Godfrey v. Godfrey

CRAIG, J.

The plaintiff and respondent instituted this proceeding for the recovery of a certain parcel of real property situated at Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles County, which she alleged that appellant had obtained from her by coercion, threats to impugn her character and chastity, duress, undue influence, and extortion.

The appellant and respondent intermarried on February 3, 1922, at which time the latter possessed and held in trust Liberty bonds of the value of fifteen thousand dollars, and other personal property belonging to her infant daughter, issue of a former marriage, named Ruth Meloy, and which were on deposit in a safe deposit box at the Los Angeles Trust & Savings Bank. On March 3, 1922, appellant purchased and caused to be conveyed to respondent the real property involved in this suit as a wedding present. Shortly thereafter appellant commenced, both personally and through friends and relatives of the respondent, a persistent course of urging and persuasion to induce Mrs. Godfrey to deliver the Liberty bonds to him for investment, which she repeatedly refused to do. Appellant then prevailed upon his wife to share with him the use of her safe depqsit box, for which purpose she permitted him to register at the bank, but retained the key, which she concealed in a portfolio at home. On or about April 19, 1922, appellant surreptitiously abstracted the key from the portfolio, without the knowledge or consent of respondent, proceeded to the bank and withdrew the Liberty bonds, which he delivered to and listed

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in his own name with a firm of stock and bond brokers, with instructions to sell them and to pay the proceeds to himself. Upon discovering the fact that the Liberty bonds of her daughter were missing, respondent accused Godfrey of having stolen them, which he at first denied, but finally admitted, stating that he would not relinquish them unless respondent would deed to him the real property above mentioned, Respondent caused Godfrey’s arrest, and filed an action in replevin for recovery of the securities; upon his release from custody appellant apparently pursued a relentless campaign of argument, harassment, and threats that he would make respondent trouble unless she should consent to deed him the realty. Mrs. Godfrey testified at the trial that from the day that appellant obtained the bonds until the commencement of this suit, and thereafter, he constantly coaxed, nagged, and tantalized her about a deed; that upon one occasion appellant admitted that he was aware of the fact that the Liberty bonds belonged to Ruth, but that he told her: “I have asked you for the house, and you wouldn’t give it to me, and I have taken the bonds, and will give them back to Ruth as soon as you deed the house over to me”; that he stated to the brokers: “I know.they are her daughter’s bonds, but she has a piece of property of mine, and when she deeds the property back to me, I will return the bonds.” It appears that during all of this controversy the respondent was believed to be expecting an heir, and she alleged in her complaint, and testified, that following a protracted course of such attacks, appellant asked her in the presence of a witness, who corroborated much of her testimony, if she had “had enough of it,” if she was “ready to sign over the deed,” and that when refused again, Godfrey said: “Well, then we will have a little more.” “You will either deed over that house to me, or I will cause you a lot of trouble; I will simply say that I am not the father of this child that you are expecting; and besides, you won’t get the bonds until you deed over the house.” The voluminous record before us teems with such unconscionable statements, demands, and threats, and it appears that this incessant embarrassment and menace ultimately resulted in a physical and mental breakdown, which Mrs. Godfrey believed would cost her life and that of her unborn child. She and other witnesses testified that on April 29, 1922, respondent visited her attorney; that she was then in a highly nervous and