Conrotto

This is an appeal from a judgment refusing to cancel and set aside certain deeds and documents made by Margherita Gagliasso to her sons and a daughter-in-law.

The plaintiffs are Margherita’s three daughters. The defendants are her three sons and a daughter-in-law. 1 The alleged ground for cancellation is that the various gifts were procured by the fraud and undue influence of these four defendants.

The record shows that on January 17, 1945, the decedent, Margherita Gagliasso, deeded substantially all of her real property to her sons John, Fiuri and Charles; on January 31, 1946, she deeded an additional one-acre parcel to her sons John and Fiuri; and that on January 12, 1953, she assigned her interest in two deeds of trust to John, Joseph, Charles, Fiuri and his wife Elvira.

The bulk of the testimony produced related to Margherita’s mental capabilities at the time of the various transfers and the presence or lack of undue influence on the part of the various defendants.

Substantial evidence was presented by the parties to this litigation bearing upon these issues. It was highly conflicting. The jury returned a special verdict finding that none of the deeds or other gifts had…