Housley v. Housley
Housley v. Housley
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit to set aside a conveyance made by the plaintiff, Katie Mae Housley, to the defendant. The complaint is based on the theory that plaintiff was induced to convey property owned by her to the defendant, James Walter Housley, as a result of fraudulent representations made by James A. Housley,
The property in question was owned by James A. Housley prior to his marriage to the plaintiff on May 4, 1956. On May 18, 1956 he conveyed the property to the plaintiff under the following circumstances: Prior to James A. Housley’s marriage to the plaintiff he had associated with a woman whom we shall designate as Bessie. Bessie was pregnant, and there was gossip in the community that James was responsible for her condition. The plaintiff knew of this gossip at the time she married James. She also knew that Bessie had been J ames’ housekeeper. She testified that J ames told her before their marriage that he was not responsible for Bessie’s pregnancy. According to plaintiff’s testimony James represented to her that there was a possibility that Bessie might have a claim against him and that Bessie would probably bring a suit against him and try to get the property in question, and for this reason James conveyed the property to the plaintiff. On June 13, 1956 the plaintiff joined with her
The plaintiff alleges that the representations made to her by her husband were false. She contends that financial demands were not being made on her husband by Bessie; that no basis for heavy financial demands existed, and that her husband did not contemplate making any settlement with Bessie. On the contrary, she asserts that Bessie and James were friendly and intimate at the time of these representations.
Plaintiff’s evidence in support of the alleged fraud upon her is meager. She called no witnesses. Her case rests upon the following testimony: She testified that in June her husband denied that he was responsible for Bessie’s pregnancy; that a month later, sometime in July, she had a further conversation with him and that he admitted that he was responsible but that he was all through with Bessie; that about the time she signed the deed conveying the property to the defendant she had a conversation with Bessie and that Bessie said that plaintiff’s husband liked her and not the plaintiff and that plaintiff should ask her husband if this were not true. The plaintiff then told her husband of this conversation. She told him that he had a choice between Bessie and herself and that he chose Bessie. Katie Mae testified that in the conversation with Bessie the latter told plaintiff that her husband had “deeded the property over for his father.” According to plaintiff’s testimony she attempted to become reconciled with her husband after she had filed a suit for divorce but he was not interested in a reconciliation. She stated that she protested against his association with Bessie but that “He usually tells
The evidence offered in rebuttal of the plaintiff’s claim that her husband had fraudulently induced her to enter into the conveyances of the property in question was based entirely upon his testimony. He testified that at the time he married the plaintiff a claim was made against him by reason of the paternity proceedings brought by Bessie; that these proceedings were filed in the Circuit Court for Columbia County; that as a result of such proceedings he made arrangements to pay Bessie “support” money; and that he had been paying her $40 each month. He denied that he had promised his wife not to see Bessie and stated, upon cross-examination, that “he had to see her”, but he was not asked why it was necessary. However, he denied that he had gone back to Bessie and he asserted that he told his wife that he had “given up” Bessie. On cross-examination he admitted that he had employed an attorney to draw the two deeds involved in this case; that he stated to the attorney that he wanted the deeds made because he owed his father, the defendant, money for materials and labor in connection with the construction of the house on the property involved in this suit. He admitted that he told his attorney about Bessie, but when asked on cross-examination, “Was she involved in this picture at all, about these transfers?”, he answered, “No.” He stated that he did not know that he had signed a deed conveying the property to his wife until his father’s attorney showed him, after plaintiff had brought this suit against his father, that he had done
After this testimony was given the plaintiff was recalled and was asked if she had seen her husband and Bessie together at any time since July 1. She stated that Bessie and her husband were at his brother’s house when his brother was not at home. She did not remember the date. The only other testimony of consequence was the plaintiff’s testimony concerning money advanced by her to her husband. She stated that her husband had asked her for an “advance” and that she let him have $500 “to try to buy her [Bessie] off once”; that soon after the deed was signed he returned the $500 to her.
This is a fair summary of all of the significant testimony in the case. Neither the plaintiff nor defendant put on any witnesses to corroborate or refute the testimony given. Except in a few instances the testimony concerning the relationship between Bessie and the plaintiff’s husband was not keyed to any particular time and consequently it is impossible to determine whether the alleged meretricious intercourse with Bessie took place before or after the conveyances in question were made.
We are of the opinion that the plaintiff has not established that the conveyances in this case arose out of James A. Ilousley’s intent to defraud her. She has the burden of proof. We believe that the plaintiff’s evidence is not strong enough to preponderate. It appears to us that when all the circumstances are taken together they point as convincingly to an attempted fraud on Bessie as they do on the plaintiff. The fact that the conveyances were made so soon after the plaintiff’s marriage to James A. Housley seems significant to us. There was a question as to the paternity of Bessie’s child and she had actually brought paternity proceedings. This fits in with Housley’s contention that he was being pressed by Bessie to settle with her. He paid her $40. This may have been done without any threat of suit by Bessie, but again, it seems more likely that it was paid because a claim was made against him. Housley borrowed $500 from Katie Mae “to buy off” Bessie. He may have borrowed the money as a part of his plan of deception. On the other hand it is equally likely that a claim was being made against him by Bessie and that he was trying to buy her off.
We do not think that plaintiff’s testimony when weighed against these circumstances constitutes the preponderance of evidence which she must produce to win her case. See Goldberg v. Goldberg, 295 Mich 380, 295 NW 194 (1940); Russell v. Russell, 130 Kan 40, 285 P 633 (1930); Wright v. Nelson, 125 Colo 217, 242 P2d 243 (1952).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.