Rosenmeier v. Krauss

75 N.E.2d 798, 118 Ind. App. 57, 1947 Ind. App. LEXIS 220
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 1947
DocketNo. 17,608.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 75 N.E.2d 798 (Rosenmeier v. Krauss) 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
Rosenmeier v. Krauss, 75 N.E.2d 798, 118 Ind. App. 57, 1947 Ind. App. LEXIS 220 (Ind. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

Crumpacker, J.

The late Lena Rosenmeier died in February, 1940, the owner of Lots 32 and 33 in Baker and Wheeler’s Sub-division of the north half of the west half of Block 22 of Sharpe’s Enlargement, an addition to the City of Evansville, Indiana. These lots front on Edgar Street at its intersection with Delaware Street in said city. Lot 33 is on the corner and Lot 32 adjoins it on the north. Each lot is 25 feet wide and 122 feet deep and each is improved with a frame dwelling house. The entire north side of the house on Lot 33 extends over the line separating the two lots and encroaches upon Lot 32 to a maximum distance of 8 feet and 3 inches. A system of numbering buildings prevails in the City of Evansville whereby one number is reserved for each 25 feet of frontage on both sides of a street and when a house is built on any such frontage the number so reserved is assigned to such house. A building and its appurtenances occupying several 25 feet frontages is assigned one of the numbers reserved for such frontages and the other numbers are not used. Under this system of numbering the house on said Lot 33 was assigned the number “700 Edgar Street” many years ago and it has borne such number ever since.

The said Lena Rosenmeier died testate and her will was probated in due course in the Vanderburgh Probate Court. “Item One” of said will provides as follows: “I *60 hereby devise to Louise G. Haller, to be hers absolutely, the real estate known as 700 Edgar Street, in the City of Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, said real estate being Lot Thirty-three (33) in Baker and Wheeler’s Sub-division of the North half of the West half of Block No. Twenty-two (22), of Sharpe’s Enlargement, an addition to the City of Evansville, Indiana.” “Item Five” of said will leaves all the rest, residue and remainder of her real estate to her husband, William Rosenmeier, the appellant herein, and “Item Six” nominates the said Louise G. Haller executrix thereof. Since said will was executed Louise G. Haller has married and her name is now Louise G. Krauss, under which name she was appointed, qualified and has acted as such executrix.

During the course of her administration of the Rosenmeier estate she had various difficulties with the appellant which finally culminated in a contract between them whereby, they sought to put at rest their disputes and misunderstandings and each agreed to accept under the terms of the decedent’s will. This agreement was fully performed by both parties and the appellee made it a part of her final report as executrix of said estate. In due course such report was approved and in so doing the Vanderburgh Probate Court found and adjudged the appellant to be the owner of Lot 32 and the appellee to be the owner of Lot 33, heretofore more particularly described. This., judgment remains unmodified and no appeal was taken therefrom. ■

Shortly after the approval of her final report and her discharge as such executrix, the- appellee discovered that a portion of the house bearing, the number “700 Edgar Street” is on Lot 32 and she thereupon- brought this suit to construe “Item-One” of said., will in.such manner as to devise to her 8 feet and 3 inches off the south side *61 of said lot as well as all of Lot 33 and to quiet her title thereto. The appellant defended on the theory that the will involved is clear and unambiguous and not open to j udicial construction and also that the final order of the Vanderburgh Probate Court, unappealed from, is a binding adjudication that he' is owner of all of Lot 32 and that the appellee, by the so-called “family settlement agreement,” which we have heretofore describéd, has estopped herself from asserting any interest therein.

The trial court resolved these issues against the appellant and' by its judgment construed the will in accord with the appellee’s contention and quieted her title to all of Lot 33 and a strip of land 8 feet and 3 inches wide off the south side of Lot 32. In his motion for a new trial the appellant asserts that the court’s decision is not sustained by sufficient evidence, is contrary to law and that much improper and incompetent evidence was erroneously admitted over his objections. The motion however fails to set out the appellant’s objections to the evidence of which he complains and therefore, on this phase of the appeal, presents no question for review. When error is predicated on the admission of evidence, the motion for a new trial must set out the question and answer, if there was one, or the substance thereof, the objections urged below,- and the ruling of the court thereon. Deming Hotel Co. v. Sisson (1940), 216 Ind. 587, 24 N. E. 2d 912; Kimmick v. Linn (1940), 217 Ind. 485, 29 N. E. 2d 207; Shank Fireproof Warehouse Co. v. Harlan (1941), 108 Ind. App. 592, 29 N. E. 2d 1003; Brown v. State (1939), 216 Ind. 106, 23 N. E. 2d 267.

The basic question in this case is whether Lena Rosenmeier intended to. confine the devise- in “Item One” of her will to Lot 33 or did she intend such devise to include that part of Lot 32 occupied by the house which *62 stands, in the main, on Lot 83. The appellant contends that the will itself answers this question and therefore there is no need for judicial construction. He reaches this conclusion by the following process of reasoning: “Item One” of said will devised to the appellee “the real estate known as 700 Edgar Street, in the City of Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana,” which she identifies as “being Lot Thirty-three (33) in Baker and Wheeler’s Sub-division of the North half of the West half of Block No. Twenty-two (22), of Sharpe’s Enlargement.” Thus it is apparent, the appellant contends, that in the mind of the testatrix said Lot 33 is the real estate known as “700 Edgar Street” and that is all she intended to devise to the appellee. That to construe “Item One” as a devise of any part of Lot 32 would, in effect, be the making of a new and different will.

We could readily agree with the appellant in this contention if the will involved contained no latent ambiguity. As we understand it, a latent ambiguity is an ambiguity which arises from some collateral circumstance, or extrinsic matter, where the instrument itself is sufficiently certain and intelligible. McConnell V. Robbins (1923), 193 Ind. 359, 140 N. E. 59. Whenever, in applying the terms of a will to the subject matter to which it refers, extrinsic facts appear which produce an ambiguity, the court may enquire into every other material extrinsic fact or circumstance bearing on the question in order to arrive at a correct construction of the language employed. Hertford v. Harned (1916), 185 Ind. 213, 113 N. E. 727; Sturgis v. Work (1890), 122 Ind. 134, 22 N. E. 996; Daugherty, Administrator v. Rogers (1889), 119 Ind. 254, 20 N. E. 779; Black v. Richards (1884), 95 Ind. 184.

*63 *62 We agree with the appellant that the will in suit is clear, certain and intelligible when read as an isolated

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Bluebook (online)
75 N.E.2d 798, 118 Ind. App. 57, 1947 Ind. App. LEXIS 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenmeier-v-krauss-indctapp-1947.