Estate of Short
| Decision Date | 26 January 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-121,89-121 |
| Parties | The ESTATE OF Charles Louis SHORT. Owen SHORT, personal representative, Appellant (Plaintiff), v. Walter Earl HALL and Virginia May Hall, Appellees (Defendants). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Fred W. Phifer, Wheatland, for appellant.
Frank J. Jones, Wheatland, for appellees.
Before CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.
Appellant Owen Short, the personal representative of the estate of Charles Louis Short (the decedent), appeals from a partial summary judgment dismissing his complaint insofar as it pertained to the canceling of a deed transferring the decedent's farm to Appellees Walter Earl Hall and Virginia May Hall due to the alleged exercise of undue influence over the decedent. From a bench trial, Short appeals the district court's decision to exclude statements made by the decedent and the court's award to the estate for money the decedent gave or loaned to the Halls.
We affirm.
Short raises the following issues:
1. The Court erred in granting the Appellees['] Motion for Summary Judgment with regard to the transfer of Charles Short's farm to the Appellees based upon a finding that there were no genuine issues of fact regarding undue influence.
2. The Court erred in finding that Thirty-Five Hundred Dollars ($3,500.00) of the Six Thousand Dollar[s] ($6,000.00) represented by Check # 4366 was given to Appellees as payment for a joint enterprise in building a garage that was attached to the Appellees' house.
3. The Court erred in not granting the Appellant Judgment for the following money received by Appellees from Charles Short:
a. One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) evidenced by Check # 4310
b. One Thousand Seven Dollars and Ninety-Nine Cents ($1,007.99) evidenced by Check # 4472
4. The Court erred in ordering that any testimony of Plaintiff's concerning any statement of decedent, which ultimately turned out to be uncorroborated, was to be disregarded as if said testimony had never been given.
The materials presented in favor of and in opposition to the motion for summary judgment reveal that, in 1986, the decedent owned and lived on a farm near Wheatland, Wyoming. He was approximately sixty-nine years old and had been a widower since 1985. On December 5, 1986, the decedent was hospitalized with acute abdominal pain and had surgery. After his release from the hospital on December 15, 1986, the decedent went to live with the Halls, despite the fact that he had family members living in the Wheatland area. The record does not clearly indicate the reasons for the decedent's decision to live with the Halls, but it does show that the decedent and the Halls had been friends for several years. The record also reveals that the decedent mistakenly believed that Mrs. Hall was a nurse.
On December 24, 1986, the decedent executed a warranty deed conveying his farm to the Halls for one dollar and "other good and valuable considerations," and the Halls recorded the deed. According to Mr. Hall, while the decedent was in the hospital, the decedent told him that he was going to transfer the farm to the Halls. Mr. Hall was the only person present when the decedent made that statement.
In February 1987, the decedent had another surgery and subsequently learned that he had cancer. He continued to live with the Halls until March 1987, when he moved back to the farm. The Halls moved their trailer to the farm to live near the decedent. The decedent died of cancer on October 30, 1987.
On November 19, 1987, Short filed a complaint, alleging that the Halls fraudulently induced the decedent to convey his farm to them for no valuable consideration. Short also alleged that the decedent was not mentally competent to voluntarily convey his property and that the Halls had used fraud and undue influence to strip the decedent of all his money and personal property. Short sought cancellation of the deed conveying the farm to the Halls, an accounting and judgment for all the personal property and money taken from the decedent, a judgment for the amount of the Halls' outstanding mortgages on the farm, and $50,000 in punitive damages for the Halls' willful and malicious conduct.
The Halls filed an answer, generally denying Short's allegations, and, after extensive discovery and one continuance, moved for a summary judgment on January 19, 1989. On March 22, 1989, the district court issued an order, on the basis of a concession by Short, stating that Short did not have the right to object to the competency of the decedent or to the execution of the warranty deed in question. On April 5, 1989, the district court granted a partial summary judgment in favor of the Halls on all issues pertaining to the decedent's transfer of his farm to the Halls. In its decision letter, the court stated that Short had failed to present any facts indicating that the Halls had exercised undue influence over the decedent by destroying his free agency. The district court also decided that the Halls were not entitled to a summary judgment on the issues relating to money and personal property which they had allegedly received from the decedent. The court held that the resolution of those issues involved factual questions, and, therefore, Short was entitled to a trial.
