SUPREME COURT Settlement Of Claim From £97,000 Estate

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30398, 24 March 1964, Page 10

SUPREME COURT Settlement Of Claim From £97,000 Estate

After the evidence of the plaintiff, Hori Coutts Collett, had been heard, counsel in an action under the Testamentary Promises Act agreed on a settlement before Mr Justice Wilson in the Supreme Court yesterday.

The settlement gave Collett, an optician, £3OOO from the estate of George Sevicke Jones, and costs. He was also given the right to lease Sevicke Jones’s business premises in Cathedral square for seven years from the date of death, May, 1961, at a rental of £l2 a week, with right of renewal for a further five years at a rental to be agreed upon. His Honour approved the settlement. He congratulated counsel and the parties, and commented that in many such cases nothing could be decided before the plaintiff had given his evidence and been cross-examined. Mr E. S. Bowie appeared for Collett, and Mr C. M. Roper, with him Mr N. W. Williamson, for the New Zealand Insurance Company, Ltd., trustees of the estate. Mr A. J. Quill of the Crown Law Office, Wellington, appeared for the Attor-ney-General as Protector of Charities. Mr M. C. Gresson appeared for the Timaru City Council, a beneficiary under the will. Mr Bbwie said that Sevicke Jones, who died on May 21, 1961, was a wealthy bachelor who had been an optician in his early years. In 1930 Sevicke Jones had retired and the business had been managed by others, including the plaintiff, from that date. He died leaving an estate of gross value £97,000. After the deduction of duties and

other commitments, the net value was £47,000, counsel said. Sevicke Jones had made a number of wills, the last in 1960, without consulting his solicitor. This will had left the bulk of his estate to charities, the plaintiff receiving the stock and plant of the business, the goodwill, a sea chest, and the right to rent the business premises in Cathedral square from the estate for five years at a rental of £2O a Week. Mr Bowie said that, of those bequests, the goodwill in fact already belonged to Collett, who had been managing the business since 1940. A valuer had estimated that the rented value of the premises in the square was only £l6 a week. In evidence Collett said that Sevicke Jones had promised to make substantial, provision for him in his will. After leaving school he had taught for two years in Waimate, then in 1924 had been persuaded by his uncle to enter his optician’s business, said the plaintiff. Sevicke Jones had said that he would make him his heir. He had been sent to England by his uncle to qualify as an optician, and on his return had entered the business. In 1930 Sevicke Jones had had to give up work because of arthritis. He still took an interest and gave general directions. In the . last 10 years Sevicke Jones had been on the premises not more than twice a year, said the plaintiff. The plaintiff said that he had been joint manager of the business since 1940 and sole manager since 1953. He had also looked after Sevicke Jones’s business affairs, collecting the rentals from his properties and overseeing their maintenance, and also collecting interest and dividends from his investments, said Collett. He had taken a great interest in Sevicke Jones’s personal welfare, especially when he became more crippled and needed more attention. On Friday evenings when Sevicke Jones’s housekeeper was away he had helped him

with his cooking, undressed him and put him to bed. The plaintiff gave evidence of promises made to him by Sevicke Jones over the years. These included the right to carry on the business rentfree or at nominal rental for the rest of his working life, bullion to approximate value of £4OOO, £7 a week for life, and his furniture, personal effects and motor car.

The plaintiff said that he could have set up in business on his own account at any time, and most of the clientele of Sevicke Jones’s business would have followed him. Sevicke Jones had been paid an average of £2400 a year from the business for the last seven years of his life, said the plaintiff.