In re Estate of Marks

• Citation: 187 S.W.3d 21
• Parties: In re ESTATE OF William C. MARKS.
• Decision Date: 06 September 2005
• Court: Court of Appeals of Tennessee

Page 21

187 S.W.3d 21

In re ESTATE OF William C. MARKS.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, at Nashville.

January 6, 2004 Session.

September 6, 2005.

Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court February 21, 2006.

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Joseph F. Welborn, III and Kathryn Hays Sasser, Nashville, Tennessee; and G. Frank Lannom, Lebanon, Tennessee, for the appellant, David Marks, Executor of the Estate of William C. Marks.

William E. Farmer and James H. Kinnard, Lebanon, Tennessee, for the appellee, Ada Midgett.

OPINION

WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., P.J., M.S., delivered the opinion of the court, in which WILLIAM B. CAIN and PATRICIA J. COTTRELL, JJ., joined.

This appeal involves a monetary claim filed against an estate by the decedent's fiancée. After the decedent died before completing the arrangements for his fiancée's financial security, the fiancée filed a claim against his estate in the Wilson County Probate Court seeking to recover lost wages, the reasonable value of the services she rendered to the decedent, and the income she expected to earn as a trustee of a trust established by the decedent. A jury returned a general verdict awarding the fiancée $475,000 and the possession of an automobile. The trial court thereafter denied the estate's post-trial motions, including its motion for a judgment in accordance with its motion for a directed verdict and for a new trial, and the estate appealed. We have concluded that the trial court erred by submitting the lost wages and lost trustee income claims to the jury and that the evidence does not support a verdict of $475,000 on the claim for the reasonable value of the fiancée's services. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment and remand the case for a new trial solely on the fiancée's claim for the reasonable value of the compensable services she rendered to the decedent.

I.

William C. Marks was a successful businessman in Wilson County. His business interests included Mark Enterprises, H & M Enterprises, Tennessee Private Storage, Marks Rentals, Wilson County Rock Products, and LoJac Enterprises. In addition, he owned and managed a number of residential and commercial properties. Mr. Marks was also a substantial shareholder of Commerce Union Bank in Lebanon where he had maintained most of his banking relationships since the 1950s.

Commerce Union Bank was where Mr. Marks first became acquainted with Ada Midgett. Ms. Midgett was a bookkeeper and a teller and also served as the secretary to the bank's president. Assisting Mr. Marks with his banking transactions was among her responsibilities. After Commerce Union Bank was sold to First Tennessee Bank in 1987, Ms. Midgett was named vice president. She continued to work with Mr. Marks's accounts and became thoroughly familiar with his business dealings.

Mr. Marks's wife died in 1991. Three years later, in 1994, Ms. Midgett's husband died. Shortly after the death of Ms. Midgett's husband, Mr. Marks invited Ms. Midgett on a date. The parties were dating regularly by September 1994 when Mr. Marks decided that his physical condition was impairing his ability to manage his many businesses. Accordingly, he requested Ms. Midgett to take a more active role in assisting with his financial affairs. In addition to working with Mr. Marks during banking hours, Ms. Midgett began to help him on her own time.

Mr. Marks and Ms. Midgett became engaged in 1995. By this time, Ms. Midgett had complete access to all of Mr. Marks's business and financial matters. Ms. Midgett began to devote even more time to Mr. Marks's financial affairs. Finally, in May 1996, Ms. Midgett retired from First Tennessee Bank to devote all her time and energies to Mr. Marks's business and personal matters.

By this time, Mr. Marks's health had deteriorated, and he learned that he had prostate cancer. He began to make arrangements for his and Ms. Midgett's future. Part of these arrangements included creating a trust to benefit his son, David Marks, other family members, and several charitable organizations. This trust had three trustees, including David Marks and Ms. Midgett. Mr. Marks also requested an attorney to draft a pre-nuptial agreement and to prepare a new will that made financial arrangements for Ms. Midgett. When Mr. Marks was no longer able to live alone, Ms. Midgett moved into his house to help provide his daily care. They set a wedding date in June 1997; however, Mr. Marks passed away on May 19, 1997. He had not yet executed the pre-nuptial agreement or his new will.

David Marks was appointed the executor of his father's estate. At first, he asked Ms. Midgett to assist him because of her familiarity with his father's business and financial dealings. However, following a dispute over Mr. Marks's personal property, David Marks no longer consulted Ms. Midgett and exercised his prerogative under his father's trust to remove Ms. Midgett as trustee.

