Zimmerman v. Bitner

Robinson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a bill filed by the heirs at law of John Bitner to set aside a deed of gift made by him of a valuable farm, containing two hundred and ninety acres of land, which, with the exception of a few hundred dollars, constituted the entire property belonging to the donor. The bill alleges that the most intimate and confidential relations existed between the donor and donee, and that the ¹²³ deed in question was procured by the importunities and undue influence exercised by the latter over the donor. Before proceeding to consider the law as applicable to cases of this kind, we shall refer briefly to the facts and circumstances surrounding the execution of the deed, and the relation in which the parties stood to each other.

The donor was at the time of the execution of the deed of gift in his seventy-fifth year. He was very illiterate, unable to read or write, but at the same time seems to have been a person of ordinary judgment, — equal, perhaps, to the common purposes of life, and competent to execute a valid deed or contract. He was born in Pennsylvania, and lived with his father on a farm until the death of the latter, which occurred about twenty-four years ago. After his father’s death he lived with his sister, Catharine, on the home place, until ten years ago, when he bought a farm in this State, for which he paid §21,500, the voluntary conveyance of which is the subject matter of this litigation.

This farm he rented to one Zimmerman, who had married his niece, and for some years prior to the deed of gift to Zimmerman he lived with him and his family, spending, however, a part of each year with his sister, Catharine, between whom the most affectionate relations existed. On Thursday, the-of February, 1891, he was taken sick, and although, not seriously sick at that time, Zimmerman and his wife sat up with him all night; and what took place during that night, what was the subject-matter of conversation, and whether anything was said about the disposition of his property, the record does not disclose. On the next day, Doctor Mason was called to see him, and found him walking about the room with his coat off. Before the doctor had time to make any examination as to his condition, Bitner said to him, that he¡ was very sick, and if there was any danger of his dying, he wanted to know it, as there were some matters he wanted to attend ¹²⁴ to.

The doctor did not, however, consider him seriously sick, and so told him. On Sunday following, the Doctor again called to see him, and upon examination found a slight congestion of the right lung; and thereupon rhe Doctor told him that he regarded him as a very sick man, and if he had any matters to look after, he had better attend to them. He then requested the Doctor to ask Mr. Smith, a highly esteemed member of the Hagerstown bar, to come and see him, as he wanted him r‘to write a deed and a will. ’ ’ The next day Mr. Smith and Mr. Middlekauff, a justice of the peace, went to Bitner’s house, and in his room the deed and will were both prepared by Mr. Smith, during the preparation of which Zimmerman and the justice of the peace sat in an adjoining room. Alter the papers were drawn, the justice of the peace was ’.ailed into Bitner’s room to take the acknowledgment of the deed, and Mr. Smith and himself attested the execution of the will.

By the deed, Bitner conveyed his farm to Zimmerman, without reserving any interest whatever to himself, the consideration named in the deed being the nominal sum of five dollars, and love and affection. By the will, he bequeaths to Zimmerman his entire personal property, and then, by way of explanation, the testator says: “I thus give to the said J. Monroe Zimmerman, all my property and estate because he is married to my niece, and I have been living with them for many years, and have a high regard and affection for them, and desire they shall enjoy the same to the exclusion of my other relatives.” On Saturday following the execution of the deed and will, Bitner died leaving surviving him his sister, Catharine, and a number of nephews and nieces, his heirs at law. For some years prior to the execution of this deed of gift, the donee had' been the general agent of the donor, and as such was entrusted with, not only the general management of the farm and all improvements to be made thereon, but also with all other matters, such as buying ¹²⁵ fertilizers, the sale of the crops, and the receipt and deposit of the proceeds of sale. He was, in fact, the trusted and confidential adviser of the donor, and one upon whom he relied for advice and counsel in all matters concerning his affairs.

So the case with which- we are now dealing is one in which an old and illiterate person makes an absolute deed of gift of all his property, with the exception of a few hundred dollars, to one who stood in the closest and most confidential relation to him. And dealing with such a case, there cannot be, it seems to us, any question as to the principles of law by which it is governed. And, although the law does not declare invalid a gift or conveyance of property to one standing in a confidential or fiduciary relation to the donor, yet Courts always watch with a jealous scrutiny all such dealings and transactions, not merely for the purpose of ascertaining whether the donor understood the nature and effect of the transaction itself, but also for the purpose of ascertaining whether the benefit received by the donee was procured by reason of the influence possessed by him and exercised over the donor. And it is well settled by a long line of authorities that when such a gift or conveyance is questioned, the onus is upon the donee to prove to the satisfaction of the Court that the conveyance was the free, deliberate and voluntary act of the donor, and made by him with full knowledge as to its effect and operation; in other words, that he knew that the, conveyance itself operated to divest him of all title to the property and to vest it in the donee.

A good deal has been said as to what constitutes a confidential relation within the operation of the principle, but Courts have always been careful not to fetter the operation of the principle by undertaking to define its precise limits. The cases of parent and child, guardian and ward, trustee and cestui que trust, principal and agent, are familiar instances in which the principle applies in its strictest sense. But its operation is not confined to the ¹²⁶ dealings and transactions between parties standing in these relations, bnt extends to all relations in which confidence is reposed, and in which dominion and influence resulting from such confidence, may be exercised by one person oyer another. No part of the jurisdiction of the Court is more useful, it has been said, than that which it exercises in watching and controlling transactions between parties standing in a relation of confidence to each other.

And being founded on the principle of correcting abuses of confidence, it ought to be applied to every case in which a confidential relation exists as a fact — where confidence is reposed on the one side, and thej resulting superiority and influence on the other. Billage vs. Southee, 9 Hare, 534 ; Tate vs. Williamson, L. R. 1 Eq., 528, and L. R. 2 Ch. App., 55. The broad principle, says Vice-Chancellor Wood, on which the Court acts in cases of this description, is that wherever there exists such a confidence, of whatever character that