Court Opinion

ID: 9702160
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:57:17.609281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:34.198823
License: Public Domain

Collins, J.,
delivered the following dissenting opinion.
The bill of particulars specified the work done and material provided as: “* * * for 332 weeks, up to August 2nd, 1948, at $15.00 per week, in addition to room and board. The total claim for personal services being $4,980.00”. The only testimony as to the value of Kate’s services follows: “Do you know enough of what Kate was doing in the house for Mary to fix what you would think would be a fair and reasonable wage to have paid someone for the work that she was doing? A. Well, of course, wages were not as high then, and I am not absolutely certain what I paid, but I think it ran, this was a three-quarter time maid, about $12.00 a week, no Sunday work.”
The case of Krug v. Mills, 159 Md. 670, 152 A. 493, was a suit in assumpsit under the common counts against an administratrix for services rendered the deceased *375in his lifetime. Like the instant case, a verdict was instructed for the defendant. The plaintiff was a nephew and godson of the deceased. The uncle owned a house and parcel of ground. The plaintiff, when thirteen years of age, was living with his mother in Baltimore. The testimony favorable to the appellant was that the uncle said to the boy’s mother: “* * * let me have the boy to work for me, and help me, and I am going to pay him, * * * That her brother said on various visits, that boy has been with me all these years working for me and helped to earn that money, and he is going to get it some day when I am gone, it will be there for him. That the last Monday that he came to my home prior to his death, we were in the kitchen talking, and he said to me, everything will be all right, and don’t forget, when I am gone, that boy gets all that I have got, he worked for it and helped to earn it, and taken care of me when I was sick and helped me all the time, and when I am gone he is going to get it, that the boy always was with me as a companion, taking care of me, when I was sick, he worked for me and helped to earn that money and he is going to get it when I am gone. He said, I am going to have the boy with me to work for me, and what he earns I am going to save and put away for him.” Disinterested witnesses testified that the deceased told them that he did not pay the nephew anything but when he died “what I have will go to that boy”. This Court found in that case that “The nephew lived with the uncle, performed services which are usually and incidentally performed by a member of the family for other members of the same family, and undoubtedly was highly regarded by the uncle, which made it natural for the nephew to expect that he would be remembered by his uncle through a will, especially in view of the fact that the record discloses that the only child of the deceased lived apart from her father and never visited him or had any association with him for -many years prior to his death.” Judge W. Mitchell Digges went fully into the law in that case, which is remarkably *376similar to the one before us here. He pointed out: “In order to justify a claim for services against a decedent, there must have been a design at the time of the rendition to charge, and an expectation on the part of the recipient to pay, for such services (Elosser v. Fletcher, 126 Md. 244; Jones v. Jones, 146 Md. 19), or, as expressed in the case of Bantz v. Bantz, 52 Md. 693: ‘In order to justify a claim for services being allowed against a decedent, there must have been a design at the time of the rendition to charge and an expectation on the part of the recipient to pay for the services. The services must have been of such a character and rendered under such circumstances as to fairly imply an understanding of payment and a promise to pay. There must have been an express or implied understanding between the parties that a charge for the services was to be made, and to be met by payment.’ In Bixler v. Sellman, 77 Md. 496, the court said: ‘Of course, it must be conceded that generally the law implies a promise to pay for services rendered and accepted; but a well recognized distinction exists where the service is rendered by a member of the family of the person served. In the latter case a presumption of law arises that such services are gratuitous.’ To like effect are Wallace v. Schaub, 81 Md. 598; Gill v. Staylor, 93 Md. 472; Harper v. Davis, 115 Md. 349; Giering v. Sauer, 120 Md. 295. It therefore appears that, if the party rendering the service is not a member of the family of the decedent, the law implies a promise on the part of the recipient to pay what such services are reasonably worth. On the other hand, if the party rendering the service is a member of the" family of the recipient, the law presumes such service to be gratuitous; and, in order to recover, the plaintiff must show an express understanding at the time such service was rendered that he meant to charge for same, -and that the recipient understood that he was claiming compensation; and, further, that the recipient intended to pay for same. In Jones v. Jones, supra, it was said: ‘The test is, Were the services for which compensation is *377being demanded rendered by one who is of the same family as the recipient; family, as here used, meaning a collective body of persons who form one household, under one head and one domestic government, and who have reciprocal natural or moral duties to support and care for each other.’ In 2 Page on Contracts, 1183, sec. 778, the author, citing Bixler v. Sellman, supra, says: ‘Persons who live together as members of the same family and render personal services each to the other generally do so from motives of affection and not because of the expectation of a financial reward therefor. Accordingly, the mere rendition of personal services between persons so situated does not establish a liability on the part of the person receiving such services to make compensation to the person rendering them, even though the services may be performed at the express request of the person receiving the benefit thereof, or may be voluntarily accepted by him.’ * * * In Provident Trust Co. v. Massey, 146 Md. 34, we said: ‘If the parties are members of the same family, the law presumes that at the time the services were rendered there was no intention to charge and pay for them, and requires clear and satisfactory proof from disinterested sources to overcome this presumption.’ When through a series of years the claimant’s conduct was irreconcilable with his claim, it may not be allowed without clear and satisfactory proof from credible sources.” The Court concluded in that case: “We are not unmindful of the fact that, in considering the question under the prayers in this case, we are not passing upon the weight of the evidence, but upon whether there is any evidence legally sufficient to take the case to the jury. Having determined that the plaintiff and the deceased were members of the same family, the law presumes that any services rendered was gratuitous, and in order to rebut such presumption it is incumbent upon the plaintiff to show by clear, satisfactory, and unequivocal evidence that there was at the time the services were rendered an intention on his part to make a charge for his services, and a cor*378responding purpose on the part of the deceased to pay for same. This, in our judgment, the plaintiff has failed to do; and we find no error in the ruling of the lower court directing a verdict for the defendant.”
There is no doubt in the instant case that these two sisters were members of the same family. The services here rendered were those usually performed by one member of a family for other members. There is not a scintilla of evidence that Mary expected to pay, or that Kate expected to receive any compensation for these services, other than the devise of Mary’s property at her death. The appellant is not suing here on the contract to devise the property, evidently on account of Statute of Frauds. Fitzpatrick v. Michael, 177 Md. 248, 254, 9 A. 2d 639. Mannix v. Baumgardner, 184 Md. 600, 42 A. 2d 124. As stated in Poe on Pleading and Practice, Volume 1, Section 101, in speaking of the count for “work and labor done”: “Wherever work has been done by the plaintiff for the defendant at his request, without an express contract as to price, the plaintiff, under this count, may recover the fair value of his work”. (Italics supplied.) Whatever testimony was offered, if any, as to any intention of Mary to pay and Kate to receive, is based on an expressed contract as to price, which was to be the devise of her property, either for life or absolutely. Evidently appellant relies on this specific contract, for we were advised during the argument of this case that appellant has now filed a suit for specific performance of that contract.
Appellant relies strongly on the case of Hamilton v. Thirston, 93 Md. 213, 48 A. 709 (1901). That case involved a suit at law on an alleged oral agreement by an uncle to devise a child’s portion of his estate consisting of real and personal property, to his nephew, if the latter would render certain services to him during the remainder of his life. This was almost precisely the state of facts in the later case of Krug v. Mills, 159 Md. 670, 152 A. 493, supra. There was evidence tend*379ing to prove the oral agreement. There was no count in the declaration on a quantum meruit for the value of services rendered by the appellee. This Court there held that the Statute of Frauds was a bar to recovery on the oral agreement but said: “Although the appellee is not entitled to maintain the present action upon the alleged contract, he can recover upon a quantum meruit the value of the services rendered by him to his uncle, for from services of this kind, even when rendered in pursuance of a contract within the statute by one party and accepted by the other, a right to compensation arises. Ellicott v. Peterson’s Extrs., 4 Md. 491; Baker v. Lauterbach, 68 Md. 70; Wallace v. Long, 105 Ind. 526; Emery v. Smith, 46 N. H. 151.” When the case was again tried, 94 Md. 253, 51 A. 42, under an amended declaration containing the common counts in assumpsit, as in the case of Krug v. Mills, supra, this Court held that the claim was barred by limitations and further said: “The plaintiff’s amended bill of particulars, filed on the 16th of May, 1901, claims for services rendered and work and labor done by the plaintiff for the defendants’ decedent from November 18th, 1888, to January 4th, 1898. It also appears that none of the witnesses examined by the plaintiff gave any evidence as to the value of the services performed by the plaintiff, nor any evidence that the services were worth $50.00 per month, as specified in the bill of particulars, or any other sum, nor were they asked by the plaintiff as to such value, and no evidence was given by any of the witnesses that the services of the plaintiff, to which they testified, were performed under the contract of 1888, nor any other contract, but all testified that the services were rendered after the date of the contract. No value of services was given, except as set forth in the contract, and that John B. Thirston died in January, 1898.” (Italics supplied). In the instant case it is claimed that the contract was made when Kate came to live with Mary on January 1st, 1942. Any services rendered by Kate were of course after that date.
