Sullivan v. Killigan

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Sullivan v. Killigan, 41 App. D.C. 391 (D.C. Cir. 1914)
1914 U.S. App. LEXIS 2190
Sherard

Sullivan v. Killigan

Opinion of the Court

Mr. Chief Justice Sherard

delivered the opinion of the Court:

The question was not again raised. Under the conditions stated, the error assigned on the point will not be considered. It is not properly before us. .

It appears that defendant'was a niece of plaintiff’s wife, who died in 1908. The answer states that plaintiff had formerly conveyed the property to his wife, “without any other consideration than to protect his said wife and himself against his own reckless and wasteful habits.” The wife left a will devising the property to plaintiff. The Killigans had no children. He had two unmarried sisters living in Washington: she had several nieces and a nephew. Defendant had assisted in nursing Mrs. Killigan during her last illness, and at her death defendant and her husband lived in plaintiff’s house, where he stayed, eating his meals with them. Ill feeling grew up between them, and he left in May, 1912. His bill was filed in August.

It is not important to discuss the cases relating to this general subject. Each turns upon its own special circumstances. Nor would it subserve any useful purpose to review the testimony. It is sufficient to say that while the case is a close one, we find nothing in the evidence that would warrant the conclusion that the learned trial justice committed error in entering the decree *395canceling tbe deed and awarding plaintiff possession of the premises. It is therefore affirmed, with costs. Affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
SULLIVAN v. KILLIGAN
Status
Published
Syllabus
Appeal and Error; Witnesses; Privilege; Attorney and Client; Deeds ; Fraud. 1. The question of privilege, relative to the testimony of a witness wlio acted as attorney for the plaintiff in the transactions in suit, will not be considered on appeal to this court, where no exception was taken to the trial court’s ruling that the testimony was incompetent unless the witness, believing his client to have waived the privilege, should testify voluntarily, and, after the witness had declined to testify upon being subsequently recalled, no further action was taken in the matter. 2. There being nothing in the record to indicate that error has been committed, this court will not, on appeal, disturb a decree vacating a deed to the grantor’s niece, who is alleged to have solicited its v execution for the avowed purpose of protecting him against the consequences of his own intemperance, and to have represented at the 1 time of its execution that it was a trust deed for his benefit, whereas it was in fact absolute in form, it being alleged that the grantor was so affected by intoxicants at the time as to be incapable of judging for himself.