Cooper v. Zold

137 N.W.2d 93, 28 Wis. 2d 391, 1965 Wisc. LEXIS 844
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 5, 1965
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 137 N.W.2d 93 (Cooper v. Zold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooper v. Zold, 137 N.W.2d 93, 28 Wis. 2d 391, 1965 Wisc. LEXIS 844 (Wis. 1965).

Opinion

Hallows, J.

The main issue is whether the court’s failure to find undue influence on the part of the primary beneficiary was contrary to the great weight and clear preponderance of the credible evidence. A corollary issue is whether the trial court failed to recognize the inference of undue influence which the appellant claims was established as a matter of law by undisputed evidence. There are minor subsidiary issues which will be stated later.

The parties do not disagree on the basic law governing proof of undue influence or the scope of the appellate power in such cases. Undue influence, of course, as we have often said, must be proved by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence and a finding either way will not be upset on appeal unless it is against the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. It is also recognized the nature of undue influence is such that it usually rests either solely or to a large extent upon circumstantial evidence. For an explanation and discussion of these applicable rules, see Will of Freitag (1960), 9 Wis. (2d) 315, 101 N. W. (2d) 108; Kuehn v. Kuehn (1960), 11 Wis. (2d) 15, 104 N. W. (2d) 138; Estate of Perssion (1963), 20 Wis. (2d) 537, 123 N. W. (2d) 465.

[395]*395Appellant contends undue influence was adequately proved under two theories of proof, i. e., the four classical elements of opportunity to influence, disposition to influence, susceptibility, and coveted result, Will of Freitag, supra, and the confidential relationship between the testator and the beneficiary coupled with “suspicious circumstances,” Will of Faulks (1945), 246 Wis. 319, 17 N. W. (2d) 423. As to the first method, appellant contends the findings of the trial court are contrary to the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence and as to the second method, the court failed to make findings in accordance with the great weight and clear preponderance of the credible evidence.

The appellant’s brief contains 28 pages of facts. We will only summarize the more salient points of the testimony which we reviewed as a whole to determine what is the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. In 1949 Cooper, who lived in Racine with his wife and son, was unemployed and with the financial help of his wife opened up a grocery store in a building which she owned with other persons. The appellant was married in 1950 and lived in the Racine area until his mother’s death in 1956. There was a cordial relationship between the two Cooper families. Upon his mother’s death, at the request of Cooper the appellant moved into his father’s home under a sharing-of-expense arrangement, an arrangement which lasted some six years. There is testimony this arrangement, while workable, was not entirely satisfactory and Cooper and his daughter-in-law were not on the best of terms. There is also testimony that Cooper was stubborn, self-willed, and not easily influenced and was also domineering and demanding. Following Mrs. Cooper’s death the testator’s health and personality suffered. He was bitter about his wife’s death and took less interest in the store.

In 1962 the appellant’s wife became pregnant and her ill-health was of concern; so much so, her mother and step[396]*396father came from Arizona to Racine to help her with her household duties. After the birth of a child in early December, the appellant made plans to leave his father’s home because it was too crowded for his family and because the doctor had suggested a warmer climate for his wife’s health. About this time Cooper’s health suffered a setback and he was hospitalized with leukemia. The appellant understood the nature of this disease. Cooper’s health improved after some transfusions and by the middle of January he was back home getting ready to reopen his store. About this time he became repetitious and vague about many things and rambled on about the past and sometimes forgot events which had just occurred.

On January 18th the appellant and his family left with his in-laws for Arizona, there to stay. The parting with Cooper was cordial. Cooper planned to rent the house and to move and live alone in the store building and had applied for social security. Birthday cards were exchanged between the appellant and his father in February. In early April Cooper reopened the store and rented his house. However, his health again deteriorated and toward the end of April he closed his store. From then on his condition grew worse and he was hospitalized on May 6th and remained there until his death on May 23d. The appellant first learned about May 10th or 12th that his father had been hospitalized. At the time the appellant was staying with his in-laws in Arizona and was planning to go to California to secure a job. Mrs. Zold and Mrs. Kuhnwald attempted to reach the appellant by phone and talked to his mother-in-law. These calls were made at the request of Cooper. Although requested to return the calls, the appellant did not and did not otherwise communicate with his. father. On May 22d while in California, he received a telephone call from Mrs. Zold advising him his father was seriously ill and on the following day that his father had died.

[397]*397Mrs. Zold, aged forty-seven, lived across from the Cooper store, was married and the mother of two children. Her husband was an unemployed invalid for some thirteen years, and from December, 1962, was receiving social security. Mrs. Zold worked all her married life at various jobs, the latter thirteen years as a cleaning lady for various doctors and lawyers. Mrs. Zold knew Cooper casually in 1949, became a customer of his store and did cleaning on two or three occasions at the Cooper residence prior to Mrs. Cooper’s death. After Mrs. Cooper’s death Mrs. Zold had contacts with Cooper such as visiting at the Cooper home, having Cooper go with her family on a vacation, and stopping at the store. During the two years prior to Cooper’s death Mrs. Zold had occasion to make bank deposits for him, and spent more time with him at the store in a social manner. Commencing with the testator’s hospitalization in December, 1962, Mrs. Zold saw testator often and visited'him once or twice a day at the hospital, waited on him, ran errands for him, and brought him home from the hospital. She continued to see the testator at least once a day after his return home and generally took care of him. She entered the home without knocking, took him to the doctor for a blood test on a weekly basis, and would get his prescriptions filled.

At the end of April Mrs. Zold took testator daily to the hospital to receive X-ray therapy and about this time contacted George Simanek, an attorney, to make a will for the testator. Mr. Simanek had previously represented Mrs. Zold and she was employed by him as a cleaning lady. Mrs. Zold contacted Mr. Simanek several times prior to the will’s execution on May 10th. On May 6th she telephoned the attorney and gave him the instructions for drawing the will. On this morning Mrs. Zold had gone to the store about 9 o’clock, and found Mr. Cooper unable to go for a therapy treatment. She called Dr. Dorman who came and after an examination advised that Cooper be taken to the hospital. [398]*398Cooper did not desire to go and stated he knew he was going to die. Somehow she took Cooper to the city hall for blood tests and back to the store. The testimony shows Mrs. Zold then withdrew $3,500 from the testator’s savings account, of which the testator gave her $1,000 to pay bills. After this transaction, Mrs. Zold took testator to the hospital.

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Bluebook (online)
137 N.W.2d 93, 28 Wis. 2d 391, 1965 Wisc. LEXIS 844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-v-zold-wis-1965.