Brind v. International Trust Co.
Supreme Court of Colorado
179 P. 148 (Colo. 1919)
In 1914, Maria Brind deposited jewelry with International Trust Company (defendant) along with a letter directing it be given to named friends if she died as a result of an impending surgery to remove a tumor; the surgeon abandoned the operation mid-procedure after determining it would be fatal, and Mrs. Brind instead later died of the tumor itself. After her death, her husband and estate administrator J. Fitz Brind (plaintiff) sued to recover the jewelry from the friends who claimed it as a completed gift causa mortis; evidence showed Mrs. Brind reaffirmed her wishes after the failed surgery but was uncertain when later asked whether she wanted to change the arrangement. A jury found for the friends, and Brind appealed.
Whether a valid gift causa mortis exists when the donor dies not from the specific illness or peril she feared at the time of making the gift, but from a different illness or peril.