Estate of Pepper v. Whitehead
| Decision Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 13–3066.,13–3066. |
| Citation | 780 F.3d 856 |
| Parties | ESTATE OF Nell G. PEPPER, by the administrator for both Estates, Norma Deeble; Estate of Sterling Gary Pepper, by the administrator for both Estates, Norma Deeble, Plaintiffs–Appellants v. Nancy Pease WHITEHEAD; Pease Family Partnership, Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Matthew G. Sease, argued, Des Moines, IA, for Appellants.
F. Richard Lyford, argued, Des Moines, IA, (Brant M. Leonard, on the brief), for Appellees.
Before WOLLMAN, COLLOTON, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
Before us once again is the controversy regarding the ownership of the collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia amassed by the late Sterling Gary Pepper, Jr.
In Estate of Pepper v. Whitehead, 686 F.3d 658 (8th Cir.2012), we set forth at length the factual and procedural background of this litigation, reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment, and remanded the case for further proceedings. What follows here is a summary of the factual and procedural history set forth in our earlier opinion and an account of the evidence presented at the trial that was held on remand.
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Sterling Gary Pepper, Jr. (Gary) owned an extensive collection of Elvis Presley (Elvis) memorabilia. When he moved into a nursing home in 1978, he told Nancy Pease Whitehead (Nancy) to “keep it.” Gary died two years later. Nancy and her sister maintained the collection until 2009, when the Pease Family Partnership (the Partnership) put it up for auction, at which it sold on October 19, 2009, for more than $250,000.
The Estate of Nell G. Pepper and the Estate of Sterling Gary Pepper (the Estates) filed suit, alleging that Gary retained ownership of the collection and that his ownership interest passed to his heirs upon his death. Following a four-day trial, a jury found that Gary had made a conditional gift to Nancy. Accordingly, when Gary died, Nancy's ownership interest was no longer subject to Gary's reversionary interest, thus entitling the Partnership to the proceeds of the auction. The Estates appeal, arguing that the evidence did not establish a conditional gift and that the district court 1 should have granted their motion for judgment as a matter of law or, alternatively, their motion for a new trial. We affirm.
We state the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict. Structural Polymer Grp., Ltd. v. Zoltek Corp., 543 F.3d 987, 991 (8th Cir.2008) (standard of review).
Gary was born on May 5, 1931. He lived in a modest two-bedroom bungalow with his parents in Memphis, Tennessee. Gary suffered from cerebral palsy and needed assistance with everyday tasks, including eating and walking. His mother, Nell Lucas Pepper (Nell), cared for Gary during his younger years. By all accounts, Gary was an ambitious person. He started a newspaper-clipping service when he was a teenager and later served as president of an Elvis fan club and as a correspondent to other Elvis fan clubs.
Through his clipping service, Gary met Elvis, and the two became friends. During an October 1960 interview, Elvis said, A photograph accompanying the article shows Elvis, who was dressed in costume for his movie Flaming Star, standing next to Gary, who was seated in a wheelchair and grinning broadly. Gary also attended Elvis and Priscilla Presley's wedding reception and later greeted the couple's newborn daughterat Graceland. Along with paying Gary a salary for his work with the fans, Elvis often gave him gifts. Over time, Gary amassed a large collection of Elvis memorabilia.
Gary's father died in 1971. Nell suffered from depression and gradually became unable to care for Gary. Elvis asked Carl Nichols (Carl) to look after Gary and Nell's well-being. During the summer of 1975, Carl approached Nancy, who was then a young nurse, and asked whether she would care for Gary and Nell. Nancy, a devoted fan of Elvis, had moved to Memphis from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1974 and spent evenings at Graceland's front gate. When Carl brought her to the Peppers' home, Nancy went to work immediately and eventually moved in with Gary and Nell. After Nancy's mother moved from Iowa to Memphis to help care for the Peppers, the four moved into a larger house that was closer to Graceland and to Elvis's father's home. Nancy testified, “Our back fence abutted the fence of Graceland, so we could look over the fence and see Elvis's horses and his backyard.” Nancy and her mother were not compensated for their services. Nancy's mother, Gary, and Nell received social security income, which was supplemented by the salary Elvis paid Gary.
