Price v. Boyce

36 N.E. 766, 10 Ind. App. 145, 1894 Ind. App. LEXIS 126
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 9, 1894
DocketNo. 1,046
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 36 N.E. 766 (Price v. Boyce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Price v. Boyce, 36 N.E. 766, 10 Ind. App. 145, 1894 Ind. App. LEXIS 126 (Ind. Ct. App. 1894).

Opinion

Reinhard, J.

The appellee sued the appellant, on a complaint in three paragraphs. The first was for money-had and received by the appellant of the appellee’s decedent. The second and third paragraphs set forth the circumstances under which the appellant received the money from the intestate, who was his brother, and contain the further averment that such intestate was at the time of the transaction of unsound mind. The appellant answered the first paragraph of the complaint by a general denial and plea of payment. He also filed an answer.in three paragraphs to the second and third para[146]*146graphs of the complaint. The first paragraph of this answer was a general denial, the second a plea of payment in accordance with the instruction of the decedent. The third paragraph admits' receiving the money as charged in the complaint, but avers that it was given to the appellant by such decedent for certain specific purposes, to which appellant was to apply it, and to which he had applied it as directed; that he had received it in good faith, and expended it in the manner directed, without any knowledge or notice of the unsoundness of mind of the intestate. To this paragraph the court sustained a demurrer, and this ruling is the first error relied upon.

There was a general verdict for the appellee, and the jury, with said verdict, returned answers to interrogatories propounded to them, in which, among other things, they found that said intestate was, at the time of the transaction by which appellant received the money in controversy, of sound mind, and capable of managing his estate. Inasmuch as the verdict could, therefore, not be sustained upon the theory of said decedent’s insanity, if it may be sustained upon any other theory to the exclusion of that of .the insanity, the appellant was not harmed by the ruling.

It is admitted by appellee’s counsel that the case must stand or fall upon the first paragraph of the complaint, and the issues joined upon the same. The second and third paragraphs of the complaint, and the answers and reply proceeding out of the same, may, therefore, be treated as being out of the record.

The appellant’s counsel insist, however, that the appellee throughout the trial, until after the evidence in defense had been heard, proceeded upon the insanity theory, and only abandoned it when he found it was not sustained, and then resorted to the theory of appellant’s disability as an administrator de son tort. The fact that [147]*147appellee had proceeded upon the insanity theory did not prevent him from making out his case under the first paragraph of the complaint. The doctrine that the plaintiff must recover secundum allegata et probata, if at all, does not stand in the way of a recovery where different paragraphs of complaint are filed, and evidence is introduced in support of all the paragraphs, but which is sufficient only to sustain one of such paragraphs. Nor can it be held that the court abused its discretion by permitting testimony to be given in rebuttal, which was, strictly speaking, proper only in chief. If, from- a consideration of the whole evidence, it can be said that it fairly supports the first paragraph of the complaint, the judgment upon the verdict can not be disturbed.

The appellant has assigned the overruling of his motion for a new trial as error, and by such motion assails the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. His contention is that to entitle the appellee to recover he must prove

1. That the money was received by appellant.

2. That it was received under circumstances creating an obligation to repay.

3. That a demand for repayment was made before suit.

The appellant’s counsel, in their brief, concede that appellant received the money in controversy, and that a demand was made in January, 1891, about ten days after the intestate’s death, and before the commencement of this action. The first and third propositions being conceded, therefore, it remains to ascertain the circumstances under which the appellant received the money, the manner in which any portion of it was expended by appellant, and what portion, if any, the appellant has failed properly to account for.

It is admitted, on behalf of appellant, that on the 2d [148]*148day of December, 1890, the intestate, then living at Cincinnati, Ohio, delivered to appellant the sum of $1,412.50 by his check on a certain bank in that city. It is claimed that at the time he received said funds appellant was directed by his brother to use the same for the latter’s benefit as long as he should live, and after his death to pay out of it the expenses of last sickness and burial, and from the surplus, if any, to pay certain debts and obligations named.

It is claimed for appellant, however, that he accepted the money on the terms heretofore named, and applied it to the use of his brother until the latter’s death, which occurred on the 16th day of January, 1891; that he paid the expenses of last sickness and burial of the intestate, and the specific debts and obligations he was directed to pay, with the exception of one item, which was the balance remaining in his hands after the payment of specific debts and obligations, and which balance he was directed by his brother to pay to the latter’s son for services rendered, but which had not been paid by him at the time of the demand and suit.

The contention of appellant is that by the transfer to him of the funds in question the intestate constituted the appellant a trustee, and that he has strictly executed the trust, as far as he has been able to do so, by paying out the fund according to the specific directions of the deceased, and that whatever balance remains in his hands belongs to the intestate’s son, who is a cestui que trust, and that, therefore, the appellee has no just claim to the same. The appellee, on the other hand, contends that the money was delivered to appellant as a mere agent of the intestate, without any interest in the trust estate; that the agency ceased with the death of such intestate; and that any sums paid out by the appellant since then, with the exception of such portions as would have been [149]*149proper payment if made by the administrator of the estate, can not be charged to the estate, and must be repaid by the appellant.

The appellee, to sustain his complaint, introduced evidence tending to show that the intestate gave to the appellant his check, upon which the latter drew the money. Mrs. Price, the wife of the intestate, testified that she accompanied the appellant to the bank and saw him receive the money, and that he told her that her husband let him have the money for the purpose of making more money for him, and to let him and his wife have money when they wanted it; that it would be better for the intestate to let appellant have the money; that appellant would let them (the intestate and his wife) have money whenever they wanted it, and that appellant could send them a draft whenever they wanted money, or would let him (appellant) know, and that it would never do to let intestate keep the money, as he would give all away to the girls. She also testified that appellant told her, in substance, that even if he were disposed to keep it they could recover it from him, and that he said nothing about having received it with directions to make any specific payments with or other disposition of the money.

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96 N.E. 483 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1911)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 N.E. 766, 10 Ind. App. 145, 1894 Ind. App. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/price-v-boyce-indctapp-1894.