Lindsey v. Brown

332 P.2d 818, 166 Cal. App. 2d 4, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 1363
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 10, 1958
DocketCiv. No. 22952
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 332 P.2d 818 (Lindsey v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lindsey v. Brown, 332 P.2d 818, 166 Cal. App. 2d 4, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 1363 (Cal. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

LILLIE, J.

Contestants appeal from a judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict in a will contest. Probate of the document was opposed on the following grounds: (1) lack of due execution, (2) unsoundness of mind, and (3) undue influence. The court directed a verdict in favor of the proponent on the first two grounds leaving the issue of undue influence for the jury’s determination, on which it returned a unanimous verdict.

Appellants contend there were procedural errors in the rendition of the verdict; there was sufficient evidence to go to the jury on the issues of due execution and mental incapacity; and the trial court committed error in refusing an [10]*10instruction concerning the value of the estate; and error in the instructions on the burden of proof as to undue influence.

The decedent, Ella A. Woehr, died on September 25, 1956, at the age of 85. Two children, respondent Mrs. Brown and a son Reginald (the father of contestants), were born of her marriage to Charles Woehr who predeceased her in 1943. Two Los Angeles apartment buildings belonging to Charles’ estate were distributed as follows: the first to the decedent; the second, one-half to the decedent and the remaining half to their children in equal shares. Thereafter the decedent and Reginald jointly managed the operation of these properties. Mrs. Brown, her daughter, who had married in 1941 and moved to Indio, participated in the family enterprise to the limited extent of occasional examination of the books. A law school graduate and member of the bar, she had abandoned her law practice at the time of her marriage.

In 1944, the year after her husband’s death, the decedent executed a holographic will dividing her estate equally between her two children. The document also included a nondispositive clause that her three grandchildren be provided for by the estate until each had reached the age of 21. In January of 1950, during one of respondent’s monthly visits, the decedent brought out the 1944 will and advised her that she wanted to make some changes. Specifically, she told respondent that the grandchildren “were all minors when this was written, and they are growing up now and going to be on their own, so instead of just making a provision for the care of the children until they are 21, I wish to make them a definite bequest.” At decedent’s request, respondent there and then prepared several drafts of a new will which were discussed with the decedent, revised and rewritten until finally acceptable to her. The final draft was typewritten by the respondent in decedent’s presence. It bequeathed the sum of $500 each to the three appellants, all of whom had reached the age of 21; the residue, after a bequest of personal belongings to respondent, was left, share and share alike, to respondent and Reginald “or if one be deceased to the survivor.” Reginald died in 1954.

Our first discussion concerns the claimed procedural errors involving the verdict upon which judgment was entered. After all the evidence was in, the court granted respondent’s motion for a directed verdict on the first two grounds of contest, lack of due execution and unsoundness of mind. A proper form of special verdict with the customary interrogatories was fur[11]*11nished the jury on the remaining issue of undue influence. Upon the jury’s return to the courtroom less than three hours later, the judge was handed the verdict and after examination returned it to the clerk, saying: “You do not need to read the first two.” The clerk thereupon read the answer to the third interrogatory, such answer being in the negative. Neither counsel requested a polling of the jury, but the trial judge’s own inquiry disclosed the verdict as to that issue was unanimous. One juror, the foreman, was then permanently excused from further jury service and the remaining members, still having time to serve, were instructed by the court to report to the jury assembly room the following Monday morning. Later the same day, but subsequent to the jury’s departure from the courtroom, another examination of the verdict revealed that the first two interrogatories, contrary to the court’s direction, had likewise been answered in the negative. The court reassembled the jury the following morning at. 9:30, counsel for both parties also being present, whereupon it inquired of the foreman, in the presence of the jury, counsel for appellants objecting that the jury had been discharged, whether it was their intention to follow the court’s instructions as to the first two questions and answer them affirmatively. Stating that it was, the foreman added that he “realized last night that an error had been made.” Further questions by the court disclosed that it was the foreman’s intention on behalf of the jury to answer the two interrogatories in the affirmative. Each juror was then polled solely as to the negative answer to the third interrogatory and all replied that that was their verdict. Pursuant to the court’s instructions, the clerk then corrected the verdict as to reflect affirmative rather than negative answers. The jury was then discharged. Appellants thereafter moved for a new trial, contending that the court lacked jurisdiction to correct or amend the verdict. The motion Avas denied.

Appellants rely upon the provisions of section 618, Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that once the verdict is delivered and no disagreement expressed “the verdict is complete and the jury [is] discharged from the case.” However, section 618 must be read with section 619 (Sparks v. Berntsen, 19 Cal.2d 308, 313 [121 P.2d 497]),.which authorizes the correction by the jury of an informal or insufficient verdict under the advice of the court, or the court to again send out the jury. In Crowe v. Sacks, 44 Cal.2d 590, 596 [283 P.2d 689], an “insufficient” verdict was declared to be one [12]*12“which goes beyond the issues of the case as stated in the instructions on the law given by the court to the jury.” The following examples were cited: a verdict in excess of the statutory maximum liability; the inclusion in the verdict of improper items; and a verdict larger than that warranted by the evidence. Too, “(d)efects in form of the verdict may render it ‘informal’ or ‘insufficient’ ” (Crowe v. Sacks, supra, 596). “The trial court retains control over such proceedings with power to procure correction of informal or insufficient verdicts until the verdict is recorded and the jury finally discharged” (Sparks v. Berntsen, supra, 313). Also, “ (I)n the absence of a verdict entered as required by law there is no finality to the proceedings.” (Vitamin Milling Corp. v. Superior Court, 1 Cal.2d 116, 120 [33 P.2d 1016].) In the case at bar the record shows the jury originally returned at 2:00 p. m. with its proposed verdict. According to the clerk's minutes for that day, the jury was later “discharged” and the verdict “filed.” The minutes then recite: “Later, it appearing to the court that the jury failed to answer questions one and two as directed, the clerk is directed to cancel the filing of the verdict and to summon jury and counsel into court at 9 :30 a. m., May 17, 1957, for further proceedings. All jurors are notified, counsel notified. Filing stamp on verdict is cancelled.”

The original verdict was manifestly “insufficient” since it went “beyond the issues of the case as stated in the instructions on the law given by the court to the jury” (Crowe v. Sacks, supra,

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Related

Estate of Woehr
332 P.2d 818 (California Court of Appeal, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
332 P.2d 818, 166 Cal. App. 2d 4, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 1363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindsey-v-brown-calctapp-1958.