Keenan v. Brooks

606 P.2d 473, 100 Idaho 823, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 403
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 14, 1980
Docket12335
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 606 P.2d 473 (Keenan v. Brooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keenan v. Brooks, 606 P.2d 473, 100 Idaho 823, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 403 (Idaho 1980).

Opinions

SHEPARD, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the defendants-respondents, Brooks, Rattle and Taylor, in an action brought by plaintiff-appellant Keenan to set aside a gift deed on grounds of mistake, fraud, non-delivery and undue influence. The trial court granted defendants’ motion for involuntary dismissal at the close of plaintiff’s case. We affirm.

Daisy Prather was the mother of four daughters, all of whom are parties hereto and who are the only surviving children of Daisy Prather. One of those daughters, plaintiff-appellant Keenan, brought this action against her sisters, defendants-respondents, to set aside a gift deed made by their mother, Daisy Prather, purporting to convey to the respondents real property consisting of certain mining claims located in Idaho.

Daisy Prather was a widow, having been predeceased by her husband in 1967. She thereafter owned four interests in real property: a 391 acre ranch at .Pleasant Grove, California, where the Prathers lived until their deaths; a separate residence in San Jose, California; a mining property in Almadin, California; and mining properties located in Idaho County, Idaho. Only the Idaho mining properties are involved in the instant action. Plaintiff-appellant Keenan moved onto the Prathers’ Pleasant Grove ranch in 1958 and resided in a separate house. Appellant Keenan’s son, Wendell Keenan, Jr., and his wife also resided in a separate house on the same ranch.

After the death of her father, appellant Keenan made several offers to purchase the Pleasant Grove ranch, and in 1970, appellant Keenan purchased the ranch from her mother, with Mrs. Prather retaining an interest therein as a beneficiary of a deed of trust. However, two months later, Mrs. Prather, without receiving any consideration therefor, assigned her interest in that deed of trust to appellant Keenan and her husband. Approximately three months later, Mrs. Prather asked respondents Brooks and Taylor to come to the ranch to discuss the possibility of leasing the Idaho mining properties to Wendell Keenan, Jr. During that meeting they also discussed with Mrs. Prather certain gift deeds for the conveyance of Mrs. Prather’s remaining properties. None of those deeds were executed during that meeting.

Respondent Brooks testified that during October she received a communication from her mother stating that appellant Keenan was after her mother to make a will and if Brooks desired the execution of the gift deeds which had previously been discussed, it should be done immediately. A daughter of Mrs. Brooks delivered the gift deed to the Idaho mining property to her grandmother, Mrs. Prather, which was then executed before a Notary Public. The record is unclear whether Mrs. Prather actually read the gift deeds before their execution. Two additional gift deeds, executed that same day, purported to transfer to the respondents here an undivided one-third interest in Mrs. Prather’s San Jose residence and the California mining property. No consideration was paid by the respondents for any of those deeds.

In May, 1971, appellant Keenan, having become aware of the gift deeds relating to the California properties, contacted a lawyer for the purpose of filing a lawsuit to set aside the deeds to the California properties. In September of 1971, an action was filed in [825]*825the name of Mrs. Prather to set aside those two gift deeds, but that action was voluntarily dismissed by Mrs. Prather two months later.

In January, 1972, Wendell Keenan, Jr. contacted a lawyer and gave him instructions as to the preparation of a will for execution by Mrs. Prather. He testified that he simply conveyed the wishes of Mrs. Prather to the lawyer. Although clearly Mrs. Prather had been literate and had in the past conducted her own business affairs, her execution of that will was accomplished by marking an X. In that instrument, Mrs. Prather purported to bequeath $500.00 each to her three daughters, respondents here, Brooks, Rattle and Taylor, and purported to give the entire residue of her estate to appellant Keenan. The Idaho mining properties in controversy here were specifically named as a part of that residue. Wendell Keenan, Jr. was named to be executor of the will and his wife as an alternative executrix, both to act without bond. Mrs. Prather died January 30,1972 and that will, at the time of the argument of this appeal, was being probated in California.

We deem the circumstances involving the will as passing strange in view of appellant’s allegations in her complaint that at the time of the execution of the gift deed (October 24, 1970), which is the subject of this action, Mrs. Prather was of an advanced age and infirm condition and incapable of transacting business or comprehending the nature and effect of signing such a deed and hence subject to the undue influence, fraud and deceit practiced by the respondents.

As indicated above, the court granted defendants-respondents’ motion for involuntary dismissal pursuant to I.R.C.P. 41(b), on the ground that under the facts and the law, plaintiff had shown no right to relief. We note initially that when a defendant moves for an involuntary dismissal at the close of the plaintiff’s presentation in a non-jury case, the court sits as a trier of fact and is not required to construe all evidence and inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Sorenson v. Adams, 98 Idaho 708, 571 P.2d 769 (1977); I.R.C.P. 41(b); see Stratton v. Stratton, 87 Idaho 118, 391 P.2d 340 (1964). Thus, in rendering a judgment pursuant to the defendants’ motion for dismissal under I.R.C.P. 41(b), the trial court is not as limited in its evaluation of the plaintiff’s case as it would be in a motion for directed verdict. The court is not to make any special inferences in the plaintiff’s favor nor concern itself with whether plaintiff has made out a prima facie case. Instead, it is to weigh the evidence, resolve any conflicts in it, and decide for itself where the preponderance lies. See 9 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2371 (1971).

The record here is not what one might expect of a plaintiff’s case in chief since defendants were called as witnesses by the plaintiff and hence much conflicting evidence was received, albeit during the presentation of plaintiff’s case.

The district court filed findings of fact and conclusions of law reflecting the above recited facts and the court found that respondents did not obtain Mrs. Prather’s execution of the gift deed by deceit, fraud or misrepresentation. Those findings are all supported by the evidence and will not be disturbed on appeal. The district court further found that Mrs. Prather at all times knew the extent of her property and who her heirs were, and that she was capable and competent to transact business such as the execution of deeds, mining leases, and options to purchase. Those findings likewise are supported by the record and will not be disturbed.

The trial court also found that at the time of the execution of the gift deed in question here, a confidential relationship existed between the grantor, Mrs. Prather, and her daughters, Brooks, Rattle and Taylor, and that Mrs. Prather had the greatest confidence and trust in and felt secure in relying and acting upon the advice and representation of her said daughters.

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Keenan v. Brooks
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
606 P.2d 473, 100 Idaho 823, 1980 Ida. LEXIS 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keenan-v-brooks-idaho-1980.