Buckett v. Jante

• Citation: 767 N.W.2d 376,2009 WI App 55
• Decision Date: 04 March 2009
• Docket Number: No. 2008AP2166.,2008AP2166.
• Parties: Daniel BUCKETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Glenn JANTE and Elsie Jante, Defendants-Respondents, State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Defendant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Wisconsin

767 N.W.2d 376

2009 WI App 55

Daniel BUCKETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Glenn JANTE and Elsie Jante, Defendants-Respondents State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Defendant.

No. 2008AP2166.

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

Submitted on Briefs February 25, 2009.

Opinion Filed March 4, 2009.

On behalf of the plaintiff-appellant, the cause was submitted on the briefs of Christopher A. Geary of Hostak, Henzl & Bichler, S.C. of Racine.

On behalf of the defendants-respondents, the cause was submitted on the brief of Peter J. Ludwig of Burlington.

Before BROWN, C.J., ANDERSON, P.J., and NEUBAUER, J.

¶ 1 BROWN, C.J

Daniel Buckett paid the property taxes on a portion of his neighbors' property for over twenty-five years, but neither he nor his neighbors, Glenn and Elsie Jante, knew it. It was not until the Wisconsin Department of Transportation condemned the parcel and paid the Jantes $63,000 that both parties found out. Buckett wanted to be paid back, so he sued, inter alia, for a portion of the condemnation sale price on the theory of unjust enrichment. The circuit court held that unjust enrichment was unavailable because the Jantes did not have "knowledge or appreciation" that Buckett was paying their taxes contemporaneous with Buckett's tax payments. The law is, however, that when the benefit conferred can be easily returned, like money for example, the benefited party need not have knowledge or appreciation of the gain at the precise time it is conferred. Instead, the party asserting an unjust enrichment claim satisfies the knowledge or appreciation element by proving that the benefited party had knowledge of or appreciated the benefit at a time which provided the party a fair opportunity to choose whether to accept or reject that benefit. So, we disagree with the circuit court on the law. Because the parties dispute the amount of taxes each party paid, we reverse and remand with directions that the trial court determine the amount that the Jantes were unjustly enriched.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In the late 1960's Racine county slightly relocated County Highway A. Before the relocation, the highway tracked between Buckett's and the Jantes' property, with all of Buckett's property to the south and all of the Jantes' property to the north. The new route dipped slightly north into the Jantes' property. This left about two acres of the Jantes' land on the south side of the highway, adjacent to Buckett's land. This two-acre parcel is the source of the dispute in this case.

¶ 3 From at least the 1970's on, Racine county thought that Buckett owned the parcel. Its records listed Buckett as the owner of this two-acre parcel, and it sent Buckett annual tax bills. Buckett has paid those taxes since at least 1981. Racine county also assigned a separate parcel identification number to the property at some point in the 1990's. This parcel identification number has been on Buckett's tax bills since 1994.

¶ 4 Glenn Jante, however, had purchased this parcel as part of a larger section of property from his mother's estate in 1991. He had farmed the property for his entire life, though after the road spliced the two-acre parcel off, he stopped farming that part. The parties no longer dispute that the Jantes were the true owners of the parcel.

¶ 5 In 2005, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation sought to condemn and purchase the parcel through an eminent domain proceeding for another road construction project. Initially, the DOT looked at Racine county's records and thought Buckett owned the property. So, it offered to purchase the property from Buckett in May. But about two months later it rescinded the offer. After further title work, the DOT concluded that the Jantes actually owned the property. The county records, it said, were in error. Shortly thereafter, the DOT purchased the parcel from the Jantes for $63,000 in an eminent domain proceeding.

¶ 6 Sometime around 2005, Buckett approached Glenn Jante about the taxes he had paid on the parcel. They spoke on the phone and in person at one point, but they did not resolve the matter. When Buckett asked the Jantes to reimburse him for the taxes he paid on the parcel, the Jantes refused. It was during these discussions that the Jantes initially learned Buckett had been paying taxes on the parcel. The Jantes claimed that they also paid property taxes on the parcel because Racine county had always taxed them for the same number of acres: 84.38.

