Fiala v. Tomek

81 N.W.2d 691, 164 Neb. 20, 1957 Neb. LEXIS 118
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 8, 1957
Docket34061
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 81 N.W.2d 691 (Fiala v. Tomek) 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
Fiala v. Tomek, 81 N.W.2d 691, 164 Neb. 20, 1957 Neb. LEXIS 118 (Neb. 1957).

Opinion

Messmore, J.

This is an action brought in the district court for Butler County by Julia Fiala, a widow, by her next friends Mary Rerucha and Victoria Bruner, two of her daughters, and Mary Rerucha, Victoria Bruner, Martha Bruner, Helen Leet, and Lucile Fiala Wynn, her daughters, as plaintiffs, against the five sons of Julia Fiala, Frank Fiala, John Fiala, Raymond Fiala, Charles Fiala, and Joseph Fiala and their wives who need not be named. There are other parties made defendants who, for the purposes of this appeal, need not be considered. The purpose of the action was to have the court find and render judgment canceling the conveyance of the plaintiffs’ interests in certain land located in Butler *22 County and to quiet title thereto in the plaintiffs; to have the court find and render judgment in favor of Julia Fiala to have an interest in the proceeds of the sale of certain land commensurate with her rights; and to' require the defendant sons of Julia Fiala, as agents who shared in the rentals of all the land in question, to account for the same. The judgment of the trial court was generally in favor of the defendants, adjudging that the conveyance of plaintiffs’ interests in certain lands described in the pleadings be not set aside or the title quieted in the plaintiffs, and that the accounting be reserved to be determined in the future, dependent upon the decision of this court as hereinafter appears. From the order overruling the motion for new trial, the plaintiffs have appealed to this court.

On November 8, 1955, the plaintiffs filed their second amended petition alleging in substance that the plaintiff, Julia Fiala, by reason of old age, weakness of mind, and undue and undeserved credulity and reliance upon her sons, was incapable, unassisted and independently, of conducting her own affairs and by reason of her condition was liable to be deceived or imposed upon by deceiving, artful, or designing persons and could not properly take care of and manage herself and her property; that this action was therefore brought by Mary Rerucha and Victoria Bruner as the next friends of Julia Fiala; and that no guardian had been appointed for Julia Fiala. The pleadings admitted that prior to his death in 1936, Frank J. Fiala and Julia Fiala were husband and wife, and during their marriage relationship there was born to them ten children, all of wjjom have been previously named.

The pleadings also admitted that Frank J. Fiala died intestate owning certain lands located in Butler County which are described in the petition; that Julia Fiala was vested with the homestead right for the term of her life in certain described land; that she was entitled to an undivided one-third interest in all the land; and that *23 the children were entitled each to a one-fifteenth interest in all the land.

The pleadings admit the execution of a life lease pleaded in the plaintiffs’ second amended petition, recorded in book 4 of the lease and contract record in the office of the county clerk of Butler County. The pleadings further admit that there was a sale of a part of the land, and a stipulation was entered into relative to that transaction.

The plaintiffs’ second amended petition alleged that after the death of her husband and prior to November 6, 1936, the sons of Julia Fiala conceived the plan and purpose of obtaining a conveyance of the interests of the daughters for a nominal consideration, and obtaining a conveyance of the interest of Julia Fiala by fraudulently representing to her and her daughters that the sons would farm the lands of which Frank J. Fiala died seized, raise crops thereon, and pay to Julia Fiala annually two-fifths of all the crops raised to be delivered by them to market, and the customary cash rent for the pasture and hay land; that the sons then and at that time did not intend to fulfill such promise but planned and intended to allow to her from the proceeds of such crops a meager and inadequate amount for the necessaries of life and to use and appropriate the remainder, other than necessary to pay taxes, to their own use; and that Julia Fiala relied upon and believed in such representations. It was further alleged that on November 6, 1936, Julia Fiala, on the basis of said fraudulent representations, executed a conveyance of said lands of which Frank J. Fiala died seized to the ten children in equal shares; that pursuant to said plan and purpose, the sons procured a conveyance from their sisters for a nominal and insubstantial consideration, but before the sons obtained the same the daughters insisted the obligation of the sons to provide and pay said income be set up in written form, and to that end they required an agreement of the daughters and the sons be executed *24 and delivered to the mother providing for her receiving said income, and to that end there was executed by the sons and their wives and by the daughters a life lease; and that after the life lease had been prepared and delivered to the mother, on January 27, 1936, the daughters, for a consideration, conveyed their interests, subject to the life lease agreement, to the sons of Julia Fiala in equal shares.

The plaintiffs further alleged that the son Frank V. Fiala farmed the lands in Section 29 from the year 1937 through the year 1952; that the land was productive and Frank V. Fiala realized and raised good crops thereon, sold a portion that he elected to allot to his mother as her share of the crop, and deposited the proceeds to her credit in a bank; and that in the period he farmed the land from 1942 until 1952, he represented to his mother that he had deposited the proceeds of her full share of the crop and the cash rental but, as a matter of fact, he did not account for the full share of the crop she was entitled to receive. The petition further alleged that Frank V. Fiala used the funds he deposited in his mother’s account for his own purposes in buying material for and constructing building improvements and other improvements to his benefit and to the benefit of the owners of the land; and that the average yearly fund, for the years 1942 to 1952 inclusive, to maintain a home and provide for the support and maintenance of the mother did not exceed $300.

The petition also contained an allegation that the sons John, Joseph, and Charles farmed the land in Section 33 for the years 1942 to 1952, inclusive, and agreed to pay a crop rental of two-fifths of the crops raised on the land delivered at the market and cash rental for the pasture and hay land; that they failed to pay cash rent, and accounted for only a portion of the crops which under the terms of the tenancy were to be delivered at the market for their mother; that they drew funds from their mother’s account for their own use; that their *25 mother left all of the accounting and withdrawal of funds to her sons which enabled them by fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation to keep her uninformed, as to the- nature of the transactions; that the terms and conditions of the life lease had been broken and violated by the defendants; and that the plaintiffs were entitled to.the cancellation of the said deeds executed by them pursuant- to the lease and contract, ■ and restoration to them of the-land conveyed by them- to defendants, or to the proceeds of the sale of the land.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 N.W.2d 691, 164 Neb. 20, 1957 Neb. LEXIS 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fiala-v-tomek-neb-1957.