiff, after selling the relinquishments to defendant, induced his cousin to contest the entry to the one on which the most valuable timber was situated.

The question of the defendant’s mental condition, and .all of the circumstances of the transaction, were submitted to the jury under proper instructions, and we do not feel at liberty to disturb their verdict.

It is also contended that the court erred in receiving the evidence of Maxey, Gustus, and Everson as to the defendant’s mental condition. It appears that Maxey was the agent who obtained the loan of $9,000 for the defendant on her Iowa farm, $8,000 of which she gave to Skiles; Gustus was the sheriff of Phelps county, who had served the papers in various suits for and against her, and had known her well for a-number of years; and Everson was the attorney who had conducted the litigation for her in her attempt to recover her money from Skiles. These witnesses were able to testify as to her mental condition from .facts related, derived from years of observation of the defendant, and the nature of her business transactions. We therefore conclude that their evidence was properly received.

It is further contended that the court erred in giving paragraph 5 of his instructions to the jury.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
145 N.W. 250, 95 Neb. 113, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burgedorff-v-hamer-neb-1914.