Court Opinion

ID: 9660288
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:09:25.732322+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:43.280076
License: Public Domain

WELLIVER, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the result of affirming the trial court’s judgment.
I respectfully dissent as to the basis of the affirmance. While there is ample evidence of the susceptibility and amenability of Marjorie Pike to undue influence, I view the record as devoid of evidence of the exercise of undue influence upon her. The principal opinion states that “we need not decide if the record supported the trial judge’s finding that plaintiff had been incompetent to conduct business affairs since 1966 .... ” I find no difficulty in holding that the record contains ample evidence to support the trial court’s findings in this respect.
It is my opinion that the law would be far better served by risking the possibility that we might err in evaluating the evidence in this single case of alleged incompetency, rather than establishing the precedent that a case of undue influence may be made without proof of exercise of the undue influence.