Alden v. Presley

• Decision Date: 30 August 1982
• Citation: 637 S.W.2d 862
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
• Parties: Jo Laverne ALDEN, Appellee, v. Vernon E. PRESLEY, Executor of the Estate of Elvis A. Presley, et al., Appellants. 637 S.W.2d 862

Page 862

637 S.W.2d 862

Jo Laverne ALDEN, Appellee, v. Vernon E. PRESLEY, Executor of the Estate of Elvis A Presley, et al., Appellants.

637 S.W.2d 862

Supreme Court of Tennessee at Jackson.

Aug. 30, 1982.

Henry M. Beaty, Jr., Memphis, for appellants.

Palmer E. Miller, Charles L. Glascock, Memphis, for appellee.

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

This is an action against the estate of Elvis Presley to enforce a gratuitous promise to pay off the mortgage on plaintiff's home made by decedent but not consummated prior to his death.

The trial court denied recover but the Court of Appeals found that plaintiff had relied upon the promise to her detriment and awarded plaintiff judgment on the theory of promissory estoppel.

I.

Plaintiff alleged that she relied to her detriment on a promise made by the decedent to pay off the mortgage indebtedness on plaintiff's home. Defendant did not deny a promise was made by decedent but contended that plaintiff's continued reliance upon that promise following decedent's death constituted an unreasonable and unjustified action on her part, and furthermore, that any damage done to plaintiff occurred as a result of affirmative action taken by her despite her knowledge of decedent's death and with full knowledge that decedent's executor had denied legal liability to fulfill the promise.

Plaintiff, Jo Laverne Alden, is the mother of Ginger Alden, the former girlfriend of the late Elvis Presley. Presley was a singer of great renown throughout the world and a man of substantial wealth. In January of 1977, Presley became engaged to Ginger Alden. He was quite generous to several members of the Alden family including Ginger and her mother, the plaintiff. Gifts to plaintiff included the funds for landscaping the lawn and installing a swimming pool for the Alden home. Due to his close relationship with plaintiff's daughter, Presley also became aware of plaintiff's desire to obtain a divorce from her husband. Presley offered to pay all expenses incurred in the divorce proceeding, including furnishing plaintiff an attorney; to advance plaintiff money to purchase her husband's equity in the Alden home; and to pay off the remaining mortgage indebtedness on the Alden home.

As a result of these promises, plaintiff filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. On August 1, 1977, a property settlement agreement was executed in which plaintiff paid her husband $5,325.00 for his equity in return for a deed conveying all of his interest in the home to plaintiff plus a release of the husband from all further liability upon the mortgage indebtedness on the Alden home. The mortgage indebtedness at the time of the execution of the settlement agreement was in the sum of $39,587.66, and it is this amount which is the subject of the present suit, all the other gifts and promises to plaintiff having been fulfilled.

On August 16, 1977, Presley died suddenly leaving unpaid the mortgage indebtedness on the Alden home. On August 25, 1977, Drayton Beecher Smith, II, an attorney for the Presley estate, informed plaintiff that the estate would not assume liability for the mortgage indebtedness.

Plaintiff filed the present suit on February 14, 1978, to enforce the promise made by decedent to pay the home mortgage. On March 3, 1978, Smith informed plaintiff he could no longer represent her in the divorce action since he was serving as an attorney for decedent's estate. Plaintiff failed to employ new counsel and the divorce action was dismissed for failure to prosecute.

Plaintiff re-filed her divorce action in April 1978, upon the same grounds and sought approval of the property settlement agreement executed in August, 1977, in conjunction with the original divorce suit. The divorce was granted in April, 1980, on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, and the property settlement was approved by the court. Plaintiff did not disclose to the court in the divorce case that decedent's estate had informed her it was not their intention to pay the mortgage on the Alden home.

In the instant case, the trial court held that decedent did make a promise unsupported by consideration to plaintiff, that no gift was consummated for failure of delivery, that plaintiff and her husband suffered no detriment as she "wound up much better off after their association with Elvis A. Presley than either would have been if he had never made any promise to Jo Laverne Alden," and that plaintiff did not rely upon the promise since her divorce petition was filed subsequent to the present suit and subsequent to being told that decedent's estate would not accept legal responsibility for decedent's promise.

The Court of Appeals concurred in the trial court finding that there was no gift for failure of delivery, holding that delivery is not complete unless "complete dominion and control of the gift is surrendered by the donor and acquired by the donee," citing Pamplin v. Satterfield, 196 Tenn. 297, 265 S.W.2d 886 (1954); Brown v. Vinson, 188 Tenn. 120, 216 S.W.2d 748 (1949).

However, the Court of Appeals reversed the remainder of the trial court's decision by adopting and applying the doctrine of promissory estoppel holding that plaintiff had foregone remedies available to her in the divorce petition in reliance upon the promise made to her by decedent. The Court of Appeals reasoned the estate should be estopped from dishonoring that promise.

We concur in the reasoning of the trial court and Court of Appeals' findings that decedent did not make a gift of the money necessary to pay off the mortgage as there was no actual or constructive delivery. We find it unnecessary...