Bell v. Estate of Bell, 93-01253
| Decision Date | 31 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-01253,93-01253 |
| Citation | 318 Ark. 483,885 S.W.2d 877 |
| Parties | Debra E. BELL, Appellant, v. ESTATE OF Robert L. BELL, Deceased, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Ray Baxter, Benton, Danny Thrailkill, Mena, for appellant.
Fines F. Batchelor, Jr., Van Buren, for appellee.
Appellant, Debra E. Bell, appeals from an order of the Crawford County Probate Court fixing the shares of the proceeds of a compromise settlement of the wrongful death claim arising from the death of appellant's spouse, Robert L. Bell ("Decedent"), allocable to appellant and to each of her minor children, Daren Bell ("Daren"), and Matthew Joel Houck ("Joel"). In accordance with the general wrongful death statute, Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-102 (1987), the statutory beneficiaries of this action were appellant, Daren, Joel, Decedent's sole surviving parent, sibling and adult children. The wrongful death claim was filed in the United States District Court, Western District of Arkansas, settled by compromise agreement, and the shares of the settlement proceeds allocable to each statutory beneficiary, other than appellant, Daren and Joel, was also determined by agreement. After the probate court appointed a separate guardian ad litem for each of Daren and Joel, a hearing was conducted and the remaining settlement proceeds were fixed by the probate court pursuant to its order entered on August 5, 1993. Appellant appeals from this order and contends the probate court erred because: (1) it made an unfair distribution of the settlement proceeds that was against the evidence presented at the hearing, and (2) it allowed testimony regarding collateral sources of income in fixing the amount of the shares. Jurisdiction is properly in this court pursuant to Ark.Sup.Ct.R. 1-2(a)(3). We find no merit to appellant's arguments and affirm the judgment.
Preliminarily, we note that on April 7, 1993 the probate court entered an order to seal and close the estate file in consideration of the parties' nondisclosure agreement governing the settlement agreement. In accordance therewith, we do not discuss the dollar amounts involved in this case.
Subsections (g) and (h) of the general wrongful death statute, section 16-62-102, provide that the court approving a compromise settlement shall fix the share of each beneficiary, upon the evidence, and that the probate court shall consider the best interests of all the beneficiaries. Dale v. Sutton, 273 Ark. 396, 620 S.W.2d 293 (1981). Subsection (f) of the statute directs that, if the case is tried, the sum fixed for damages shall be that which is "fair and just compensation for the pecuniary injuries, including a spouse's loss of the services and companionship of a deceased spouse and mental anguish resulting from the death, to the surviving spouse and next of kin of the deceased person."
The factors set forth in subsection (f) also guide the probate court's determination of the apportionment of the settlement proceeds in those cases where the damages issue is not tried. See Estate of Campbell, 294 Ark. 619, 745 S.W.2d 596 (1988). We have stated that, although probate cases are reviewed de novo on appeal, distribution of wrongful death proceeds does invoke the trial court's discretion in some measure. Id. The appellant has the burden to show the trial court was wrong and that prejudicial error was sustained. Sutton, 273 Ark. 396, 620 S.W.2d 293.
At the apportionment hearing in this case, the probate court heard testimony from three witnesses: appellant; her father, Mr. William Phelps; and an economic consultant retained by the estate, Dr. Ralph Scott, of Hendrix College. A pretrial report from the guardian ad litem for each minor was also filed with the court. The evidence showed as follows:
1. At the date of his death, the Decedent was a 42-year-old self-employed drywall hanger/painter with an average annual taxable income of approximately $20,000.00 and an estimated remaining work life expectancy of 34 years. The household expenses of the Decedent and appellant were approximately equal to their income; consequently, they had no savings.
2. Appellant was 32 years old at the date of the Decedent's death. She had worked in various jobs for minimum wage, and was then attending a nursing program at a local school. After the Decedent's death, appellant was emotionally and physically unable to work or continue the nursing program.
3. The Decedent and appellant married in 1982. They had one natural child, Daren, and were also raising appellant's child by an earlier marriage, Joel. Joel had no personal relationship with his natural father, although the natural father paid monthly child support to appellant.
