Waters v. Nevis

RICHARDS, J.

This is an action brought by the plaintiff, as administratrix of the estate of Antone H. Waters, deceased, to recover the sum of $1,240, alleged to be money had and received by the defendant Nevis from Antone H. Waters, under the circumstances detailed in the complaint, and when, it is alleged, that said Waters was incompetent to conduct any transaction. The complaint was unverified. The answer was a general denial. The evidence was quite voluminous. The court found the facts in the defendant’s favor and rendered judgment accordingly. The plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

The facts of the case, concerning which there is little if any dispute, show that Antone H. Waters was a man of Portuguese extraction, who had accumulated some considerable property, but who during the closing years of his life had become afflicted with various physical ailments, and having also become estranged to some extent from his family, had, in about the year 1913, gone to live at the home of the defendant Nevis, whom he had known for a number of years. While living there, and in the month of February, 1914, said Waters and Nevis went together to the National Bank of D. 0. Mills & Co., in Sacramento, and there deposited the sum of $1,240 in a joint account and under a written agreement, which contained the following words: “The money now deposited and also money which shall at any time be deposited by us or either of us with the National Bank of D. 0. Mills & Co. in this account No. 8340, will be so deposited by us and is to and will be received and held by it with the understanding and upon the condition that the same and all dividends and interest thereon and all accumulations thereof are payable to and shall be collectible by us or either of us during our joint lives, and then belong absolutely to and be

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the sole and absolute property of the survivor of us, or the heirs, administrators or assigns of such survivor, without reference to or consideration of the original or previous ownership of such moneys or any part of the same.” The money remained on deposit at said bank until May 22, 1914, when it was withdrawn by Nevis. Waters died on December 21, 1914. It is the contention of the appellant that for a considerable period prior to the transaction at the bank, and for all the rest of his life thereafter, Waters was mentally incompetent to conduct a business transaction, and particularly to comprehend the nature and effect of the particular transaction by which the defendant Nevis became a party to the deposit of the money in question and the alleged owner thereof after the death of Waters.