Sackman v. Campbell

Citations

• 15 Wash. 57
• 45 P. 895
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 136

Syllabus

<p>IMPLIED TRUST — ENFORCEMENT — PLEADING — LACHES — RESCISSION OF CONTRACT.</p> <p>In an action by stepchildren against the executor of their stepfather’s estate to have same declared a trust in their favor on the ground that some fifty years before in the year 1842, while they were small children, he had married their mother and had taken the proceeds of their father’s estate amounting to $5000, and had during half a century so invested it as to realize an estate worth several millions, the complaint is subject to demurrer when it appears that plaintiffs had never pressed their claims for a period of over thirty years after attaining their majority, and contains the bare allegation as a reason for such laches, that they had no knowledge of their rights until the year 1891, their stepfather having concealed the facts from them and claimed the ownership of the property, but nothing appearing to show fraudulent concealment on his part.</p> <p>In such a case, in order to avoid the charge of laches, the complaint should make a clear and explicit statement of all matters connected with their failure to assert their rights at an earlier date, including the source of their final knowledge as to their rights, when and how obtained, etc.</p> <p>A complaint by heirs, which asks the rescission of a contract for the division of property of a decedent’s estate, on the ground of false representations and coercion, is demurrable when it appears from the facts pleaded that the parties were dealing at arms’ length and that the parties seeking rescission had ample opportunity to know the amount and value of the property to which they were entitled at the time of the contract; and when it further appears that the alleged coercion was a threat of the other party to resign as administrator and delay the settlement of the estate unless they accepted his proposed compromise of their claims, when the effect of such resignation would have entitled such heirs to appointment in his stead to