4. Substantial evidence was presented of the grief and mental anguish caused by the Decedent's death to appellant and both minors, including the need for psychological counseling for appellant and Joel.
5. The estate's economist, Dr. Ralph Scott, testified about his estimations of the value of the Decedent's income and household services now lost by appellant and the minors as a result of the Decedent's death. Those estimations, discounted to present value, established a dollar range which included the entirety of the remaining settlement proceeds available for distribution. With respect to the lost income of the Decedent, Dr. Scott also testified to compare the dollar value of that income which was lost by the appellant with the dollar value of that income which was lost by the minors; those dollar values, expressed as a percentage of the entire lost income computation, established that 52% of the lost income was sustained by appellant, and 48% of the lost income was sustained by the minors. Dr. Scott testified his computations of these economic losses did not address any other compensable element of loss permitted by the wrongful death statute, e.g., mental anguish.
6. Appellant received a lump sum $50,000.00 benefit as beneficiary of a life insurance policy insuring the Decedent's life.
7. Appellant, Joel and Daren each received an equal amount from the Social Security Administration, on a monthly basis, on account of the Decedent's death.
8. Acting by their guardians ad litem, the minors proposed the following allocation of the remaining settlement proceeds.
Daren proposed the sum be distributed:
Recipient Percentage Share
To Appellant 35% to 45%
To Daren 40% to 50%
To Joel 10% to 20%
Joel proposed the sum be distributed:
Recipient Percentage Share
To Appellant 33.3%
To Minors 66.7%
TOTAL 100.0%
Joel proposed the minors' share be further divided, not equally, but based upon their specific losses, age, other support and specific needs.
9. Appellant proposed the sum be distributed:
Recipient Percentage Share
To Appellant 72%
To Daren 14%
To Joel 14%
TOTAL 100%
After the hearing, the court issued a six-page order of distribution reciting that the court considered all of the evidence presented at the hearing, the reports of the guardians ad litem, as well as the entire estate file and the amounts of the settlement proceeds paid to another of Decedent's adult children who had recently lived with the Decedent and appellant. The court's order fixed 50% of the remaining settlement proceeds for distribution as appellant's share, to be paid to her outright, and fixed the other 50% of those proceeds, in unequal portions, as the shares for the two minors, Daren (32.5%) and Joel (17.5%).
Appellant argues that the court's apportionment was unfair, arbitrary and blatantly against the evidence presented at the hearing. We disagree with appellant and find the evidence does support the probate court's apportionment order. We note that the probate court's 50/50 apportionment of the remaining proceeds between appellant and the minors, in fact, roughly approximates Dr. Scott's apportionment of the economic losses as noted above (52% to appellant and 48% to the minors). Clearly, in fashioning its order, the court considered the evidence presented by Dr. Scott, and, in addition, considered the compensable elements enumerated in the wrongful death statute which Dr. Scott's computations did not address.
In appellant's brief, she argues this court should modify the probate court's order and apportion the remaining settlement proceeds in accordance with Dr. Scott's recommendation that each minor should receive approximately 14% of the remaining settlement proceeds as a college fund, and that the balance of those proceeds should be paid outright to appellant. In rejecting this argument, we note that the wrongful death statute directs that each beneficiary's share shall reflect that beneficiary's fair and just compensation for his injury suffered as a result of the Decedent's death. In this case, an allocation based on the cost of providing a college education to the minor would not be true to the statute's purpose because the evidence showed that these minors could not have expected the Decedent to provide their expenses for a college education had he lived. Appellant also argues that the probate court's order should be modified to pay the minors' shares outright to the appellant, as the minors' natural guardian, rather than to the guardians of their estates. We summarily dispose of this point which appellant failed to raise before the probate court, and which we will not consider for this first time on appeal. Hawkins v. City of Prairie Grove, 316 Ark. 150, 871 S.W.2d 357 (1994).
Appellant's second argument is that the probate court erred in admitting evidence in violation of the collateral source rule of certain payments made to appel...
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