More v. Luther

116 N.W. 986, 153 Mich. 206
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 1908
DocketDocket No. 66
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 116 N.W. 986 (More v. Luther) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
More v. Luther, 116 N.W. 986, 153 Mich. 206 (Mich. 1908).

Opinion

Carpenter, J.

(after stating the facts). 1. The first and most important question raised in this case is whether there was any testimony which warranted the claim for services to be submitted to the jury. As we have already stated, the testimony indicating that the farm had been conveyed to Andrew must be disregarded. That issue was determined against the heirs of Andrew in another suit.

Statements made by Reuben and his wife that Andrew should have the farm at their death were testified to by many witnesses. Some of these statements were made in the presence of Andrew, some of them when he was not present. Under our decisions they constitute no evidence of an agreement. They afford no evidence of a binding promise. They are consistent with the thought that it was the purpose of the father and mother to give a gratuitous preference to their son on their decease. See [210]*210Decker v. Kanous’ Estate, 129 Mich. 146: Rodgers v. Lamb’s Estate, 137 Mich. 241. The relation of father and son existing between Reuben and Andrew prevents the implication of any agreement that the latter should receive compensation for his services. As stated by Justice Cooley in Mason v. Dunbar, 43 Mich. 407:

“They were father and children * * * living together as a family, and receiving mutual benefit and comfort from their association, and from the property which they enjoyed in common. No presumption can arise under such circumstances that claims were to be made by either against another for ser vices, or for the ordinary conveniences of life which were furnished. On the contrary, we must presume that the parties were residing together on the usual terms of members of one family, and not under any contract relations.”

There can be no recovery in such a case unless the evidence proves that the services were rendered and received under an agreement assented to by both parties requiring compensation. Decker v. Kanous’ Estate, supra, and cases there cited.

Is there any testimony in the record warranting the inference that any such agreement was made ? If there is, it is the following testimony given by witness Jacob H. Shaw:

“ The old gentleman told me that Andrew was to have the farm when they were done with it. And the old lady told me the same thing. He said that Andrew was to work on the place the same as they did. • This conversation was before Andrew’s death. I had two or three such conversations. I could not tell exactly, a good many years ago. Andrew was present once. The first time we had a conversation, they were all three together. This talk with the old folks about the property was sometime along in the seventies.”

The foregoing statement of Reuben and his wife that Andrew was to have the farm when they were done with it obviously means — and this is conceded — that he was to have it on their death. If this statement stood alone it would, as already shown, furnish no evidence of an agree[211]*211ment. It furnishes such evidence only because by the testimony it is connected with the statement that “Andrew was to work on the place the same as they did. ” If these two statements are related — and upon no other theory can an agreement be predicated upon them — the latter statement means that Andrew was to work upon the farm until the death of his father and mother. It follows that, if the foregoing testimony warrants the inference of any agreement, that agreement is this, viz., that in consideration of Andrew’s work on the farm until the death of Reuben and his wife, he shall receive the farm as compensation for his services. This agreement was clearly made upon the assumption that Andrew should outlive Reuben and his wife. That assumption proved unfounded. Andrew died before either of his parents. Can it be inferred from the testimony above quoted that there was any agreement to compensate Andrew for his services rendered under these cii’cumstances ? It was held in the trial court that it could, and that the estate of Reuben was bound to pay Andrew what his services were reasonably worth. It is insisted that this conclusion was warranted by In re Williams’ Estate, 106 Mich. 490, and Sammon v. Wood, 107 Mich. 506. In each of these cases an agreement was proved substantially like that in the case at bar, but it was also proved that the claimant rendering services fully performed his agreement and that the father for whom those services were performed refused to make the conveyance as agreed, and it was held that this refusal made his estate liable to pay the reasonable worth of the services rendered. The difference between those cases and the case at bar is manifest. There the estate was compelled to pay the reasonable worth of the services rendered as a penalty for the refusal of the decedent to perform his contract. This was a just and equitable decision. ■ Any other conclusion would have enabled the estate of decedent to evade the obligations imposed upon it by the contract he had entered into. The principle of those cases has no application here. [212]*212Claimant never performed the contract between him and his father, and his father never failed to perform it. Upon what principle then can he recover the reasonable worth of his services ? He cannot recover upon the contract he made with his father, because he did not perform that contract. Neither can he recover upon the basis of • an implied contract deducible from the rendition and acceptance of his services under the authority of Allen v. McKibbin, 5 Mich. 449. There we held that though a party cannot recover upon a non-apportionable contract which he has not performed, he may “where anything has been done from which the' other party has received substantial benefit, and which he has appropriated, recover upon the quantum meruit based on that benefit, and the basis of this recovery is not the original contract, but a new implied agreement deducible from the delivery and acceptance of some valuable service or thing.” That principle can have no application in this case because, as we have already shown, the law will permit no agreement to be implied from the rendition and acceptance of claimant’s services.

No obligation rests upon the estate of Reuben to pay the reasonable worth of the services of Andrew unless that obligation arises from their agreement. For outside of that agreement there is no such obligation. From that agreement may it be inferred that Reuben was under obligation to pay the reasonable worth of Andrew’s services in the event of his surviving Andrew ? The agreement, as already stated, is that Reuben will give Andrew his farm at the death of himself and wife if Andrew will work for him until that event occurs. According to this agreement, the compensation of Andrew is not based upon the reasonable worth of his services. Reuben and his wife might die in a few days. In that event Andrew would receive much more than the value of his services. They might live for many years, and in that event Andrew would receive less than the value of his services. For the contingency which actually occurred, viz., Andrew’s [213]*213death before Reuben’s, no provision whatever was made. May it be inferred that it was the intention of the parties that in such a contingency Reuben should pay Andrew’s estate what his services were reasonably worth ? In that event, though payment might be postponed until his death, Reuben would hold his property burdened with the obligation to pay this claim.

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Bluebook (online)
116 N.W. 986, 153 Mich. 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/more-v-luther-mich-1908.