Johnson v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 17 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 80A04-0606-CV-315.,80A04-0606-CV-315.
• Citation: 871 N.E.2d 1050
• Parties: Mary JOHNSON, et al, Appellants, v. Ruth Ann MORGAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Martha R. Dietrich and as sole heir of the Estate of Martha R. Dietrich, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

871 N.E.2d 1050

Mary JOHNSON, et al, Appellants, v. Ruth Ann MORGAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Martha R. Dietrich and as sole heir of the Estate of Martha R. Dietrich, Appellee.

No. 80A04-0606-CV-315.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

August 17, 2007.

Steven A. Holt, Erika K. Kornowa, Holt, Fleck & Romine, Noblesville, IN, Attorneys for Appellants.

Thomas J. Trauring, Kokomo, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

MATHIAS, Judge.

At issue in this interlocutory appeal is whether the Tipton Circuit Court erroneously joined the Appellants as defendants in a will contest under Indiana Code section 29-1-7-17. We reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Facts and Procedural History

On September 20, 2005, the Tipton Circuit Court admitted to probate the will of Martha Dietrich ("Dietrich"). Ruth Ann Morgan ("Morgan"), one of Dietrich's nieces, was appointed personal representative. Dietrich was unmarried and without children at the time of her death. Her will, dated March 7, 2002, left her entire estate to her niece Morgan. The will specifically did not leave anything to Dietrich's other eighteen nieces and nephews.

On November 21, 2005, two of Dietrich's nephews, Charles Wesson and John Wesson ("the Wessons") filed a Verified Complaint to Contest Purported Will of Martha R. Dietrich, contending that Dietrich lacked the testamentary capacity to execute a will due to dementia and that she had been unduly influenced by Morgan. They named Morgan the defendant of their action.

Mary Johnson et al., ("Johnson"), other nieces and nephews of Dietrich, filed a motion to intervene on December 16, 2005. The trial court granted this motion on December 19th. On January 16, 2006, Morgan moved to dismiss Johnson's complaint of intervenor, contending that she had filed this motion outside of the three-month statute of limitations for will contests. The trial court held a hearing on the motion on March 21, 2006, and dismissed Johnson from the lawsuit with prejudice on March 23rd.

On April 10, 2006, Johnson filed a motion for relief from judgment, which was denied on April 17th. Johnson then filed a motion for reconsideration of the March 23rd order of dismissal, which was granted in part on July 18, 2006. This order stated, in part:

[T]he court now finds that the Intervening Plaintiff's Motion should be granted in part. The court finds that the Intervening Plaintiffs should be named as defendants to the action pursuant to I.C. 29-1-7-17.

Appellant's App. p. 113. The trial court then ordered the Wessons to amend their complaint to name Johnson as a defendant. Johnson moved the trial court for certification of the July 18th order as a final order, which the trial court granted. Johnson now appeals, contending that the trial court improperly joined her as a defendant rather than as a plaintiff in the will contest. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

I. Joinder of Johnson as a Defendant

An action to set aside the probate of an alleged will is purely statutory and can only be brought and successfully maintained in the manner and within the limitations prescribed by statute. Cook v. Loftus, 414 N.E.2d 581, 584 (Ind.Ct.App. 1981). This interlocutory appeal raises the issue of whether the trial court properly joined the appellants as defendants in the will contest pursuant to Indiana Code section 29-1-17-7. When deciding questions of statutory interpretation, appellate courts need not defer to a trial court's interpretation of the statute's meaning. Elmer Buchta Trucking, Inc. v. Stanley, 744 N.E.2d 939, 942 (Ind.2001). Rather, we independently review the statute's meaning and apply it to the facts of the case under review. Id. When the language in a statute is ambiguous or uncertain, we may look not only to the language, but also to the nature and subject matter of the act and the object to be accomplished thereby in ascertaining the legislative intent. Allen Co. Dept. of Pub. Welfare v. Ball Memorial Hospital, 253 Ind. 179, 184, 252 N.E.2d 424, 427 (1969).

Indiana Code section 29-1-7-17 (1999) provides, in part:

Any interested person may contest the validity of any will in the court having jurisdiction over the probate of the will within three (3) months after the date of the order admitting the will to probate by filing in the court the person's allegations in writing.... The executor and all other persons beneficially interested in the will shall be made defendants to the action.

Johnson contends that because she was disinherited by Dietrich, she is not a person "beneficially interested in the will," and therefore should not have been made a defendant to the will contest. We agree.

This section of the Indiana Code has been interpreted as requiring the executor, trustees, and beneficiaries under a contested will to be defendants to the action. Cook, 414 N.E.2d at 586. In Cook, our court concluded that Indiana Code section 29-1-7-17 was ambiguous and unclear as to whether non-contesting heirs at law are "persons beneficially interested therein" as provided by the statute and consequently necessary parties to a will contest. We concluded that due to the nature of a will contest, the only question properly involved in a proceeding to resist the probate of a will or to contest its validity is whether the instrument is the will of the testator. Id. at 587 (citing Hamilton v. Huntington, 223 Ind. 143, 58 N.E.2d 349 (1944)). Our court noted, "[i]t is quite clear, given the nature of a will contest, that the action is not a general action to determine any and every individual's claim in the decedent's estate. Its sole purpose is to determine the validity of the will." Id.

Johnson is not beneficially interested in the will, and therefore, like the plaintiffs, she alleges that the will is invalid. As Johnson observes, joining her as a defendant in this cause at least superficially aligns her interests with those of the personal representative, Morgan. Br. of Appellant at 13. Such a joinder would certainly confuse the order and burdens of proof at trial and would also confuse any fact-finder as to who is claiming the will is invalid.

Joining Johnson as a defendant conflicts with Indiana Rule of Trial Procedure 20(A)(2) (2007) as well, which provides in part that "[a]ll persons may be joined in one [1] action as defendants if there is asserted against them jointly, severally, or in the alternative, any right to relief in respect of, or arising out of, the same transaction." The Wessons have not asserted any right to relief against Johnson; rather, Johnson has asserted a right to relief against Morgan for allegedly unduly influencing Dietrich. Therefore, because the purpose behind a will contest is to determine whether the will is valid, and because there has been no claim of a right to relief against Johnson, the trial court erroneously joined Johnson as a defendant in this will contest.

II. Timeliness of Johnson's Complaint

Morgan contends that Johnson is precluded from contesting Dietrich's will as a plaintiff because she did not timely tender a summons for Morgan to the circuit court.¹ Indiana Code section 29-1-7-18 provides that "[W]hen an action is brought to contest the validity of any will ... notice is served upon the defendants in the same manner as required by the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure." Indiana Rule of Trial Procedure 4 (2007) provides that the trial court "acquires jurisdiction over a party or person who under [the Rules] commences or joins in the action, is served with summons or enters an appearance, or who is subjected to the power of the court under any other law." Morgan contends that Johnson did not properly obtain service of summons within the three-month time frame provided for under the statute.

It is uncontested that Johnson's attorney filed a summons directed to the wrong attorney, Ben Hobbs on December 16, 2005. Ben Hobbs had never filed an appearance in this case. Thomas J. Trauring was Morgan's attorney in the matter and had filed an appearance for her on December 8, 2005. Morgan contends that because the summons tendered to the trial court was not appropriately addressed to the attorney of record, Johnson failed to properly tender a summons to the trial court by the three-month time frame. We disagree.

In Ray-Hayes v. Heinamann, 760 N.E.2d 172, 174 (Ind.2002), our supreme court held that a civil action is not timely commenced if the plaintiff files a complaint within the applicable statute of limitations but does not tender...