*380In another later case, Bright v. Ganas, 171 Md. 493, 189 A. 427, 109 A. L. R. 467 (1937), plaintiff sued defendant as executor on an alleged testamentary contract for the sum of $20,000.00 for services rendered by plaintiff to defendant’s decedent. A judgment was rendered for $8,990.00 and defendant appealed. The first count of the declaration set up an oral agreement that if plaintiff as a servant continued to live with the decedent, Colonel Darden, during his lifetime, the plaintiff was to receive on the decedent’s death “out of his estate” the sum of $20,000.00. The decedent died without providing for plaintiff in his will. The second count was “for work done and materials furnished” at decedent’s request. The Court there pointed out that it was never considered faulty pleading to include the common counts, when there is a count on an express contract and that a careful pleader, when declaring on a special contract, seldom omits the common counts. It was there said: “In Bethlehem Steel Co. v. Dornberg, 135 Md. 121, 108 A. 474, 475, a suit by a broker for commissions on a sale of real estate, it is said: ‘The first three counts in the declaration were the common counts in assumpsit, on an implied contract, while the fourth count sets out a specific contract; and it needs no citation of authorities for the proposition that a plaintiff cannot recover in the same suit upon both an implied and express contract.’ ” The Court there referred to Hamilton v. Thirston, 93 Md. 213, and said only: “In Hamilton v. Thirston, 93 Md. 213, 48 A. 709, the plaintiff declared only on a specific oral agreement with an uncle for a devise in consideration of services. The statute of frauds was not pleaded, but defense was on that ground, was sustained in this court, and the judgment reversed with leave to the plaintiff to apply for a remand to so amend his pleadings as to declare in assumpsit for the value of his services.” The Court further said in Bright v. Ganas, supra: “If the plaintiff established by evidence facts sufficient to show a contract to bequeath him a specific sum in consideration of his serving the decedent *381to the end of his days, unless sooner terminated by the act of either, then the plaintiff would be entitled to recover under the first count [the contract count]. If the evidence shows no contract, but an understanding that the services were being rendered on the implied agreement that they be paid for at their reasonable value, the second count * * * is sufficient in form for this purpose. The same count would also be proper in form if it should be found that there was an express contract, the work done, and nothing left but the payment of the money.” It was later said: “The suggestion that he was on a weekly wage was denied and repudiated by the plaintiff, so that he stands or falls on his alleged contract. All of which leads to the conclusion that there is nothing contained in the record which proves or tends to prove anything except a specific agreement for the payment of $20,000 out of Colonel James G. Darden’s estate, at his death, to Paul Ganas, if he served the colonel faithfully and continuously to that time.” (Italics supplied). Recovery was denied on the specific agreement because of Ganas’ demeanor to the decedent’s wife. In the instant case, the evidence, if any, is all directed toward the proof of a specific agreement that Mary would leave all her property to appellant at her death, either for life or absolutely. The claim here, as in Bright v. Ganas, supra, also “stands or falls” on the alleged contract. I think the ruling of the trial judge on the claim for work done and services rendered was therefore correct. See also Neal v. Hamilton, 159 Md. 447, 451, 150 A. 867; Evans v. Buchanan, 183 Md. 463, 38 A. 2d 81. I agree that recovery could not be had on the second count. I am therefore of opinion that the judgment should be affirmed.