Teague v. Abbot

100 N.E. 27, 51 Ind. App. 604, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 145
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 13, 1912
DocketNo. 7,745
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 100 N.E. 27 (Teague v. Abbot) 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
Teague v. Abbot, 100 N.E. 27, 51 Ind. App. 604, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 145 (Ind. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Felt, J.

— This was an action in replevin brought by appellee, by her next friend, against appellant, as administrator of the estate of Jefferson Teague, deceased, for the possession of certain bank stock alleged to be the property of appellee. The cause was tried by the court, without the intervention of a jury, and from a finding and judgment in favor of appellee this appeal is taken.

The only error assigned is that the court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial, asked on two grounds: The decision of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law.

It is not disputed that appellee rendered services of some value, and that it was the intention of decedent to make [606]*606some provision for her in return for such services. Appellee claims that decedent carried out such intention by an executed gift to her of a certificate for five shares of the capital stock of the Otwell State Bank, at Otwell, Indiana.' Appellant concedes that decedent in his lifetime expressed an intention to give said stock to appellee, but contends (1) that such gift was never in fact executed, and (2) that no demand was ever made on appellant as administrator for said stock certificate, and that this action must therefore fail.

1. The evidence, in substance, shows that Jefferson Teague died intestate on May 29, 1909, leaving as his only heirs at law a sister, Mattie Patton, and two brothers, Willard and Millard S. Teague; that he left an estate, real and personal, of about $11,000, of which appellant was duly appointed administrator on June 3, 1909; that for four or five years prior to his death decedent made his home with his brother, Willard Teague, and was there most of the time; that he had tuberculosis and was confined to his bed much of the time during the last six months of his life; that appellee is the step-daughter of Willard Teague, and lived in the home of her step-father during all of said time, and was, at the time of decedent’s death, seventeen years of age; that for some months prior to his decease, appellee waited on Jefferson Teague, took care of his room, assisted in the preparation of his meals, and prepared and disposed of the various articles used in his care and treatment; that he had great confidence in her, had taught her the combination to his safe, and relied on her to assist him in his business transactions. There is also evidence tending to prove that about a week or ten days before his death decedent asked appellee what she wanted for waiting on him; that she told him she did not want anything; that he insisted on compensating her, and she said “whatever you give me will be all right”; that he spoke- of giving her either a residence known as “the home place”, or said bank stock, and [607]*607after talking it over lie told her she could have the bank stock, and requested her never to sell it, and she thereupon promised him she would not sell the stock; that decedent owned a farm, on which there was a house, situate about a quarter of a mile from where he was then living; that he had reserved a room in said house in which he kept his library, a fireproof safe and some furniture; that he kept his notes and other valuable papers in said safe; that immediately after the conversation in which decedent told appellee she could have the bank stock he wrote a letter to appellant on the subject of the disposition of his property; that this letter was lost or misplaced, and was not produced at the trial; that appellant admitted there was something said in the letter about appellee and the bank stock, but said decedent asked his advice about giving it to appellee, and later in a conversation expressed a different intention; that he told his brother he himself had better do with his property what he wanted done, for he (appellant) probably eould not do so after his death; that on the day after the funeral, and a day or so before appellant’s appointment as adminis-'" trator, appellee asked appellant to give her the bank stock, just what Jeff (decedent) told him she should have, and appellant said he would not do so, that she had earned $1,000, but did not get it; that he thereupon demanded of ’ her the stock, and she said she did not have it, but notwithstanding her answer he believed she had the stock, and made no further demand on her for it; that in December, after the suit was brought in November, appellant informed appellee that he did not intend she should have the bank stock. The evidence also tends to show that decedent and appellant, his brother, formerly owned said safe in partnership, but that some time prior to his death decedent purchased his brother’s interest; that appellee turned over to appellant the other notes and papers of the decedent, and he did not obtain the certificate of bank stock for about two months thereafter, when the same was found under a book case in [608]*608decedent’s own house by a relative of appellant who turned it over to him.

2. 1. Appellant insists that there is no evidence from which the trial court could rightfully find that decedent delivered the stock to appellee, or that she made any demand on appellant therefor before the institution of this suit. If there is any evidence tending to support the finding and judgment of the trial court, this court, under well-established rules, will not disturb the conclusions so reached. The tidal court had the right to draw any inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the facts proven, and it is. not the province of this court to question such conclusions, because other and different inferences may seem more reasonable and probable than those drawn by the trial court. The evidence warrants the inference that decedent recognized an obligation resting on him to eompensate appellee; that he gave her the stock in question not as a mere gratuity, but in return for valuable services rendered him; that the stock was in the safe when he transferred it to appellee in payment for her services; that decedent at that time had the present intention of parting with all control over the certificate. There is no dispute about the fact that decedent had taught appellee the 1 combination to his safe where his valuable papers were \kept, and that she knew it- at that time. The fact that the stock was not found in the safe after decedent’s death is not conclusive on the proposition that it was not there at the time decedent transferred it to appellee. In handling the papers it may have been unintentionally removed, and in the same way may have gotten into the place where it was found more than two months later. There is no explanation as to when or how the stock got out of the safe, or into the place where it was found. It was found in a place where decedent was not likely to have intentionally placed, or kept it. There is evidence warranting the inference that the stock was in the safe when it was transferred [609]*609to appellee, and the mystery surrounding its location for two months after decedent’s death does not make such inference unreasonable or impossible. Appellee’s knowledge of the combination to the safe, and her control over decedent’s papers, gave her all necessary means of acquiring actual manual possession of the stock, and rendered unnecessary any further handing over of the certificate.

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Bluebook (online)
100 N.E. 27, 51 Ind. App. 604, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/teague-v-abbot-indctapp-1912.