Davis

Plaintiff and respondent Board of Regents of the State Universities of Wisconsin brought this action against defendant and appellant estate of Ralph E. Davis, Sr., deceased, to recover money due under a pledge agreement made by decedent during his lifetime. Defendant estate appeals from a judgment on a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff.

On January 6, 1968, decedent, then 83 years old, participated in a fund drive by Wisconsin State University-Platteville to raise money for a football stadium, by pledging to match funds raised from other sources up to a total of $150,000. Unknown to the university, a California court in October 1967 had appointed a panel of conservators to manage decedent’s property. (See Prob. Code, § 1751.) The conservatorship was established without a finding that decedent was either insane or incompetent. On a prior appeal in this case, from a judgment on the pleadings in favor- of-defendant, our Supreme Court held that a conservatee in such circumstances retains a limited power to contract, and that therefore the mere existence of a conservatorship did not itself deprive decedent of the capacity to enter into the pledge agreement. (Board of Regents…