Houston v. Knoedl
| Decision Date | 16 June 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-1531,96-1531 |
| Citation | 329 Ark. 91,947 S.W.2d 745 |
| Parties | Mrs. Gaines HOUSTON, Trustee, The Pemberton Trust Estate, Appellant, v. William and Mary KNOEDL, Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
John I. Purtle, Leon Holmes, Little Rock, for Appellant.
David P. Henry, Little Rock, for Appellees.
This case involves a dispute over the ownership of a parcel of land located in Lonoke County. In 1938, the property belonged to John Pemberton, who upon his death, devised it to his wife, Mary. In 1946, Mary Pemberton deeded 14.83 acres of the farm land to Ralph and Mildred Pemberton. Later, upon Ralph's and Mildred's deaths, the farm acreage became the property of their daughter, Mildred Pemberton Crow. In August of 1993, Mildred conveyed 1.6 acres of the 14.83 acreage to William and Mary Knoedl who planned to build their retirement home on it. It is this conveyance that is the focus of the present litigation.
When the Knoedls took possession of the 1.6 acre tract of land, John McRae, a beneficiary of a previously established Pemberton Trust, immediately informed Mr. Knoedl that the 1.6 acre tract belonged to the Trust. The Knoedls' and McRae's disagreement over the disputed property resulted in the Pemberton Trust filing an ejectment action against the Knoedls in the Pulaski County Circuit Court. That action was dismissed on August 26, 1994, because of improper venue. On November 2, 1994, the Trust filed another ejectment action against the Knoedls, but this time in the Lonoke County Circuit Court. The Trust, however, subsequently voluntarily dismissed their second suit without prejudice.
On December 20, 1995, the Knoedls filed suit in the Lonoke County Circuit Court against the trustees of the Pemberton Trust and John McRae (hereinafter the Trust), alleging slander of title, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process, and requesting compensatory and punitive damages. The Trust answered, denying the Knoedls' claims, and counterclaimed, again requesting damages and asking that the trial court declare the Trust the owner of the disputed property.
At a jury trial on July 11, 1996, the trial court directed a verdict in the Knoedls' favor on the Trust's counterclaim, and allowed the Knoedls' case to be submitted to the jury. The jury returned a general verdict in the Knoedls' favor, and awarded them $30,000 in compensatory and $75,000 in punitive damages. After the trial court denied the Trust's motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and new trial, the Trust filed this timely appeal.
The Trust presents six points for reversal, but its first three arguments are not preserved. In each of the three arguments, the Trust urges that the Knoedls' evidence was insufficient to prove the Knoedls' allegations of slander of title, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process; consequently, the Trust argues the trial court erred in giving instructions to the jury regarding those causes of action.
First, we note the Trust failed to make a timely objection to the giving of the instructions. In MIC v. Barrett, 313 Ark. 527, 855 S.W.2d 326 (1993), this court held that, in order to be timely, objections to jury instructions must be made either before or at the time the instructions are given. The MIC court held that, even though the parties agreed their objections were originally made at an in-chambers hearing before the jury was charged, there was no record of the hearing. The court concluded as follows:
Since we are not able to ascertain from the record or abstract the specific objections to the remaining instructions made prior to the jury retiring to consider its verdict, these objections will not be addressed.
Like in MIC, the Trust here waited to make its objections and record concerning jury instructions until after the trial court gave the instructions and after counsel rendered closing arguments. Our review of the abstract fails to reveal where any hearing took place where the Trust made specific objections to the instructions prior to the jury retiring to consider a verdict.
In addition, we mention, too, that the Trust failed to preserve its instruction arguments because it did not properly move for a directed verdict at the end of the Knoedls' case-in-chief and again at the close of all evidence. Such failure constitutes a waiver. See Ark.R.Civ.P. 50(a) and (e). The intent of this rule is to require a party testing the sufficiency of the evidence first to submit the question to the trial court, thereby permitting the court to make a ruling at the conclusion of all the evidence, but prior to the verdict, thus, preserving the specific question for appeal. Willson Safety Products v. Eschenbrenner, 302 Ark. 228, 788 S.W.2d 729 (1990). Preservation of a sufficiency-of-evidence issue for appeal also requires the party moving for directed verdict to state specific grounds upon which it seeks such relief. Stroud Crop, Inc. v. Hagler, 317 Ark. 139, 875 S.W.2d 851 (1994). Here, the Knoedls offered three separate causes of action against the Trust, and even though the trial court cautioned the Trust to be specific when making its directed-verdict motion, the Trust still failed to specify what evidence might have been omitted or elements not proved in each of Knoedls' three counts.
In its fourth argument, the Trust contends the jury's award of $30,000 in compensatory and $75,000 in punitive damages is excessive and a product of passion and prejudice. This court has stated the standard of review in such matters is that, when an award is alleged to be excessive, this court reviews the proof and all...
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