On November 18, 1997, Ms. Midgett filed a claim against Mr. Marks's estate in the Wilson County Probate Court. She sought to recover (1) the salary and benefits she would have earned had she not retired from First Tennessee Bank, (2) payment for the services she provided to Mr. Marks, and (3) the compensation she would have earned had she continued as trustee of Mr. Marks's trust. Following a trial in April 2002, the probate court submitted all three damage claims to the jury, and the jury returned a general verdict awarding Ms. Midgett $475,000, as well as a 1994 Cadillac that had belonged to Mr. Marks.

Mr. Marks's estate filed a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 50.02 motion seeking a judgment in accordance with its motion for a directed verdict. The estate also moved for a new trial or, in the alternative, for a remittitur. After the probate court denied all of its post-trial motions, the estate perfected this appeal. We have determined that the trial court erred by failing to grant the estate's Tenn. R. Civ. P. 50.02 motion with regard to the portions of Ms. Midgett's claims seeking recovery of her First Tennessee Bank salary and benefits and the wages she would have earned as a trustee of Mr. Mark's trust. We have also determined that the record does not contain material evidence to support awarding Ms. Midgett $475,000 for the services she rendered to Mr. Marks between May 1996 and May 1997.

II. THE ESTATE'S TENN. R. CIV. P. 50.01 AND 50.02 MOTIONS

The estate argues on appeal that the probate court erred by denying its motion for directed verdict on all of Ms. Midgett's damage claims and also by denying its post-trial motion for a judgment in accordance with its motion for directed verdict. It asserts that these claims should not have been presented to the jury. We agree with the estate in part. The estate was entitled to a directed verdict with regard to Ms. Midgett's claims for her lost First Tennessee Bank compensation and for her expected income as a trustee.

A. The Standard of Review

Directed verdicts under either Tenn. R. Civ. P. 50.01 or 50.02 are appropriate only when reasonable minds cannot differ as to the conclusions to be drawn from the evidence. Alexander v. Armentrout, 24 S.W.3d 267, 271 (Tenn.2000); Eaton v. McLain, 891 S.W.2d 587, 590 (Tenn. 1994); Ingram v. Earthman, 993 S.W.2d 611, 627 (Tenn.Ct.App.1998). A case should not be taken away from the jury, even when the facts are undisputed, if reasonable persons could draw different conclusions from the facts. Gulf, M. & O.R. Co. v. Underwood, 182 Tenn. 467, 474, 187 S.W.2d 777, 779 (1945); Hurley v. Tenn. Farmers Mut. Ins. Co., 922 S.W.2d 887, 891 (Tenn.Ct.App.1995). A trial court may, however, direct a verdict with regard to an issue that can properly be decided as a question of law because deciding purely legal questions is the court's responsibility, not the jury's.

In appeals from a directed verdict, the reviewing courts do not weigh the evidence, Conatser v. Clarksville Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 920 S.W.2d 646, 647 (Tenn. 1995); Benton v. Snyder, 825 S.W.2d 409, 413 (Tenn.1992), or evaluate the credibility of the witnesses. Benson v. Tenn. Valley Elec. Coop., 868 S.W.2d 630, 638-39 (Tenn. Ct.App.1993). Instead, they review the evidence in the light most favorable to the motion's opponent, give the motion's opponent the benefit of all reasonable inferences, and disregard all evidence contrary to that party's position. Alexander v. Armentrout, 24 S.W.3d at 271; Eaton v. McLain, 891 S.W.2d at 590; Smith v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 2 S.W.3d 197, 199 (Tenn.Ct.App.1999). The courts use the same standards when they review a decision either to grant or deny a post-trial motion for a judgment in accordance with a motion for directed verdict. Holmes v. Wilson, 551 S.W.2d 682, 685 (Tenn.1977); Kaley v. Union Planters Nat'l Bank, 775 S.W.2d 607, 611 (Tenn.Ct.App.1988); Groover v. Torkell, 645 S.W.2d 403, 409 (Tenn. Ct.App.1982).

B. Ms. Midgett's Claim for Lost First Tennessee Bank Compensation

Ms. Midgett's claim for compensation for lost salary and benefits stems from her retirement from First Tennessee Bank in May 1996. She testified that even though she planned to work for the bank for four additional years, she retired because Mr. Marks requested her assistance with his personal and business finances. She also testified that she understood that she "would be taken care of . . . for twenty years."¹ An economist testifying on Ms. Midgett's behalf testified that she would have received $437,625 in salary and benefits had she remained with First Tennessee Bank for four more years.

The estate argues that even if Ms. Midgett believed that Mr. Marks would take care of her if she retired, she failed to present admissible evidence that Mr. Marks agreed to pay her a salary commensurate to what she would have made had she remained at the bank or that he agreed to match the benefits she received from the bank during the time that she performed services for him. In addition, Ms. Midgett failed to...