Opinion ID: 1365332
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exercise of undue influence.

Text: We now come to the most fundamental question in the case, namely, whether or not undue influence was exercised upon the testatrix by Elmer G. Peterson as claimed by the contestants. Unless such influence was actually exercised, it would be immaterial as to whether or not the will disposed of the property in an unnatural manner, in view of the fact, as heretofore stated, that it is admitted the testatrix had testamentary capacity. In connection with the will of 1944, it appears that Elmer Peterson drove the testatrix to the office of Clarence Brimmer. She was unable to climb the stairs to go to the office of the attorney. So Clarence Brimmer was summoned to go down to the automobile in which the testatrix was seated. He did so and no one else was present when the testatrix told Clarence Brimmer of what provisions she wanted to make in the will. The will was drafted subsequently by Mr. Brimmer and he and some witnesses drove to Walcott the next day where the will was duly executed at that time and Elmer Peterson was not present. In this connection, counsel for appellants say that there is testimony that it was the influence of Elmer Peterson which brought about the will of 1944, in view of the fact that Ellen Kastner testified that she saw testatrix in front of the bank and that at that time testatrix told her that Elmer had insisted upon her making a will before she left for Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Ellen Kastner was not corroborated in this by Clarence Brimmer as she should have been if her testimony is true, and she was contradicted by Elmer Peterson who in turn was corroborated by Sarah Comstock. However that may be, it does not appear that Elmer insisted upon any particular provisions in the will and simply to suggest or insist that a testator should make a will would seem to be of little if any importance. In any event, the testimony was incompetent to prove that any actual influence was exercised by Elmer Peterson, since it was not a part of the res gestae. 6 Wigmore on Evidence, 3rd Ed., § 1738. 2 Page on Wills, § 848, p. 672, and numerous cases cited. In re Gleason's Estate, 164 Cal. 756, 130 P. 872, 874, the court stated: The external facts constituting the exercise of undue influence must be established by other evidence than the declaration of the testator. His declarations are incompetent to show either that the influence was exercised, or that it affected his actions, and are inadmissible, except as they may illustrate his mental state,   . His statement of the effect that an act or suggestion of another produced upon him at some previous time is, however, only hearsay. See also Scott v. Townsend, 106 Tex. 322, 166 S.W. 1138, 1145. The codicil of 1951 was drafted by A.R. McMicken, who was employed as the attorney for testatrix as early as November 1950 in connection with the claim of Brimmer and Bible. He knew nothing about her will until about March 9, 1951, when Joe Collins, an employee of testatrix, brought him the will of 1944, having obtained it from Clarence Brimmer, who had had the custody of it till that time. Joe Collins told Mr. McMicken that testatrix wanted to see him to get him to persuade Elmer Peterson to return to her employ. Mr. McMicken thereafter went to see testatrix at her ranch, and talked about Elmer returning as mentioned. She then told Mr. McMicken that she wanted to make some changes in her will. The codicil was drafted with a great deal of care, and after the changes had been talked over in detail during a whole day's conference. Mr. McMicken and testatrix were alone. The return of Elmer to her employment was also discussed. Elmer had quit his employment with testatrix in the fall of 1949 on account of the fact that testatrix was not paying him sufficient salary. He thereafter went into business for himself, running a filling station and made in the neighborhood of $11,000 per annum. Testatrix wanted him to come back into her employment and he hesitated to do so and several times refused to enter into a contract of employment. But he finally met with testatrix and Mr. McMicken and it was agreed that he should re-enter the employment of testatrix as manager at a salary of $500 per month plus 20% of the profits. But after again talking with his wife, he again refused to sign the contract drafted by Mr. McMicken. The latter informed the testatrix of that refusal at the time when the codicil was signed and he told testatrix at that time she could change the provisions of the will and codicil about leaving anything to Elmer Peterson. Testatrix stated that she wanted him to have the ranch and would not make any changes but asked Mr. McMicken to see Elmer again and persuade him to change his mind. After the codicil was executed, Mr. McMicken stopped at Elmer's filling station and persuaded Elmer to sign the contract prepared by him. Counsel for contestants say that undue influence on the part of Elmer might be inferred from the fact that he signed the contract for re-employment within an hour after the codicil was executed. They say: The jury, under proper instructions, might well have found that Elmer brought about the Codicil also by insisting that it be done prior to the time he would go back to work for his aunt on the very ranch which under the provisions of the Codicil