Dixon v. Eckenroth

35 P.2d 614, 140 Cal. App. 367, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 422
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 9, 1934
DocketCiv. No. 8784
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 35 P.2d 614 (Dixon v. Eckenroth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dixon v. Eckenroth, 35 P.2d 614, 140 Cal. App. 367, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 422 (Cal. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinions

KNIGHT, J.

This is an appeal by contestants from an order granting a new trial in a proceeding brought to set-aside the will of Mary Easton, deceased.

The contest was based on several grounds, but during the trial all were dismissed except one based on allegations of undue influence; and upon that issue the jury found in favor of contestants. Thereafter on motion of the proponents of the will the trial court entered judgment in their favor, notwithstanding the verdict. Contestants appealed, and the order was reversed upon the ground that under section 629 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the making of a motion for a directed verdict during the trial of the action was a necessary prerequisite to the rendition of a judgment non obstante veredicto, and that no such motion had been made. Accordingly the trial court was directed to enter judgment upon the verdict, and thereafter to hear and determine such other and further proceedings as were necessary to a final disposition of the case. (Estate of Easton, 118 Cal. App. 659 [5 Pac. (2d) 635].) Five days after the remittitur was filed proponents filed notice of intention to move for a new trial, urging as grounds therefor: insufficiency of the evidence-; that the verdict- is against law; and [370]*370errors of law occurring at the trial and excepted to by the proponents. Following the hearing of the motion a minute order was entered, general in terms, reading: “Opposition to motion for new trial—Denied. Motion for a new trial granted.” Contestants took this appeal therefrom, and after the appeal was briefed and argued, but before it was submitted for decision, proponents obtained from the trial court an ex parte order directing the entry nunc pro tunc of an order to the effect that proponents’ motion for new trial had been granted upon the ground of insufficiency of evidence. Proponents then sought by way of motion for diminution of record to have said nunc pro tunc order made part of the record on this appeal, but the motion was denied (Estate of Easton, 136 Cal. App. 213 [28 Pac. (2d) 376]); consequently the original order from which the appeal was taken is controlling, and inasmuch as it did not specify, as ground for the making thereof, insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict, the presumption on this appeal is that it was not based on that ground (sec. 657, Code Civ. Proc.); furthermore, proponents make no attempt to sustain said order upon the ground of errors of law occurring during the trial. The appeal is narrowed down, therefore, as appellants contend, to the single question of whether the verdict is against law; that is, whether the evidence as a whole, when considered most favorably to contestants, and resolving all conflicts therein in support of the verdict, measures up to the standard fixed by law for the setting aside of a will upon the ground of undue influence. We are of the opinion that it does not.

The legal principles to be used in determining whether a will is the product of undue influence are well settled by a continuous line of decisions. They are set forth in the Estate of Morcel, 162 Cal. 188 [121 Pac. 733], Estate of Bryson, 191 Cal. 521 [217 Pac. 525], Estate of Perkins, 195 Cal. 699 [235 Pac. 45], and several later cases hereinafter cited. As pointed out therein, the kind of influence that may be held to be undue influence warranting a repudiation of a will “must be such as in effect destroyed the testator’s free agency, and substituted for his own another person’s will” (Estate of Motz, 136 Cal. 558, 563 [69 Pac. 294]); and mere general influence, however strong or controlling, not brought to bear on the testamentary act, is [371]*371not enough; it must be influence used directly to procure the will, and must amount “to coercion destroying free agency on the part of the testator” (Estate of Keegan, 139 Cal. 123, 127 [72 Pac. 828]; Estate of Fleming, 199 Cal. 750 [251 Pac. 637]; Estate of Holloway, 195 Cal. 711 [235 Pac. 1012]). So, also, proof of mere opportunity to influence the mind of the testatrix, even though coupled with an interest or with a motive so to do, is insufficient. In order to warrant setting aside a will on this ground there must be substantial proof, direct or circumstantial, of a pressure which overpowers the volition of the testator and operates directly on the testamentary act. (Estate of Graves, 202 Cal. 258 [259 Pac. 935]; In re Langford, 108 Cal. 608 [41 Pac. 701]; Estate of Morcel, supra.) In other words, the influence must consist in the exercise of acts and conduct by which the mind of the testator is subjugated to the will of the person operating upon it, some means taken or employed which have the effect of overcoming the free agency of the testator and constraining him to make a disposition of his property contrary to his own desires and different from what he would have done had he been permitted to follow his own inclinations or judgment. (Estate of Kilborn, 162 Cal. 4 [120 Pac. 762]; Estate of Bryson, supra; Estate of Perkins, supra; Estate of Relph, 192 Cal. 451 [221 Pac. 361]; Estate of Holloway, supra; Estate of Anderson, 185 Cal. 700 [198 Pac. 407]; Estate of Fleming, supra; In re Calkins, 112 Cal. 296 [44 Pac. 577].) It is well settled also that “mere suspicion that undue influence may have been used is not sufficient to warrant the setting aside of a will on that ground”. (Estate of Morcel, supra; Estate of Keegan, supra.) The evidence must do more than raise a suspicion. It must amount to proof, and such evidence has the force of proof only when the circumstances proved show a pressure overpowering the free agency and volition of the testator at the time the will was made. (In re McDevitt, 95 Cal. 17 [30 Pac. 101]; In re Langford, supra; Estate of Morcel, supra.) In restating the extent a contestant is required to go in order to nullify a will upon the ground of undue influence, the Supreme Court in the Estate of Gleason, 164 Cal. 756 [130 Pac. 872], said: “The unbroken rule in this state is that courts must refuse to set aside the solemnly executed will of a deceased person [372]*372upon the ground of undue influence unless there be proof of ‘a pressure which overpowered the mind and bore down the volition of the testator at the very time the will was made’.” (Citing a number of cases.)

The following are the essential, undisputed facts of the present case, as shown by the evidence: The testatrix, Mrs. Easton, died at the age of sixty-five years. She was a childless widow, and left surviving her as next of kin three brothers, Samuel, John and Joseph Dixon, and a sister, Mrs. Sarah Hartnett. The brothers are' the contestants herein, and the sister and her two daughters, Lucy Hart-nett and Mrs. Margaret Eckenroth, are the proponents of the will. Mrs. Easton was afflicted with cancer, from the effects of which she eventually died. Her husband died March 19, 1928. At that time Mrs. Easton moved into the home of her sister; and she lived there until the date of her death, July 17, 1929. After moving into her sister’s home and during the latter part of June, 1928, she went to a hospital and submitted to an operation. It was apparently successful, and for some time thereafter she went about evidently much improved in health; but later she began to fail and for about three months before she died she was confined most of the time to her home.

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Bluebook (online)
35 P.2d 614, 140 Cal. App. 367, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dixon-v-eckenroth-calctapp-1934.