Chapman v. Varela
| Decision Date | 25 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 27,164.,No. 27,069.,27,069.,27,164. |
| Citation | 191 P.3d 567,2008 NMCA 108 |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Estate of Gregoria C de Baca, Deceased. Edwina CHAPMAN and Gilbert C de Baca, Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. Vincent VARELA, Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant. and In the Matter of the Estate of Gregoria C de Baca, Deceased. Edwina Chapman and Gilbert C de Baca, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Viola Varela, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
J. Ronald Boyd, Santa Fe, NM, for Edwina Chapman and Gilbert C de Baca.
Thomas A. Simons, IV, Faith Kalman Reyes, Simons & Slattery, LLP, Timothy Vidal, Canepa & Vidal, P.A., Santa Fe, NM, for Vincent Varela and Viola Varela.
{1} In this case, we are required to consider whether the trial court properly concluded, by clear and convincing evidence, that a will was the product of undue influence. After reviewing the record, we hold that the party challenging the will did not establish a prima facie case of undue influence. We also consider whether the trial court properly granted a claim for slander of title and denied a claim for malicious abuse of process and whether the trial court properly handled attorney fees, costs, nominal damages, post-judgment interest, and actual damages. We affirm in part and reverse in part, and we remand for further proceedings.
{2} Gregoria C de Baca died on May 11, 2004. She was survived by nine children: Rosina, Rudy, Viola, Simon, Tom, Daniel, Gilbert, Edwina, and Donna. On July 8, 2004, Gilbert and Edwina filed an application for informal appointment of personal representatives. The application asserts that Gregoria died intestate, and it requests that the trial court appoint Edwina and Gilbert to be the personal representatives of Gregoria's estate. On July 12, 2004, the trial court entered an order for informal probate of Gregoria's estate and appointed Edwina and Gilbert to be the personal representatives.
{3} Edwina and Gilbert also filed a complaint against Viola and her son, Vincent, and sought to set aside conveyances of real property from Gregoria to Viola and from Gregoria to Vincent. The complaint accused Viola and Vincent of either forging Gregoria's signature on the deeds or misleading Gregoria as to the effect of the deeds or exerting undue influence over Gregoria to induce her to sign the deeds. In the alternative, the complaint alleged that Gregoria suffered from "physical and/or mental illness and weakness of the mind." Edwina and Gilbert also filed a notice of lis pendens on July 29, 2004, and encumbered the five properties that Gregoria purportedly deeded to Viola and the one property that Gregoria allegedly sold to Vincent.
{4} On July 30, 2004, Viola filed a petition for formal probate of Gregoria's will and for the removal of Edwina and Gilbert as personal representatives of the estate. Viola's petition states that Gregoria's will nominated Viola to be the personal representative of the estate. After a hearing, the trial court revoked its earlier order and formally appointed Viola as the personal representative. The trial court also consolidated the probate proceeding with the complaint to set aside the conveyances.
{5} On August 25, 2004, Viola and Vincent filed an answer to the complaint, as well as counterclaims. The counterclaims accused Edwina and Gilbert of slander of title, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation, and abuse of process. The counterclaims also demanded punitive damages. On October 7, 2004, an amended response to the probate proceedings was filed, which named Gilbert, Edwina, Rudy, Daniel, Rosina, and Donna (Siblings) as respondents. Siblings withdrew their complaint to set aside the deed from Gregoria to Vincent on February 3, 2005. On April 7, 2005, Edwina and Gilbert released Vincent from the notice of lis pendens and discharged the encumbrance from Vincent's property.
{6} The bench trial began on April 25, 2005, and the trial court received evidence regarding (1) the application for informal appointment of a personal representative, (2) the petition for formal probate of the will, (3) the removal of previously appointed personal representatives and the formal appointment of a personal representative, (4) the response to the petition for formal probate of the will, (5) the petition challenging the will, (6) the complaint to set aside the conveyances of property from Gregoria to Viola and for damages for fraud, and (7) Viola's and Vincent's counterclaims. The trial continued on April 26, May 9, 10, and 11, and September 6, 7, and 8. On September 8, the trial court ruled from the bench that "Viola Varela clearly and convincingly exercised undue influence over her mother." The court set aside the will and the deeds, which conveyed property to Viola. The trial court did not rule at that time on Viola's and Vincent's counterclaims, but in the judgment issued on September 25, the court granted Vincent's claim for slander of title and dismissed the remaining counterclaims. It appears from the ruling and from later documents that the trial court found slander of title only against Edwina and Gilbert, not against Siblings. The court further removed Viola as the personal representative of the estate and ordered that the estate be administered intestate. After the trial court ruled from the bench, Viola and Vincent moved for, among other things, a partial stay of the probate proceeding in order to prevent the sale and distribution of Gregoria's property until after Viola and Vincent had an opportunity to appeal the trial court's determinations. The court granted the motion for a partial stay of the probate proceeding.
