Judy v. Judy

• Citation: 682 S.E.2d 836,384 S.C. 634
• Decision Date: 21 July 2009
• Docket Number: No. 4595.,4595.
• Parties: Bobby T. JUDY, Respondent, v. Ronnie JUDY, Appellant.
• Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals

682 S.E.2d 836

384 S.C. 634

Bobby T. JUDY, Respondent, v. Ronnie JUDY, Appellant.

No. 4595.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Heard May 13, 2009.

Decided July 21, 2009.

Rehearing Denied September 17, 2009.

Glenn Walters, Sr., and R. Bentz Kirby, of Orangeburg, for Appellant.

Capers G. Barr, III, of Charleston, for Respondent.

WILLIAMS, J.

In this civil case, we must determine whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a prior civil judgment obtained against Ronnie Judy (Ronnie) by a third party not involved in the present case. We affirm.

FACTS/PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case involves a civil suit brought by Bobby Judy (Bobby) against his brother, Ronnie, for actual and punitive damages caused by Ronnie's alleged destruction of a corn crop planted by Bobby. The case involves several members of the Judy Family. Bobby and Ronnie are sons of the late Blease Judy (Blease). Blease also had a third son Jimmy Judy (Jimmy). Ronnie has a son, Todd Judy (Todd).

In 1966, Blease conveyed approximately 133 acres of farmland (the Property) to Bobby and Ronnie, jointly. Some time thereafter, the Property was divided by the construction of U.S. Interstate Highway I-95, creating two fields, one on the east side of I-95 (the East Field) and one on the west (the West Field).¹ From 1966 until 2001, Ronnie farmed the entirety of the Property.² During this time, Bobby never received any rents or profits from Ronnie's farming operations on the Property. However, from 1999 until 2001, Bobby attempted to reach an agreement with Ronnie about the division of the Property. These attempts proved unsuccessful.

In 2001, Bobby decided to begin farming on the Property himself. Bobby contacted his nephew, Kevin Judy (Kevin) and his brother, Jimmy, to do the physical labor on the Property. On the day Bobby, Jimmy, and Kevin prepared to plant on the East Field, they were confronted by Ronnie on his tractor. After some discussion, Ronnie and Bobby reached a verbal agreement whereby Ronnie would farm the West Field, and Bobby would farm the East Field.³

Access to the East Field was through a small parcel of land titled to Todd. This access was blocked by Todd, which prompted Bobby to have Jimmy build a separate road to access the East Field. As a result of building the road, Bobby and Jimmy were able to continue farming and harvesting from the East Field in 2001. However, the following year, they were unable to use the new road because it had become too wet from excessive rain. In late 2002, Bobby called Todd to inform him due to the lack of adequate access to the East Field, he intended to farm half of the West Field and half of the East Field in 2003.⁴ Bobby testified Todd's response to his proposed change to their agreement was, "We'll plow it up." Kevin and Jimmy planted two areas on the West Field with corn for the farm year of 2003 (the Corn Crop). The Corn Crop covered between twenty-five and twenty-six acres on the West Field.

On the evening of June 25, 2003, during his regular walk with his wife, Kevin went by the Property around 8 p.m. Kevin observed the Corn Crop, and he testified it was "beautiful[,] ... about seven and a half to eight [feet] tall." He also noticed Ronnie's tractor, with a disk harrow attached to it, parked in front of Todd's trailer, which was immediately adjacent to the Corn Crop. Kevin testified he thought it was strange that the tractor and disk were left in the open yard because "[Ronnie] always keeps his stuff under his shed, [and] it never came out unless he was using it." On the morning of June 26, 2003, Kevin awoke to find the Corn Crop had been destroyed. Kevin noticed whoever had destroyed the Corn Crop during the night had specifically avoided a wellhead pipe that protruded eighteen inches to two feet from the ground on the West Field. The wellhead pipe was not visible under the high overgrowth of the Corn Crop. Kevin also saw tractor tracks leading from the destroyed Corn Crop back to the tractor and disk he had seen parked in Todd's yard the evening before, and the tractor and disk were full of corn husks and silkings.

On November 28, 2005, Bobby filed a civil suit against Ronnie seeking damages for the destruction of the Corn Crop. At trial, Bobby sought to introduce into evidence a similar dispute between Ronnie and Jimmy over a different piece of property (the Rumph Tract) that culminated in a lawsuit and jury verdict against Ronnie. Jimmy and Ronnie owned joint interests in the Rumph Tract, which was several miles from the Property. The two brothers had been unable to agree on the division of the Rumph Tract, and Jimmy filed a partition action against Ronnie. While the partition action case was pending, a dam retaining a pond on the Rumph Tract was destroyed on May 5, 2003. Jimmy filed an additional lawsuit against Ronnie for destruction of the dam on November 22, 2005, and the case went to trial on April 4, 2007. The jury found Ronnie had maliciously and willfully destroyed the dam using a backhoe, causing the dam to be washed out and the pond to be destroyed.

