Krueger v. FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK OF HANNIBAL
Decision Date | 03 May 1983 |
Docket Number | No. N81-75C.,N81-75C. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Parties | Wilma KRUEGER and Harold Stuller, Plaintiffs, v. FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK OF HANNIBAL, MISSOURI, Executor of the Estate of Charles Six, and Dorothy James and Jean Chapman, Defendants. |
Howard Snowden, LaGrange, Mo., Michael J. Hollahan, Mount Sterling, Ill., for plaintiffs.
William Spaun, Branham Rendlen, Charles Rendlen, Hannibal, Mo., for defendants.
This matter is before the Court on the defendants' motion for summary judgment filed under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. Plaintiffs commenced this diversity action seeking to invalidate the will of Charles Six, deceased, that was offered by the defendants for probate in the Marion County, Missouri, Circuit Court. The plaintiffs have offered another will executed by Charles Six which they claim is the operative one to dispose of Charles Six' estate. The defendants argue that the plaintiffs do not have standing to bring this cause of action because plaintiffs' will was never offered for probate as required under Missouri law and therefore is a nullity, and that the plaintiffs are not heirs of Charles Six so as to derive any benefits from an intestate estate. After viewing the record before the bench and the applicable case law in this area, the Court agrees with the defendants' position. The motion for summary judgment is granted.
Charles Six executed two wills during his lifetime, one dated April 1, 1980 (first will) and one dated May 6, 1981 (second will). Under Item Six of the first will the plaintiffs are beneficiaries of the residuary estate of Charles Six if Six' wife, Nettie Six, predeceased him. Nettie predeceased Charles. Charles died on July 12, 1981. Nettie and Charles left no surviving children. Under Item Four of the second will the interest in the residuary estate previously left to the plaintiffs was left to defendants Dorothy James and Jean Chapman. Charles Six designated other beneficiaries but their interests are not germane to this litigation because their benefits are mainly the same under both wills.
The uncontroverted record shows that plaintiff Wilma Krueger was not related to Charles Six by blood but was a niece of Nettie Six. The record also shows that plaintiff Harold Stuller was also in Nettie Six' bloodline as her nephew. Thus plaintiffs are first cousins and blood relatives of Nettie Six, not Charles Six.
Summary judgment should not be granted unless the moving party has established the right to a judgment with such clarity as to leave no room for controversy. Snell v. United States, 680 F.2d 545, 547 (8th Cir. 1982); Jackson v. Star Sprinkler Corporation, 575 F.2d 1223, 1226 (8th Cir.1978); New England Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Null, 554 F.2d 896, 901 (8th Cir. 1977). This imposes a heavy burden on the moving party because the evidence will be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. The Court also must give the nonmoving party the benefit of all reasonable inferences to be drawn from the facts. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608-1609, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). However, the Court recognizes the remedy's salutary purpose of avoiding useless and time consuming trials. Butler v. MFA Life Insurance, 591 F.2d 448, 451 (8th Cir.1979), citing Percival v. General Motors Corporation, 539 F.2d 1126, 1129 (8th Cir.1976); Lyons v. Board of Education, 523 F.2d 340, 347 (8th Cir.1975).
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