The evidence produced at the trial held on April 13, 1989, with conflicts properly resolved in favor of the Halls, revealed the following facts. On June 22, 1986, the decedent wrote a check payable to Mr. Hall for $10,000. The decedent and Mr. Hall agreed that the amount was a loan with an annual interest rate of eight percent. Mr. Hall made nine payments on the loan in the amount of $200 each. At the trial, Mr. Hall testified that he discontinued making payments because the decedent told him to forget about paying off the loan. Mr. Hall was unable to provide any other evidence supporting the contention that the decedent forgave the loan.
After the decedent and the Halls moved to the farm in 1987, the decedent wrote a $1,000 check payable to Mr. Hall. The Halls claimed that the money was for one-half of the cost of a television satellite dish which was to be utilized by both the decedent and the Halls. Approximately four and one-half months after the decedent wrote the check, the Halls purchased a satellite dish for $1,937.43. Mr. Hall testified that he originally used the $1,000 for another purpose but eventually completed the deal with the decedent and purchased the satellite dish. The decedent also wrote a check payable to Mr. Hall for $6,000, which the Halls claimed was a gift. Mr. Hall's testimony concerning the intended use of this money was inconsistent. At one point, he stated that the money was to be used for moving expenses and for the construction of a garage on the farm. He later testified that he actually used $2,500 of the $6,000 to modify his airplane.
In October 1987, just before he died, the decedent gave Mr. Hall another check in the amount of $1,007.99. Mr. Hall testified that the decedent wrote that check to pay for the property taxes due on the property which he had given to the Halls. Mr. Hall subsequently wrote a check payable to the Platte County Treasurer in the amount of $1,007.99. In addition, the decedent left Mr. Hall several signed blank checks and instructed him to use the rest of the money in the decedent's checking account to pay for the decedent's funeral expenses. Mr. Hall filled out one of the blank checks for $4,200 and paid three of the decedent's bills. Mr. Hall did not pay for the decedent's funeral, but he did offer to return the remainder of the $4,200 to the estate.
On May 4, 1989, the district court rendered a judgment in favor of Short for $16,909.95. The court first ordered that the Halls pay Short the unused portion of the $4,200 which the decedent had left for payment of his funeral expenses. That amount equaled $4,065.62. Second, the court found that the $10,000 check from the decedent to Mr. Hall was a loan which was not forgiven by the decedent. The court awarded $10,149.98 to Short--the unpaid balance plus eight percent interest. 1 Third, the district court decided that the Halls owed $2,500 to Short for the portion of the decedent's $6,000 they used to modify their airplane. The court stated in its decision letter that the decedent authorized the Halls to use the money on the construction of a garage but not on airplane modification. Fourth, the district court awarded $194.35 to Short for a refund the gas company made to the decedent. Finally, the court ordered that Short's testimony "concerning any statement of decedent, which ultimately turned out to be uncorroborated, must be disregarded pursuant to the provisions of Wyoming Statute 1-12-102 as if said testimony had never been given." Short appealed from that judgment and from the partial summary judgment in favor of the Halls.
Summary judgment is proper if the moving party establishes that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the court should grant summary judgment as a matter of law. If the movant meets that burden, the party opposing the motion has the burden to present specific facts showing that a genuine issue of material fact does exist. Nelson v. Crimson Enterprises, Inc., 777 P.2d 73 (Wyo.1989); Jones Land and Livestock Co. v. Federal Land Bank of Omaha, 733 P.2d 258 (Wyo.1987).
Short asserts that the district court erred by granting a summary judgment in favor of the Halls on the issue of undue influence. This Court recently stated that the three elements of undue influence are: "(1) opportunity to control; (2) a condition permitting subversion; and (3) activity...
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