{7} On October 11, 2005, Vincent filed a motion with the trial court for a ruling on damages related to slander of title. No ruling followed the motion, and on March 27, 2006, Vincent filed a post-judgment request for an evidentiary hearing on damages pursuant to the final judgment. After the hearing, the trial court issued an order, which granted Vincent $16,731.44 in attorney fees as special damages and $12,000 in nominal damages. In addition, the trial court set a post-judgment interest rate of eight and three-fourths percent. Vincent submitted a bill of costs at a later date, and after another hearing on that issue, the trial court awarded Vincent costs in the amount of $5,355.05.
{8} Viola appeals the trial court's decision to set aside the deeds and the will, based on a claim of undue influence. Edwina and Gilbert also appeal the trial court's finding of slander of title and the determination of damages for that claim. Vincent cross-appeals and challenges the trial court's dismissal of his claim of malicious abuse of process, the amount of the award for attorney fees, and the rate used to calculate the amount of post-judgment interest. The appeals were consolidated by this Court, and we address each appeal in turn.
{9} In order to provide context for this discussion, we provide a brief summary of the uncontested facts regarding the will and the five deeds. In September 2000, Gregoria suffered a stroke. During October or November 2000, Gregoria and Viola spoke with Lorenzo Dominguez, a surveyor, about preparing new deeds, which would transfer Gregoria's five pieces of property to Viola. In December 2000, Viola's daughter, Victoria, typed up the first will. Victoria testified that she and Gregoria sat together at a kitchen island while Viola made dinner in the same room. Victoria further testified that Gregoria dictated the words in the will and that Viola did not participate, unless Gregoria used a Spanish phrase that Victoria did not understand.
{10} On January 25, 2001, Gregoria was again admitted to the hospital, this time for an ankle fracture. She was released on January 28 and was almost immediately readmitted for pneumonia. On February 2, Gregoria was released from the hospital again. Also on February 2, Robert J. Clifford at Berardinelli Family Funeral Services notarized the five warranty deeds and the first will, which was un-witnessed. The five deeds were recorded more than five months later, on July 24, 2001. On August 28, 2002, Gregoria executed a second will, which was drawn up by an attorney, Ruben Rodriguez. There is no question that this will was validly executed. This will left $1 to Gilbert, Edwina, Rosina, Tom, Simon, Daniel, Rudy, and Donna. The remainder of Gregoria's estate went to Viola through a residuary clause.
{11} With those facts as background, we turn to Viola's arguments on appeal. First, Viola contends that the trial court's judgment was not supported by clear and convincing evidence and that the deeds and the will were not the products of undue influence. Second, Viola insists that setting aside the deeds and the will would violate public policy because it "would deprive an older person of her free will to dispose of her assets in the manner in which she chooses." Since we conclude that the will was not the product of undue influence, we do not address the validity of the deeds.
{12} For more than two hundred years, the doctrine of undue influence has reflected "some of society's most deeply held values about obligations, family, property, and inheritance." Lawrence A. Frolik, The Biological Roots of the Undue Influence Doctrine: What's Love Got to Do with It?, 57 U. Pitt. L.Rev. 841, 843-44 (1996). "The underlying theory of the doctrine [of undue influence] is that the donor is induced by various means to execute an instrument that, in reality, is the will of another substituted for that of the donor." Montoya v. Torres, 113 N.M. 105, 110, 823 P.2d 905, 910 (1991). "Undue influence exists when [the] testator's volition at the time of [the] testamentary act was controlled by another and ... the resulting will was not the result of the free exercise of judgment and choice." In re Estate of Gersbach, ...
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