Gary described Nancy as his “nurse, housekeeper, cook, assistant, friend and secretary.” Nancy dressed, bathed, and fed Gary. She helped him complete physical therapy, attended his doctor's appointments, and was able to wean him off certain medications. She also cleaned and cooked meals for Gary and Nell. Nancy and Gary spent their free time together, too, attending church three times a week and traveling to places like Tupelo, Mississippi; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Long Beach, California.
Above all, Nancy and Gary shared a love of Elvis. They made daily “pilgrimages,” as Nancy called them, to Graceland. They attended Elvis concerts together. Nancy helped Gary with his columns for fan-club newsletters. In an undated note, Gary wrote,
Elvis died on August 16, 1977. Nancy and Gary attended the funeral, and Elvis's father gave them two white roses from the casket. Nancy testified that Memphis “changed within a few days” and that “[i]t was like a different world.” Although she wanted to leave Memphis after Elvis's death, she “never wanted to lose Gary and Nell.”
Times were hard after Elvis died. Gary underwent a surgery that had shown promise of lessening the symptoms of cerebral palsy. Although Nancy described the surgery as “very much a success,” it took a toll on her relationship with Gary. Then, Elvis's estate ended payments to Gary. Nancy and her mother decided to return to Iowa, and they invited Gary and Nell to join them. In April 1978, after Gary had recovered, the four moved together to Cedar Rapids, bringing with them Gary's collection of Elvis memorabilia.
The Peppers lived with Nancy and her family until the summer of 1978, when Gary and Nell entered a Cedar Rapids nursing home. Nancy visited Gary and Nell at the nursing home daily and fed Gary every evening. At Gary's request, Nancy brought certain items of Elvis memorabilia to the nursing home. The remainder of the collection stayed at Nancy'sfamily's home. Gary told Nancy to “keep it.”
In the fall of 1978, Gary's relatives from California moved Gary and Nell from the Cedar Rapids nursing home to Long Beach, California. Gary took with him the memorabilia that Nancy had brought to the nursing home, which consisted of a 14–karat gold bracelet given to Gary by Elvis inscribed “From E.P. 12/25/65”; two gold rings; a Rolex Oyster watch given to Gary by Elvis; autographed record covers; Sun Studios records; a home video of Priscilla Presley's baby shower; a “G.I. Blues” album cover autographed by Elvis and his manager, “The Colonel”; photographs of Elvis, Gary, and Nell; and a letter and envelope from Elvis to Gary sent from Germany.
Nancy did not learn of the move until she stopped by the nursing home to feed Gary, only to discover that he and Nell were gone. Gary and Nell remained in California until their respective deaths on March 29, 1980, and December 29, 1982. Gary and Nell did not contact Nancy after they moved, and Nancy made no attempt to contact them.
Nancy kept the collection of Elvis memorabilia until 1982 or 1983, when she gave it to her sister, Janet “Jenny” Jorgensen (Jenny), who then maintained the collection until 2009, when she decided to sell it. Jenny created the Partnership—an Iowa general partnership composed of Nancy, Jenny, and their brother—to which Jenny transferred the collection. The Partnership then transferred the collection to an auction house in Chicago, Illinois, where it was entitled the “Gary Pepper Collection of Elvis Presley Memorabilia” (the Collection) and, as set forth above, sold at auction.
The auction catalogue showed the items that Nancy and her sister had maintained for more than thirty years. The auction resulted in a total sale price of $250,465.00, including $28,000 for a red ultrasuede shirt worn by Elvis; $15,000 for a large quantity of Elvis's hair that was cut for his Army tour of duty; $6,000 for an original 1954 record of Elvis's first single, “That's All Right”; $4,000 for original photographs and negatives from Elvis and Priscilla's wedding reception; $600 for a set of Elvis's concert-used handkerchiefs; and $1,400 for the two dried white roses from Elvis's funeral. The auction house deducted $25,046.50 for fees and $7,500 for legal expenses.
As recounted in our earlier opinion, this lawsuit was filed on October 15, 2009, and the proceeds from the auction were ordered to be maintained in escrow pending resolution of the case. The Estates alleged claims for conversion, fraud, mislaid or lost property, and failure of bailee to return property. In their answer, Nancy and the Partnership responded that Gary had “made a gift conditional of personal property in which he retained a reversionary interest.” That gift, according to Nancy and the Partnership, became irrevocable upon his death.
Before the case was submitted to the jury, the Estates moved for judgment as a matter of law, which was...
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