Lazarus v. Rosewarne
Lazarus v. Rosewarne
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT BY
The plaintiff’s bill seeks to establish a trust by parol in his conveyance to his niece, the defendant, April 11, 1905, of a parcel of land in Honolulu, and in his conveyance to her April 22, 1905, of certain land at Kaupo, Maui, and his bill of sale to her dated April 22, 1905, of a piano, with certain pictures, chairs, sofas, rings, bracelets, watch, rugs, bed, cash register,
The defendant’s answer denies that either of the deeds or the bill of sale was made on account of any agreement of trust or for any other reason than that the plaintiff, being sued for divorce by his wife in October 1905, which was granted February 6, 1906, obtained from the niece $300 from time to time prior to the divorce, in order to enable him to pay costs, counsel fees and alimony, upon his agreement to convey to her property enough to cover it; that April 11, 1905, at his solicitation, she bought the land for $1000 which sum the wife required in settlement with him and for release of dower, and that April
During the trial, the evidence failing to show- that the co-defendant Maria Andrade purchased, with knowledge of any trust, the plaintiff discontinued as to her. The judge after hearing the case dismissed the bill on the ground that it was not sustained by evidence.
The plaintiff testified that about a month before the papers were made his sister told him to turn his property over to his niece to manage because “you are a drinking 'man, you will get drunk and squander everything,” and again, because he “would be busy and go off on a spree with women and have a good time;” that he “signed the first paper” at the office of Mr. Dunne, former assistant United States district attorney, where his sister and niece told him that the “paper” was “to give them the right to take charge of my property;” that the other papers were drawn some days after by Antone Manuel, messenger of the federal court, there being another paper for 22.02 acres at Kaupo, Maui, the second and third papers being drawn by Manuel and signed by the plaintiff at the saloon where he worked; that he collected the rents on the Honolulu property and turned them over to his niece thinking she would deposit them in the bank and that he did the same with his wages, the sister and the niece giving him to understand that whatever he turned over to them would be deposited in the bank and that he had over $1000 there; that he had over $300 there “when they took charge of my affairs;” that he got another lawyer to bring his wife’s divorce suit against him; that he collected the rents while he was living with his wife until “stopped by them” (apparently until his divorce February 6, 1906,) ; that he had not known that his niece claimed the land until recently when he heard that it was sold to a Portuguese whose daughter told
The only witness corroborating the plaintiff to any extent is Clark who testified that the plaintiff was always called a lolo (lummox) ; that he heard a talk between the plaintiff and the defendant and her mother in 1905 that “there was going to be a trust deed between them.”
Manuel testified for the defendant that he drew the bill of .sale at the plaintiff’s request the plaintiff giving him a list of the articles named in it, and that the plaintiff acknowledged it at his saloon, the witness first having read or explained it to him and nothing having been said about any trust; that he thinks Dunne drew the deed of April 11, 1905, of some property on the slope of Punchbowl which the plaintiff acknowledged before the witness in Dunne’s office, at whose request he read it over to the plaintiff; that he drew the deed of April 22 of
Mrs. Juen testified for the defendant that she never had any conversation with the plaintiff about placing his property in trust with the defendant; that the plaintiff wanted T^ena to buy the ICinau street property in order to get money to pay his wife, and came to their house and said “Dunne wants to see you;” that she went to his office with the defendant and there Dunne said “Your uncle, told me he wants to sell you the land. Do you want to buy the land?” and afterwards wrote the defendant to know whether she ivas willing to pay $1000; that the plaintiff never paid any money to her or to the defendant to put into the Phoenix Savings Rank; that the plaintiff and defendant talk in the English language; that the $1000 were paid to Dunne for the Kinau street land which the plaintiff wanted to sell to Lena; that nothing was said about the defendant holding the property in trust for the plaintiff; that the $490 (mentioned in the bill of sale) were paid to the plaintiff by the defendant who got the money from the witness and that the deed of April 22 was made to the defendant to pay her the' $300 he owed her.
The defendant testified that she bought the Punchbowl (Kinau street) land of the plaintiff for $1000 and paid it to him after the settlement of his divorce, it being understood that she was to pay it when his wife released her dower; that she paid him $490 for the personal property and $300 for the Maui land; that the plaintiff made over to her as a birthday present'his Phoenix Company book in which six monthly instalments were paid amounting to about $60 and
The least we can say about the case is that the bill was not sustained by the evidence and was properly dismissed.
Decree affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.