At the trial of the present case, Ronnie objected to the admission into evidence of the prior judgment against him on several grounds. First, he argued it was not yet a final judgment, and it was, therefore, more prejudicial than probative. He also argued it was not necessary to prove the act in question. Finally, he argued there was no factual connection between the parties or the acts in the two cases, and that it was simply being offered to prove the crop destruction occurred. Bobby argued the evidence was admissible under Rule 404(b), SCRE, as evidence of prior acts admitted to prove motive, identity, intent, or common scheme or plan, and was relevant for punitive damages as evidence of similar past conduct. The trial court held:

[T]he testimony of the prior conduct regarding the pond dam is admissible under the Lyle⁵ exception, or the [404(b)] exception as to identity, also as to common scheme or plan.... [T]his conduct is so bizarre, [and it] is just not the type of conduct that occurs every day.... There is no question, it's prejudicial, but in weighing that it seems ... it's very important that this type of conduct is not the type that ordinarily occurs, which would have a profound probative value on the identity, as well as a common scheme or plan. It concerns [the court] somewhat but not a whole lot that it's not necessarily a final judgment in the prior case, because from what [the court has] heard, if that case is reversed for some reason it will probably be on reasons that have no impact whatsoever on the jury's factual determination that [Ronnie] ... destroyed the dam in that case.

This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The trial court's ruling to admit or exclude evidence will only be reversed if it constitutes an abuse of discretion amounting to an error of law. R & G Constr., Inc. v. Lowcountry Reg'l Transp. Auth., 343 S.C. 424, 439, 540 S.E.2d 113, 121 (Ct.App.2000).

LAW/ANALYSIS

"All relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, statutes, [the South Carolina Rules of Evidence], or by other rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of South Carolina." Rule 402, SCRE. Evidence meets the test of relevance if it tends to establish or to make more or less probable some matter in issue upon which it directly or indirectly bears. Crowley v. Spivey, 285 S.C. 397, 410, 329 S.E.2d 774, 782 (Ct.App.1985). However, relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Rule 403, SCRE; State v. Aleksey, 343 S.C. 20, 35, 538 S.E.2d 248, 256 (2000). Determinations of relevance are largely within the trial court's discretion, and its decision to either admit or exclude evidence will not be disturbed on appeal unless there is an abuse of discretion amounting to an error of law to the prejudice of the appellant's rights. Merrill v. Barton, 250 S.C. 193, 195, 156 S.E.2d 862, 863 (1967).

1. Admissibility of Prior Bad Acts Evidence

The trial court held the prior judgment was admissible under Lyle as evidence of a common scheme or plan and also for identity. Because we believe the prior judgment is relevant as evidence of a common scheme or plan and its probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect, we affirm.⁶

As a general rule, evidence of a person's prior bad acts is not admissible for the purpose of proving action in conformity therewith on a particular occasion. Rule 404(a), SCRE. However, evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts may be admissible to establish (1) motive, (2) intent, (3) the absence of mistake or accident, (4) a common scheme or plan embracing the commission of two or more crimes so related to each other that proof of one tends to establish the other, or (5) the identity of the perpetrator. Rule 404(b), SCRE; State v. Martucci, 380 S.C. 232, 251-52, 669 S.E.2d 598, 608 (Ct.App. 2008) (citing Lyle, 125 S.C. at 416, 118 S.E. at 807); see also Citizens Bank of Darlington v. McDonald, 202 S.C. 244, 265, 24 S.E.2d 369, 377 (1943) (holding Lyle is also applicable in civil cases). Where the other bad acts are not the subject of conviction, they must be proven by clear and convincing evidence. State v. Kennedy, 339 S.C. 243, 247, 528 S.E.2d 700, 702 (Ct.App.2000). When considering whether there is clear and convincing evidence, this Court is bound by the trial court's findings unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Tutton, 354 S.C. 319, 325, 580 S.E.2d 186, 189 (Ct.App.2003).

"The law in civil cases, as well as in criminal cases, permits proof of acts other than the one charged which are so related in character, time and place of commission as to ... tend to show the existence of [] a common plan or system." Citizens Bank of Darlington, 202 S.C. at 262-63, 24 S.E.2d at 376 (citations omitted). In the case of the common...