Court Opinion

ID: 9681721
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:55:20.559126+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:35.577607
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Chief Justice
(concurring in result).
The law is well established that in order to have a gift there must be delivery of possession along with an intent to give. If this occurs, there is a gift. I see no justification for saying that it takes more to establish a gift at one time than it does at another. If there has been delivery and the required intent, a gift has taken place, no matter whether it comes to light before or *387after the death of the donor. It is not necessarily so that every claim of a gift not disclosed until after death of the donor is likely false.
In my opinion the “clear, cogent and convincing” evidence requirement in an instruction amounts to a comment on the evidence by the court. It is equivalent to a declaration that in every such case the claim of the donee should be viewed with skepticism and placed under a handicap.1 If it is not a comment on the evidence, it certainly is a cautionary instruction, something which MAI is at pains to avoid in most instances. Mo.Approved Jury Instructions, 2d Ed. xxvi.
If there are circumstances present which would logically raise doubt as to veracity of the testimony of the donee, the jury can be expected to take this into consideration in arriving at their verdict under the standard MAI 3.01 and it can be covered adequately by the lawyers in jury argument. Under 3.01 the jury is at liberty in determining whether there was delivery with the required intent to consider the evidence and the reasonable inferences derived therefrom. This would include all the inferences of self-serving which might or might not be expected of a donee in the situation of the respondent. The jury was fully aware of the relationship which existed among and between Dr. Passman, his wife, and Natalie Graves. It did not require a “clear, cogent and convincing” type of instruction to make the jury realize the possibilities.'
Furthermore, the estate of the alleged donor already has the protection afforded by the dead man’s act, Sec. 491.010, RSMo 1969, with respect to foreclosing entirely the testimony of the donee and does not need, additionally, a “Little Dead Man’s Statute”, which is what appellant’s brief calls the special burden of proof rule it is seeking to uphold. In a proceeding to discover assets, as here instituted by the executor, the donee is not admitted to testify in his own favor, even though the petitioner files interrogatories and the defendant files answers thereto. See Estate of Rogers v. Courier, 429 S.W.2d 258, 262-63 (Mo.1968), where the propounding of 43 interrogatories to defendant was held not to waive defendant’s incompetency as a witness. Of course, the incompetency can be waived, as apparently was done in the case before us, by the executor, by subjecting the defendant to oral examination, In re Trautmann’s Estate, 300 Mo. 314, 254 S.W. 286 (1923), but this is a matter of choice by the estate.
Similarly, if the donee should seek by an independent action to establish the gift in his favor, again he would be barred by the statute from testifying. Kling v. McCabe, 36 F.2d 337 (8th Cir. 1929); Dunn v. German-American Bank, 109 Mo. 90, 18 S.W. 1139 (1892); Manley v. Ryan, 235 Mo.App. 45, 126 S.W.2d 909 (1939).
After much effort, we have evolved MAI 3.01. It is simple and direct. It is directed toward the idea that the jury must decide whether to believe or not believe the proposition submitted, considering the evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom. We no longer try to define the meaning of “preponderance or greater weight of the credible evidence” or require proof “to the satisfaction of the jury”, etc.2 Why not leave it at that, without requiring the jury also to determine whether the evidence is “clear, cogent and convincing”? What do these terms mean to the average juror and what purpose do they serve other than to confuse, rather than aid, and baffle, rather than facilitate, the determination of the proposition to be decided? It should not be required, first, that a proposition be established clearly, second, that it be established cogently, and, third, that it be established *388convincingly. If the jury believes the proposition submitted, that should be sufficient. As said in Wigmore on Evidence (3rd Ed.), Vol. IX, p. 325:
“The truth is that no one has invented or discovered a mode of measurement for the intensity of human belief. Hence there can yet be no successful method of communicating intelligently to a jury a sound method of self-analysis for one’s belief. If this truth be appreciated, Courts will cease to treat any particular form of words as necessary or decisive in the law for that purpose; for the Law cannot expect to do what Logic and Psychology have not yet done.”
I agree that in light of the Committee Comment referred to in the principal opinion it would be unfair to apply the change to the present appeal and so I concur in the result reached in the principal opinion, but from this date forward I would consider Morley v. Prendiville, 316 Mo. 1094, 295 S.W. 563 (1927) and In re Wintermann, 492 S.W.2d 763 (Mo.1973) overruled on the point under discussion and would no longer instruct that an inter vivos gift must in some circumstances be proved by “clear, cogent, and convincing proof”. Instead, I would adhere to the view expressed in Baker v. Bickel, 386 S.W.2d 105, 111 (Mo.1964) that MAI 3.01 is sufficient and that the rule is “ . . . that the burden of proof on fact issues to be decided by a jury does not change with the kind of case to be tried.” In addition, I would require that the Committee Comment following MAI 3.01 stating that “This instruction is not to be used in those rare cases where the proof must be ‘clear, cogent and convincing’ ” no longer be heeded and that the statement be disregarded henceforth.

. In the criminal law field, in the case of flight, we refrain from any instruction commenting on or directing the jury’s attention to flight or explanation for what appears to be flight, but we permit counsel to argue the evidence of flight or its explanation to the jury. See MA1-CR, Instructions Never Given, 5.40 Flight.

. In the trial of a criminal case, we prohibit attempts to instruct as to the meaning of “reasonable doubt” or “beyond a reasonable doubt.” MAI-CR, Instructions Required — Requested or Not, 2.20 Burden of Proof and Related Matters.