Eisiminger v. Stanton

129 Mo. App. 403
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 2, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 129 Mo. App. 403 (Eisiminger v. Stanton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eisiminger v. Stanton, 129 Mo. App. 403 (Mo. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

BROADDUS, P. J.

The cause originated in the Probate Court of Andrew county, where plaintiff had judgment from which the administrator appealeddo the circuit court, where it was again tried and plaintiff again obtained judgment from which defendant appealed to this court.

The proceeding Avas instituted by the plaintiff by [407]*407filing an account against the estate of the deceased for services rendered in caring for, nursing, hoarding, and washing for Elizabeth Stanton from February 10, 1905, to October 25, 1905, at three dollars per day in the sum of $735.00, and for boarding, caring for and cooking for visitors and friends of said Elizabeth Stanton for the same period of time $200. The latter item was abandoned on the trial in the circuit court. The jury rendered a verdict for the plaintiff for the full amount of the first item.

The case is as follows: In the fall of 1901 the deceased who owned a farm, made her home with the plaintiff, her daughter, and her husband on the farm of the husband. In February, 1902, she moved back to her own place at which time she developed symptoms indicating that she had cancer. Her disease grew worse, and on August 3, 1903, she entered into a contract with Nathan Eisiminger,plaintiff’s husband,for the purpose of of having herself cared for. By the terms of the contract the deceased leased to Nathan Eisiminger her farm for a period of one year beginning March 1, 1904. The consideration for the lease was as follows: the payment of $125 to the deceased, to board and care for her in her sickness and do her washing, she to pay her doctor, and bills for medicine. There were other provisions in the lease which have no relation to the matter in controversy. Nathan Eisiminger continued in the possession under his lease for a term of two years ending March 1, 1906, during which time he paid $125 a year. The last year payment was.to the administrator of the deceased.

During the trial the defendant offered to show that the rental value of the farm of deceased was $300 per year. The court refused to admit evidence to that effect on the ground that it was an immaterial matter and we think properly as it could not possibly have any bearing on the matter in issue.

[408]*408The evidence showed that Mrs. Stanton was sorely affected with the disease of cancer from February 10, 1905, to October 25th of that year and that she required much attention and care; and it is for that period of time that plaintiff claims she rendered the services for which she seeks compensation. That she did render constant and necessary service during the time mentioned was fully shown by the evidence; and it was also shown that they were rendered under the most disagreeable circumstances imaginable, which was occasioned by the offensive odor engendered by the loathsome disease of cancer. And it is plainly inferable from the evidence that much of such service was such as could not have been performed by plaintiff’s husband, and such as under the circumstances could not have been obtained at the bands of ordinary hired servants. Under such conditions it required the exercise of the greatest affection and a high sense of moral duty even in a daughter to attend or care for an afflicted mother. And it is defendant’s theory that the plaintiff being the daughter, that she performed the services in controversy as such with no understanding and no intention or expectation of being recompensed therefor, and it is the law if they were so rendered she cannot recover for them against the estate of her mother. ■ The plaintiff does not take issue Avith defendant on his broad statement of the law, but denies its application to the facts of the case.

The plaintiff introduced her son Laurence as a witness. Avho testified that he heard deceased tell his mother that if she took dOAvn Avith the disease of cancer and if she would wait on and care for her she would pay her for her services. And another son testified to a similar conversation in Avhich he heard his grandmother say she expected to pay plaintiff for her services. The plaintiff was not a member of the family of deceased. She was a married woman with children and a husband, and at the time she did not live in the family of [409]*409her mother, but ou the contrary the mother lived in plaintiff’s family, which taken in connection with the understanding that remuneration was expected and promised, made it a case for the jnry to say whether or not the presumption that the services were gratuitous, if any existed was overcome. In Lillard v. Wilson, 178 Mo. 145, the court held: “The presumption that the services rendered by one member of a family to another were gratuitous is not a conclusive one. It may be overcome by showing an express agreement for pa.Vr ment, or by showing circumstances which will support the implication that the services will be paid for. The burden is of course on the person rendering the services to overcome the presumption which the law raises that such services were rendered gratuitously.” The quotation is from, the Am. Eng. Ency. Law, p. 1048. And it is said that the rule thus stated has been illustrated by its application in this State. [Lillard v. Wilson, 178 Mo. 145.]

But defendant contends that as the husband was in the discharge of his duty, under his contract, in taking care of and nursing deceased, the plaintiff was in the discharge of her duty in assisting him in so doing. In other words the proceeds of her labor was the property of the husband, therefore she is not entitled to compensation, therefor. It is well established law that the husband is entitled to the services of his wife and the proceeds thereof in all matters pertaining to her domestic duties and it is as well established law, also, that the wife is entitled to the proceeds of her own separate labor performed outside of the line of such duties. [Sections 4335, 4340, R. S. 1899; Christianson v. McDermott’s Estate, 100 S. W. 63; 123 Mo. App. 448; Nelson v. Railroad, 113 Mo. App. 659; Ingals v. Fergurson, 138 Mo. 358; Cullar v. Railway, 84 Mo. App. 347.] The services rendered by plaintiff were not in [410]*410the line of her 'duty as a wife, but her separate labor for which she is entitled to compensation.

Instruction numbered two given in behalf of plaintiff is criticised on several grounds all of which are merely technical, except wherein it assumes that the services sued for were rendered, which objection would be fatal had there been any evidence contradictory of that offered by plaintiff. The record shows conclusively that such services were rendered. The verdict in that respect being for the right party will not therefore be disturbed.

Instruction numbered three is claimed to be erroneous and misleading. It reads as follows: “The court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence that plaintiff rendered valuable services to the deceased, Elizabeth Stanton, in her lifetime, and at her request, and that deceased did not pay her for such services in her lifetime, then her.estate is liable to plaintiff for the reasonable value of such services, to be determined by the jury from the evidence, unless the jury should find from all the evidence before them that such services were rendered by plaintiff without any intention on her part of charging deceased for the same at the time she rendered the services.” The objection is that no particular period of time is fixed for which compensation is to be considered -for services rendered, nor the kind of services which the jury, may take into consideration in making a verdict.

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Bluebook (online)
129 Mo. App. 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eisiminger-v-stanton-moctapp-1908.