Till v. Till

268 So. 2d 17, 289 Ala. 404, 1972 Ala. LEXIS 1079
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 28, 1972
Docket3 Div. 505
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 268 So. 2d 17 (Till v. Till) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Till v. Till, 268 So. 2d 17, 289 Ala. 404, 1972 Ala. LEXIS 1079 (Ala. 1972).

Opinion

MADDOX, Justice.

This is a will contest case. Centestantscomplainants-appellants, are nieces, nephews, great-nieces or great-nephews of the testator, Joseph H. Till, deceased. The respondent-proponent-appellee, Gertrude Till, is the wife of a cousin of the deceased, Joseph A. Till. The contestants claimed the last will and testament was the result of undue influence exercised by Gertrude Till on the testator, or in the alternative, that at the time of the execution of the will, Joseph A. Till was of unsound mind.

The case was tried before a jury in Butler County, which returned a verdict finding the issues in favor of Gertrude Till. Appellant’s motion for new trial being denied, this appeal was taken.

There are several assignments of error; however, the assignments argued are predicated upon the refusal of the trial court to give certain requested written charges, and the refusal of the court to permit evi[406]*406dence concerning the activity of the husband of Gertrude Till, who was the principal beneficiary. Appellants insist strongest that they discovered new evidence that Gertrude Till had written two letters which proved she exercised undue influence upon the testator and that the testator was of unsound mind.

Joseph A. Till died in Butler County in July, 1970. He was 87. He had never married. During his lifetime, he acquired considerable real and personal property. He left a last will and testament dated March 5, 1966, which is the will here contested. Apparently, the deceased was not very close to any of his next of kin. After the death of his parents, he and his maiden sister lived in the family home until the death of his sister in 1948. The testator had entered into an arrangement with one Will Burgan to run his farming operations. For a time, Will Burgan lived in the home with the testator. In 1960, apparently Joseph Till executed his first will, naming Will Burgan as a beneficiary. In 1964, the testator revoked this will and made another will in which Burgan’s share of his estate was more than doubled.

There was evidence that Burgan began to mistreat the testator and that one of the contestants, Dan Till, talked to Ben Till, husband of Gertrude Till, on several occasions about getting the will naming Burgan as a principal beneficiary revoked. Ben Till was deceased at the time of the trial.

The evidence is uncontradicted that the deceased testator lived in the home of Ben and Gertrude Till from October, 1965 until the date of his death. The testimony was conflicting on the question of the mental capacity of Joseph A. Till at the time the will here was signed. Several witnesses described the testator as “confused a great deal of the time” and “irrational.” A doctor who had treated the deceased for “arteriosclerosis” was of the opinion that the deceased was of “unsound mind.” Witnesses stated that the deceased's physical and mental condition deteriorated after an illness in 1958. On the contrary, a doctor who treated the deceased testified that, in his opinion, Joseph Till was of sound mind on some occasions when he talked to him and on others he was not. One of the witnesses to the will testified that the testator appeared to be of sound mind at the time the will was executed. Other witnesses also testified that the deceased was of sound mind while he was in the Ben Till home. A provision in the will stated:

“I am leaving my property to Gertrude Till because she has taken me into her home and been kind to me in my old age. I want her to have my property when I am gone.”

Contestants presented evidence attempting to show that the testator had ill feeling for Ben Till, in whose home he lived for the more than four last years of his life. In other words, as is generally true in will contest cases, the evidence was bitterly contested, the trial lasting for five days.

No principle of law is more settled than the rule announced in Cobb v. Malone & Collins, 92 Ala. 630, 9 So. 738 (1890), as follows:

“When there is no evidence to support the verdict, it is clearly the duty of the court to grant a new trial. No court, possessed of a proper sense of justice, and a due regard for a fair and impartial administration of the law, can afford to allow such a verdict to stand. But when there is evidence on both sides, or some evidence to support the verdict, it should not be set aside, because it may not correspond with the opinion of the court, as to the weight of the testimony, or because it is against the mere preponderance of the evidence. Comparing the analogous rules above stated, and the rules established by other appellate courts, we deduce therefrom, and lay down as rules for the guidance of this court, that the decision of the trial court, refusing to grant a new trial [407]*407on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence, or that the verdict is contrary to the evidence, will not be reversed, unless, after allowing all reasonable presumptions of its correctness, the preponderance of the evidence against the verdict is so decided as to clearly convince the court that it is wrong and unjust. And decisions granting new trials will not be reversed, unless the evidence plainly and palpably supports the verdict. Of course, these rules are not inflexible; but subject to exceptions and qualifications, dependent upon peculiar circumstances.”

When a motion for a new trial is denied by the trial court, the refusal of the trial court to grant a new trial adds verity to the propriety of the verdict and thereby strengthens the presumption in its favor. 2A Ala. Digest, Appeal and Error, ^PSO (!)•

Appellants, by amendment to their motion for a new trial, alleged that they had “newly discovered evidence.” The “newly discovered evidence” is based on two letters written by Gertrude Till to Mrs. Ruby Till, wife of Ellis Till, one of the contestants of the will.1

Forest Investment Corp. v. Commercial Credit Corp., 271 Ala. 8, 122 So.2d 131 (1960), sets out many of the guiding principles regarding the granting of a new [408]*408trial on the ground of “newly discovered evidence.” This court there said:

“Appellant’s final contention is that the motion for a new trial should have been granted on the ground of newly discovered evidence.
“The propriety of granting such a motion on the ground of newly discovered evidence must, in this State, be tested by the following settled rules:
“(1) The evidence must be such as will probably change the result if a new trial is granted; .
“(2) The evidence must have been discovered since the trial;
“(3) The evidence could not have been discovered before the trial by the exercise of due diligence;
“(4) It must be material to the issue;
“(5) It must not be merely cumulative, or impeaching. McCormack Bros. Motor Car Co. v. Arnold, 223 Ala. 504, 137 So. 288; Fries v. Acme White Lead & Color Works, 201 Ala. 613, 79 So. 45; Birmingham Electric Co. v. Linn, 33 Ala.App. 486, 34 So.2d 715.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Alabama, Inc. v. Cook
298 So. 2d 248 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 So. 2d 17, 289 Ala. 404, 1972 Ala. LEXIS 1079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/till-v-till-ala-1972.