Wilbur v. Wilbur

239 P. 332, 197 Cal. 1, 1925 Cal. LEXIS 209
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 31, 1925
DocketDocket No. Sac. 3600.
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 239 P. 332 (Wilbur v. Wilbur) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilbur v. Wilbur, 239 P. 332, 197 Cal. 1, 1925 Cal. LEXIS 209 (Cal. 1925).

Opinion

SEAWELL, J.

Mrs. Hazel Wilbur, wife of codefendant Glen A. Wilbur, who was made a party to the suit, appeared and filed her answer in which she disclaimed all right, title, estate, and interest in and to the lands, premises, and personal property or thing involved in the action.

Plaintiff and appellant, Elmira J. Wilbur, is the mother of Glen A. Wilbur, defendant and respondent herein. The real property, the transfer of which it is claimed by the appellant was fraudulently made, as will later appear, and which is the basis of the action, was a part of a larger estate originally acquired by A. H. Wilbur, husband of appellant and father of respondent, deceased since 1898. Besides respondent Glen A. Wilbur there are three other children, issue of said A. H. Wilbur, since deceased, and his said wife, Elmira J. Wilbur, plaintiff and appellant, to wit, Edith Mary Wilbur, Lloyd H. Wilbur, and Elaine May Wilbur. Glen A. Wilbur is the youngest member of the family. The estate or lands in question are situate in Sutter County, some four or five miles northerly from Tuba City. In 1858, that being also the year that A. H. Wilbur and appellant were married, the husband purchased the lands involved in this action, and he and his wife went upon them to reside. Other acreages were thereafter added to the original purchase and the value of the entire estate of A. H. Wilbur at the time of his death—1898—was inventoried at $110,000. *3 The greater portion of his estate consisted of land. There was some money and bank stock in the estate; the amount thereof is not stated and is not important here. By the decree of distribution one-half of the entire estate was distributed to the widow, appellant herein, and the other one-half was distributed to the four children in equal shares. Presumably by partition proceedings, Edith Wilbur became the owner of the particular parcels which are the subject of this action. On January 29, 1913, Mrs. Elmira J. Wilbur, the mother of said children and appellant herein, and her son, Glen A. Wilbur, respondent, purchased said land from Edith, paying her $40,000 in cash (each paying $20,000) and assumed an existing mortgage thereon in the sum of $18,000. By this purchase each became the owner of an undivided one-half interest therein. The above conveyance also carried with it a transfer of all the personal property on said premises, which consisted of approximately 20,000 raisin trays, 6,000 fruit boxes, cultivating machinery, farming implements, twelve horses and mules, wagons, household furniture, kitchen utensils, men’s quarters, pumps and motors and dry-yard ears for carrying raisin trays. The condition and state of preservation of said raisin trays, fruit boxes, machinery, and farming implements and other personal property at the time of sale was considered by the witnesses who testified as to valuations, and that subject will not be treated separately by us inasmuch as the personal and real property was considered together in estimating the value of the premises. The lands, at the time respondent and appellant acquired ownership thereof, were, and since have been, devoted exclusively to the raising of Thompson seedling grapes and the production of prunes, which chops were processed, cured, prepared, and made ready for the market on the premises. Other crops, such as are sometimes planted on orchard or grape lands incidental to the main business, were also occasionally produced in relatively small quantities. It was for the purpose of conducting the premises along the lines of industry above pointed out as a partnership enterprise that the purchase of said premises and personal property was made. The copartnership relation continued from January 29, 1913, to October 22, 1916, on which last-named day respondent purchased from his mother all of her in *4 terest of whatsoever kind in and to said real and personal property and the business which they had formerly conducted. Primarily this action wa.s brought to obtain a decree of court canceling and declaring void the deed executed on said 22d of October, 1916, wherein appellant is grantor and respondent grantee, and also to declare void certain agreements and contracts entered into on the same day which may in anywise affect her rights in the premises, for rescission and restoration and for a decree adjudging her to be the owner of an undivided one-half interest in the McKenzie ranch, containing about forty acres, the title to which stands in the name of respondent, but which property, it is claimed, was purchased by partnership funds, and for an accounting and general relief.

The grounds upon which appellant relies as sufficient to sustain her right to have said conveyance set aside and to obtain the other relief sought will appear from the following 'epitomization of appellant’s complaint. It is in four counts. The first count alleges an equal partnership in the premises acquired by the deed of 1913 and that respondent was appellant’s agent in selling her portion of the crops raised on said lands during the existence of their copartnership and that plaintiff had the exclusive control and management of said premises and the marketing of said crops; that on October 22, 1916, the day said deed was executed, appellant was of the age of sixty-eight years and then was, and for some time prior thereto had been, in poor health and was highly nervous and greatly weakened in body and mind; that respondent took her to the office of his attorney, Mr. Blaine M'cGowan, and by insistence and coercive and persuasive words, conduct, and methods, overcame her better judgment and induced her to execute the deed of October 22, 1916; that she had no independent counsel or advice whatsoever in the matter nor any opportunity to confer with any person other than respondent and his said attorney; that the reasonable value of said land was then not less than $65,000; that she received the sum of $5,000 and the promissory note of respondent for $20,000 in payment for her property, which note has not been paid. A tender of all moneys received by her on account of the transaction and a refusal by respondent to accept the same is pleaded as of date October, 1917. The allegations of the second *5 count are substantially to the effect that respondent failed and neglected to render true accounts of the income derived from said lands during the existence of their said ownership and copartnership and represented it to be much less in value than it was in fact and that respondent retained each year a large portion of the share that rightfully belonged to appellant, exceeding in amount $125,000; that respondent -was informed as to the income and value of said lands but that she was not informed as to either,- that she believed his representations that her interest in said lands would not exceed the value of $25,000, when, as a matter of fact, its true value was in excess of $65,000; that because of her great love and affection for respondent and because of the trust and faith she had in him she believed these and other false representations and acted upon them to her damage. A tender of all she received from respondent in said transaction and a refusal of the latter to accept the same, made prior to the commencement of the action, is alleged. The allegation of count three is that no accounting had ever been made by respondent to appellant and she prays that he be compelled to render a report and account. By' count four it is alleged that the respondent purchased with partnership funds the premises known as the McKenzie ranch and holds the legal title in himself.

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Bluebook (online)
239 P. 332, 197 Cal. 1, 1925 Cal. LEXIS 209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilbur-v-wilbur-cal-1925.