was to become his upon her death. We find no evidence to that effect. Elmer Peterson had, about 1945, been informed of the 1944 will and the provisions therein in his favor, so that there was no necessity so far as we can see for him to wait until the codicil had been signed, unless, perchance he was afraid that she might change her will. But according to Mr. McMicken he did not know that she was executing a codicil. If it can be said that any influence was exercised by one person upon another in this connection, it would seem that it was exercised on the part of testatrix, through Mr. McMicken, upon Elmer Peterson rather than the reverse. Mr. McMicken testified as to what took place when he stopped to see Elmer after the codicil was executed. That testimony is as follows: Q. What did you say to him? A. Well, I told him, `Your aunt sent me back again now to see if you would sign this contract.' I told him she said she wanted him. I told him again, as I previously stated, that I thought he owed it to her, she was  that he was the only male relative she had to run this outfit and if he didn't take over pretty quick it would go to pieces. We discussed it for quite a while and he didn't want to go, and so on. I told him that she had given him everything that he had asked for and I thought the contract was fair. I made this further remark that, `You can't stay at this filling station forever, you got these two little baby girls and you are going to have to get them in school, and I don't think your environment is right, you are selling beer over this counter. I think you are going to have to move and I think this would be a good time for you to make a change.' I got him to sign the contract and I filled in the date, the 25th, and he signed his name under each of three of them where Mrs. Nelson had signed it, and I left him the original, went back out to the car and went to Rawlins. Counsel for contestants say that there is a suspicious circumstance in this case in that Elmer did not immediately advise the mother and sister of testatrix of the serious condition of the testatrix when she died on September 2, 1951. And that the mother and sister did not hear of her death until the next morning through the hired help at the ranch. We cannot see the force of the argument. The testatrix became seriously ill on the evening of September 1, 1951, and Elmer immediately called Mr. McMicken and asked him to send a doctor to take care of testatrix. That was done. To summon the doctor was the important thing at the time. Counsel ask the question: Is such conduct in keeping with a clear conscience and a feeling free from wrong-doing on the part of Elmer? We must confess we do not understand how the matter just referred to has anything to do with any undue influence exerted by Elmer Peterson, as claimed. Counsel say that a further suspicious circumstance is that Elmer was the only one of the lawful heirs of the testatrix who knew what was in the will, and he knew it in 1945. Counsel think that he ought to have informed the other heirs. It seems that Clarence Brimmer informed Elmer of the fact that the ranch interests were left to him. Why he should have informed the others is not at all clear to us. For aught that he may have known, Mr. Brimmer might have informed the other heirs of the contents of the will just as he informed Elmer Peterson. Counsel for contestants also claim that the matter of the witnesses to the codicil creates doubt. Just in what connection they do not say. Apparently they refer to the fact that Dr. McNamara was summed to see the testatrix at the time when the codicil in question herein was executed. The explanation of that is very simple. The testatrix had told Mr. McMicken to attend to the matter of the exercise of the codicil as she feared that Ellen Kastner would attempt to break her will. So it was the suggestion of Mr. McMicken, agreed to by the testatrix, that in order to put her mental capacity beyond any question, a physician should be summoned to examine her for the purpose of determining whether or not she was a competent person to execute the codicil. Under the circumstances there was nothing peculiar or strange that Dr. McNamara examined the testatrix before and at the time that she executed the codicil. According to the testimony of Mr. McMicken, Elmer Peterson knew nothing about the codicil and he was not present when it was signed. It was executed in the presence of Dr. McNamara and John W. France as well as Eph Johnson and Mr. McMicken, all of whom testified that she was competent to execute the codicil, and knew what she was doing. The witness France testified among other things: She mentioned that she knew entirely what she was doing, and that she was acting under no duress or anything of that nature. That statement was made as part of the res gestae. We are unable to find any evidence in the case which tends to show directly or indirectly that any undue influence was exercised by Elmer Peterson in connection with the original will in 1944 or the codicil of 1951. Counsel for contestants, however, contend that the jury could have found the existence of undue influence by reason of a presumption arising from a combination of facts as stated in Instruction B, asked by them, but refused by the court. It is, therefore, necessary for us to examine that instruction and determine whether or not it was error not to give it.