People v. Wilde

109 P.2d 415, 42 Cal. App. 2d 482, 1941 Cal. App. LEXIS 1278
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 20, 1941
DocketCrim. No. 460
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 109 P.2d 415 (People v. Wilde) 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
People v. Wilde, 109 P.2d 415, 42 Cal. App. 2d 482, 1941 Cal. App. LEXIS 1278 (Cal. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was charged with grand theft on the theory that he had embezzled certain sums of money belonging to one Michael J. White.

Prior to 1929, the defendant, who is a lawyer, had acted as attorney for White in the probating of his wife’s estate, and had also assisted him in obtaining a pension based upon his services in the Spanish American War. It appears without dispute that over a period of nearly ten years, beginning in 1929, White turned over to the defendant various [484]*484sums of money for investment purposes. In May, 1939, White wrote to the defendant saying he was about to retire and asking him where his money was invested. The defendant replied telling him that his money was invested in four certain parcels of real property which stood in White's name, asking him whether he would himself look after these properties or whether he desired defendant to continue doing so, and offering to furnish information about names of tenants, amounts of rentals, taxes, water bills, etc. White replied asking the defendant to continue paying the water bills and collecting rents for the following month. During the next month, at his request, the defendant furnished White with itemized lists of all amounts which he had received from him or for him.

On August 8, 1939, an attorney retained by White called the defendant on the telephone and made a “flat demand” for the return of White’s money, which he estimated at $10,000. The defendant told this attorney that he did not have the money, that White’s money was invested in these four parcels of real property, and that these stood in White’s name, but offered to sell the properties and obtain the money if given time in which to do it. On August 9, 1939, the defendant delivered to this attorney deeds to the four parcels of real property which then stood in the name of White. At that time the attorney told the defendant that they wanted the cash, that he knew the defendant did not intend to pay, and that if he did not immediately pay over the amount due in cash he was going to have him indicted, prefer charges against him before the Bar Association, and sue him.

On August 12, 1939, this attorney brought an action against the defendant and his wife, attaching all properties standing in their names, including their bank account. On August 26, 1939, this criminal action was brought charging the defendant with six counts of grand theft, each count charging that on August 8, 1939, the defendant unlawfully and fraudulently appropriated for his own use, and not in the due and lawful execution of his trust, a certain sum of money, the property of Michael J. White. Thereafter, some time in October, 1939, the parties entered into a settlement agreement pursuant to which White conveyed the four parcels of real property to the defendant’s wife and the defendant paid to White $12,000 which White admitted to be the full amount due him, with interest.

[485]*485This criminal action was continued, however, an information being filed in the superior court on November 24, 1939. A motion to quash and set aside the information was granted as to the first five counts thereof and the action proceeded to trial before a jury on the sixth count. This count charged the appropriation on August 8, 1939, of $3,216.17 in lawful money belonging to White, that amount being made up of one hundred twelve pension checks, none of which was for over $40, which White had turned over to the defendant over a period beginning in September, 1929, and ending in December, 1937. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on this count and the defendant has appealed from an order denying his motion to quash the information as to the sixth count, from an order denying his motion for a new trial, from an order denying his motion in arrest of judgment, and from the judgment. The record does not show the entry of a judgment, probably because an application for probation was pending at the time this appeal was taken. Since an appeal from the judgment is not properly before us and orders denying a motion to quash and denying a motion in arrest of judgment were not appealable orders (People v. Williams, 8 Cal. App. 595 [97 Pac. 684] ; People v. Williams, 184 Cal. 590 [194 Pac. 1019]), the only appeal which may here be considered is the one from the order denying a new trial.

The first and main point presented is whether the is sufficient to sustain the verdict of conviction. It was and is appellant’s contention that he was authorized to and did invest White’s money in the four parcels of realty for which he obtained deeds in White’s name and which White later conveyed to appellant’s wife in connection with the settlement agreement. The respondent, however, contends that the appellant was not specifically authorized to invest White’s money in real estate, that while the appellant believed that he was entitled to so invest these trust funds that use was in fact unauthorized, and that the refusal or failure to pay over the amount due in cash after demand made on August 8, 1939, constituted a constructive conversion as of that date which is sufficient to support the verdict.

Of the four deeds which were turned over to White’s attorney on August 9,' 1939, one conveyed a lot from a man named Perrault to White, being dated February 2, 1931, [486]*486and recorded February 28, 1931. Another conveyed two other lots from Perrault to White, being dated November 30, 1931, and recorded July 6, 1937. Another conveyed a lot from one Amo to White, being dated April 1, 1931, and recorded July 6, 1937. The fourth conveyed a lot from Perrault to White, being dated August 29, 1938, and this deed was not recorded. The respondent contends that these grantors, Perrault and Amo, were “dummies” and that these four properties at all times belonged to the appellant’s wife. There is evidence that appellant’s wife originally had some interest in these properties.

White testified that he turned over these various amounts, including the pension checks, to the appellant for investment, that he thought possibly they were to be invested in first mortgage loans “or something that way”, but that absolutely nothing was said by him or the appellant as to how the monies were to be invested. All parties involved lived in San Diego and White testified that he frequently visited the appellant and his wife on Sunday, and that on numerous occasions they took him around to look at these properties and also others owned by the appellant. While he testified that he had not told the appellant to invest his money in real estate, at another time he testified that he had told the appellant to do this. He further testified that he thought the appellant was using this money to build houses and improve houses on his own properties and was satisfied at the time, that from 1930 to 1938 he knew that the appellant had been using his money in this way and was satisfied, and that he knew that the appellant was investing his money in property which stood in the appellant’s name and that this was satisfactory to him.

While testifying as to this knowledge and approval White insisted, at the trial, that he had never known that any of the real property in question had been deeded to him. However, it fully appears that each year from 1931 to 1938 White claimed a veteran’s exemption in connection with the taxes on one of these properties, stating in the affidavits that he was the owner thereof.

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Related

United States v. Valencia
1 C.M.A. 415 (United States Court of Military Appeals, 1952)
People v. Egan
167 P.2d 766 (California Court of Appeal, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 P.2d 415, 42 Cal. App. 2d 482, 1941 Cal. App. LEXIS 1278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wilde-calctapp-1941.