Joslin v. Astle

12 R.I. Dec. 120
CourtSuperior Court of Rhode Island
DecidedMarch 26, 1935
DocketEq. No. 12657
StatusPublished

This text of 12 R.I. Dec. 120 (Joslin v. Astle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joslin v. Astle, 12 R.I. Dec. 120 (R.I. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

CHURCHILL, J.

Heard on hill, answer and proof.

This is a -bill to establish a trust in favor of the complainant on a lease and sub-lease of certain real estate of which the respondent is the lessee in the first instance and the lessor in the second instance.

The real estate involved is a business block in Pawtucket styled the “Lee Block” and formerly owned by Thomas A. Lee, who was the father of the complainant and of the wife of the respondent, Elijah Astle, Jr., and of a son, Erank Lee.

In 1901 the Lee Block was occupied by Radikin & Cooney, who held under a lease which at that time had seven years to run. On March 23, 1901, Lee executed a lease of the same premises to the respondent, Elijah Astle, Jr., for a term of twenty-five years, such term commencing at the termination of the lease to Radikin & Cooney. The rent reserved was at the rate of $4500 a year, the lessee to pay taxes, water-rates and insurance. This lease was not immediately delivered after execution, was recorded July 8, 1908, and possession was taken by the respondent the same year.

Thomas A. Lee died in 1915 and by his will, executed on May 12, 1910, devised the Lee Block to his two daughters and subjected the property to a charge of $1000 a year in favor of his son Frank for life, with a charge of $300- a year in favor of his son’s wife and children, extending five years after the death of his son, and with certain other charges on the property for the benefit of Frank Lee. The respondent Astle was made executor of the will.

The rents due from Astle as lessee to the two devisees. Mrs. Joslin and Mrs. Astle, were not paid from October 1915 to February 1916, being held back for a so-called reserve, but from that date forward he paid $100 a month to each of the sisters until some time in September 1920. On October 31, 1919, Astle sub-let the entire premises to Waldorf System, Incorporated, hereinafter called Waldorf System, for a term commencing November 1, 1919, and running to April 30, 1933. This lessee was to pay a rental of $8550 for the first five years and $9000 during the remainder of the term. Taxes, water rates and insurance were to be paid by the lessee.

Negotiations for an extension of the Waldorf System lease began between Astle and the Waldorf System soon after the execution of this lease and June 19, 1920, Astle procured from the complainant an extension of his own lease for a term of 10 years and at a rental of $5550 a year.

On July 1, 1920, the lease of the Waldorf System was extended for a term of ten years from and after April 30, 1933, the extended term carrying a rental of $11,300.

It is on the relationship existing between Mrs. Joslin, the complainant, and Elijah Astle, Jr., and on the acts and representations of Astle in procuring the extension of his own lease, that the complainant seeks to establish a trust, and, therefore, it is necessary to ascertain with as much precision as the testimony makes possible just what the relationships were between the parties in respect to the Lee Block and the interest of the complainant therein, and what were the circumstances surrounding the execution of the extension of the Astle lease.

Thomas A. Lee, according to ’ Astle, made him the lessee of the property because Lee felt that Astle was the only one of his near relatives who was capable of operating it. He did not think that his son Frank should have the management of the property because he had had no 'business experience and for various reasons preferred Astle to his other son-in-law, Mr. Joslin.

[121]*121It is difficult to resist the conclusion that what Lee actually intended was to make Astle a trustee of the property for the benefit of his three children and that the machinery of a lease was used to carry out this purpose. The contents of his will, executed two years after Astle went into possession under the lease, confirms this view of the real character of the transaction.

Mrs. Joslin is a woman now about 80 years old. During all the time covered by the transactions in question, she was inexperienced in business affairs and entirely relied — at least up to 1933 —on the guidance and advice of the respondent Astle.

Immediately after the death of Thomas A. Lee in 1915, at a family conference it was agreed by Mrs. Jos-lin, Mrs. Astle and Elijah Astle, Jr., and at the latter’s solicitation, that he (Astle) should have the management of the Lee Block. This arrangement was carried out and Astle clothed himself with the office of a trustee in respect to this property. Pie paid the charges imposed on the property by the will, paid interest on the mortgage on the property, and paid over to the two co-owners the 'balance of the rent accruing under his lease. In addition to this, he took over and arranged the settlement of the charges in favor of the children of Drank Lee. Mrs. Joslin entrusted him with the details of the management and control of the property and relied on his advice. This relationship prevailed down to and through the time of the negotiations for the Waldorf System lease, the extension of the Astle lease, and continued to within a short time' before the institution of this suit.

Without going further into details, on the evidence I find that from the time of the death of Thomas A. Lee until a short time prior to the filing of this bill of complaint, the respondent had charge of all matters relating to the complainant’s interest in the estate of Thomas A. Lee and in the Lee Block with her consent and by an agreement with her, and throughout such time the respondent was, and acted as, the confidential business adviser of the complainant in all matters relating to her interest in the said property, and that the complainant entrusted the management and protection of her interest in the property to the respondent, and that she relied on and was guided by his advice, and that the respondent gave the complainant to understand that he was managing the property in the interest of herself and her sister, Mrs. Astle.

A matter of some importance in its bearing on the nature of the relationship between Astle and Mrs. Joslin, and its bearing on the execution of the extension of the Astle lease by Mrs. Joslin is the extent of her knowledge of the existence of this lease and its contents.

It may be said here that the matter of the Astle lease was enveloped in secrecy from the start. It was not delivered until seven years from its execution and not recorded until 1908, and on the weight of the credible evidence I find that it was not mentioned at the family conference which took place after the death of Mr. Lee, and at no time was the lease ever shown to or discussed with or made known to Mrs. Joslin by Astle up to June 20, 1920’.

The respondent Astle conducted the business affairs of the two sisters as far as their interests in the Lee Block were concerned in exactly the same fashion as though he had been a trustee under the lease rather than the lessee.

Mrs. Joslin and her daughter both testified positively that they had no knowledge of the lease until just before the commencement of this suit. Mr. and Mrs. Astle were just as positive that Mrs. Joslin did have such knowledge. Mrs. Joslin at the time of the hearing was 80 years old and was subjected to a severe cross-examination in regard to a multitude of transac[122]*122tions in which many documents were involved, and she naturally became confused over some of the details.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 R.I. Dec. 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joslin-v-astle-risuperct-1935.