¶ 7 The Jantes refused to reimburse Buckett for back taxes and Buckett sued. The circuit court ruled for the Jantes on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment.¹ It held that Buckett had not provided sufficient facts to meet the elements of unjust enrichment. Buckett appeals, again maintaining that the Jantes were unjustly enriched because he had paid taxes on the parcel since 1981. We will provide additional facts as needed.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

¶ 8 We review a motion for summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard as the circuit court. Green Spring Farms v. Kersten, 136 Wis.2d 304, 315, 401 N.W.2d 816 (1987). In summary judgment, the first step of our review requires us to examine the pleadings to determine if a claim for relief has been stated. Id. We construe complaints liberally and refuse to dismiss a complaint unless it is quite clear that under no facts the plaintiff could recover. Farr v. Alternative Living Servs., Inc., 2002 WI App 88, ¶ 8, 253 Wis.2d 790, 643 N.W.2d 841. If we determine a claim for relief has been stated, then under Wis. STAT. § 802.08(2) (2007-08),² we grant summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Green Spring Farms, 136 Wis.2d at 315, 401 N.W.2d 816.

¶ 9 A circuit court's decision whether to grant or deny equitable relief in an action for unjust enrichment is discretionary. Ulrich v. Zemke, 2002 WI App 246, ¶ 8, 258 Wis.2d 180, 654 N.W.2d 458. We affirm discretionary decisions only if the circuit court examined the relevant facts, applied the proper law, and using a rational process, reached a conclusion that a reasonable judge could reach. Id. Whether the circuit court applied the proper law is a question of law we review de novo. Id.

Failure to State a Claim

¶ 10 We begin with an examination of the pleadings to determine whether Buckett stated a claim for relief. To establish a claim for unjust enrichment, the plaintiff must prove three elements: (1) the plaintiff conferred a benefit upon the defendant; (2) the defendant had an appreciation or knowledge of the benefit; and (3) the defendant accepted or retained the benefit under circumstances making it inequitable for the defendant to retain the benefit without payment of its value. S & M Rotogravure Serv., Inc. v. Baer, 77 Wis.2d 454, 460, 252 N.W.2d 913 (1977). The circuit court ruled that Buckett could not prove his tax payments conferred a benefit on the Jantes to satisfy elements one and three, or that the Jantes had knowledge of the tax payments sufficient to satisfy element two. We will begin with the benefit required by the first and third elements, and then discuss the second element.

1. Elements One and Three (Conferring a Benefit and Acceptance and Retention of the Benefit)

¶ 11 The first reason why the circuit court granted summary judgment for the Jantes is because, in its opinion, "nothing in [the final] complaint ... describes the property that the state ultimately bought." The circuit court concluded that Buckett included the wrong legal description in his second amended complaint (the final complaint). And the DOT never purchased the parcel in this description, so Buckett's tax payments did not confer a benefit on the Jantes. Therefore, it ruled that Buckett failed to state a claim.

¶ 12 Neither party disputes that Buckett provided the wrong legal description in his final complaint.³ Regardless, though, Buckett did correctly describe the parcel by address, in a narrative form, and by reference to the parcel identification number that Racine county assigned. Further, the Jantes, in their answer, admitted that the property described by Buckett in his final complaint was what the 1960's reconstruction of County Highway A created and the DOT purchased in 2005 for $63,000. This information is sufficient to state a claim for relief. See Farr, 253 Wis.2d 790, ¶ 8, 643 N.W.2d 841.

2. Element Two (Appreciation and Knowledge of the Benefit)

¶ 13 The circuit court also granted summary judgment because Buckett could not prove that the Jantes appreciated or knew about Buckett's tax payments contemporaneous with Buckett's actual payment. The Jantes and the circuit court believed that element two comes with a bright-line rule that when the benefited party receives a benefit but is "unaware of that benefit until after it had been done, [it] was not unjust for [the benefited party] to keep the [benefit]."⁴ Since the Jantes did not have knowledge of the benefit at the precise time that Buckett conferred the benefit, the circuit court held that Buckett could not prove element two.

¶ 14 We agree that Buckett cannot prove the Jantes had knowledge or appreciation of Buckett's tax payments at the precise time he made them. But, element two does not state that the benefit must be contemporaneous with the knowledge or appreciation. Instead, element two of an unjust enrichment claim is "an appreciation or knowledge by the defendant of the benefit." S & M Rotogravure Serv., Inc., 77 Wis.2d at 460, 252 N.W.2d 913. We have found no Wisconsin law creating a bright-line rule requiring contemporaneous knowledge or appreciation,⁵ and the plain meaning of knowledge or appreciation provides little guidance. Therefore, we look to the case law to see if we can divine the meaning.

¶ 15 Our review of...