Jay v. Whiteside

205 S.W.2d 389, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 790
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 24, 1947
DocketNo. 2596
StatusPublished

This text of 205 S.W.2d 389 (Jay v. Whiteside) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jay v. Whiteside, 205 S.W.2d 389, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 790 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

GRAY, Justice.

This is a suit filed in the District Court of Comanche County, Texas, by appellant, Miss Sally Plope Jay, against appellees, for the alleged breach of an agreement between appellant and appellee John C. Plott, by the terms of which appellant was to care for said Plott during' the remainder of his lifetime. The agreement w.as made early in 1937 and was terminated during the latter part of 1945. At the beginning, no, written contract was made and the exact terms of the verbal agreement were not very definite. But on August 29, 1945, the parties entered into a written agreement, which, however, was soon thereafter terminated, and one of the main controversies here is as to which of the parties breached it.

In 1937, appellee Plott, a widower 80 years of age, was Nursery Inspector in the lower Rio Grande Valley for the State Department of Agriculture. His home was at San Benito and seems to have been a six-roo, house of good construction and was comfortably furnished. His wife had died there in 1935.. Appellant was a single woman about 39 or 40 years younger than Mr. Plott and lived with her mother, a widow, at Sipe Springs in Comanche County, Texas. Appellant had a good education and was well trained for secretarial duties. Mr. Plott had formerly been in business in Sipe Springs and the two families had been intimate friends and neighbors for many years. During the summer of 1937, upon invitation of Mr. Plott, appellant and a Miss Whiteside, a niece of Mr. Plott, visited him in his home for about two months. Being in need of a housekeeper, Mr. Plott suggested that they make their home with him, be his housekeepers and assist him in his work as Nursery Inspector. He also suggested that his niece operate a beauty shop and Miss Jay a knitting shop in his home. Miss Whiteside finally decided to return to Sipe Springs and continue to live with her mother, whereupon Mr. Plott took them back to Sipe Springs in his car. Thereafter, after further discussion and consultation with relatives, Miss Jay agreed to return with him to his home and did so.' The understanding seems to have been that Miss Jay was to be the' housekeeper and assist him in making his reports, to care [390]*390for him in sickness and in health and to treat him .with kindness arid consideration, and to share in his estate at his death. Mr. Plott was to pay all expenses and whatever she might be able to earn aside from her duties to him would be hers. In pursuance of the, latter agreement, she did open and operate a knitting class in his home and later a chicken business on the ■ premises. Mr. Plott financed these enterprises for her and she deposited the proceeds and profits in the bank to her own account. A few months after Miss Jay returned to San Benito, she was joined by her mother, who continued to live with them until 1945, Mr. Plott paying her living expenses and medical bills. Mr. Plott also gave Miss Jay and her mother some trips outside the State and paid all the expenses incident thereto. The parties seemed to have been very congenial and satisfied for a year or so.

In 1938, Miss Jay wanted a more definite agreement as to what she was to receive from Mr. Plott’s estate at his death. The result w.as that he executed a will naming his nephew, j. W. Whiteside, of Comanche County, executor, and devising and • bequeathing to Miss Ja> considerable real and personal property. About two years later, upon the insistence of Miss Jay, Mr. Plott made a second will with the same executor (defendant in this suit) in which he devised arid bequeathed to Miss Jay all of his estate. Said wills were conditioned upon Miss Jay continuing to perform all of the duties aforesaid, and treating him with kindness and consideration until his death.

In March 1943, Mr. Plott was transferred by the Department of' Agriculture to the Arlington District in the Fort Worth area. Having sold his home at San Benito, he bought a block of 2.4/' acres of land near Arlington, which he subdivided into four large lots. On one of them he erected a substantial home at a cost of about $7,000. In the building, he used some old material belonging to Mrs. Jay, which he had trucked from Sipe Springs. Miss Jay and her mother continued to live with him in the new home and on the same terms and conditions as formerly. But their relations became less congenial. Miss Jay wanted him to enter into a written contract and execute a new will with her as executrix. Mr. Plott complained that Miss Jay had become quarrelsome and abusive and was aided and abetted in this by her mother. Finally, on August 29, 1945, they together went to an attorney, had him prepare, and they executed a contract in writing, which continued their relationship. Mr. Plott also executed a new will with Miss Jay as independent executrix, and also conveyed to her the home in Arlington and a vacant lot out of the block he had previously purchased. Further reference will be made later in this opinion to the contents of sxid instruments and the alleged breach of the contract, which form the real basis for this lawsuit.

Without the knowledge of appellant, Mr. Plott had on May 8, 1944, at Comanche, Texas, executed another will, revoking all former wills and devising and bequeathing all his property' to his heirs, naming them, with appellee J. W. Whiteside as independent executor. However, since this will was superseded by the will and contract of August 29, 1945, and no rights are here asserted thereunder-, it passes out of the case.

Within a few days after August 29, 1945, Mr. Plott drove his car to the home of ap-pellee J. W. Whiteside, near Sipe Springs-, appellant and her mother continuing to live for some time in the home at Arlington. Appellant then sold the property at Arlington deeded to her by Mr. Plott for a total of $10,150. She also sold the furnishings therein for $200 or $250, the proceeds of which Mr. Plott permitted her to keep. They then also returned to Sipe Springs to a home they owned there.

On October 20, 1945, appellee Plott executed a warranty deed to appellee White-side conveying to him two tracts of land in Comanche County. He also wrote on the face and back of the contract and will executed at Arlington on said August 29, 1945, a repudiation of same. Thereafter on October 27, 1945, he executed another will, revoking all prior wills, devising and bequeathing to appellee Whiteside his entire estate, naming said Whiteside as independent executor, the consideration for said instruments being that said Whiteside care for him during the remainder of his life. Soon thereafter appellant filed this suit.

[391]*391The case was tried before the court without aid of a jury. The record is very voluminous. The court was liberal in the admission of evidence and few objections were made, the seeming purpose being to develop the case fully and to get before the court every fact and circumstance that might be helpful in arriving at a correct disposition of the matter. Plaintiff pleaded the facts herein above set out and many incidental matters. She alleged full compliance by herself with all the conditions of her employment.

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205 S.W.2d 389, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jay-v-whiteside-texapp-1947.