Maturo v. Stone
| Court | Court of Appeal of Missouri (US) |
| Citation | 856 S.W.2d 84 |
| Docket Number | No. 62348,62348 |
| Parties | Albert F. MATURO, Personal Representative of the Estate of Emilia Cannizzaro, Deceased, Appellant, v. Gary STONE, Marietta Stone, Jerry Benoit, and Barbara Benoit, Respondents. |
| Decision Date | 25 May 1993 |
Page 84
Emilia Cannizzaro, Deceased, Appellant,
v.
Gary STONE, Marietta Stone, Jerry Benoit, and Barbara
Benoit, Respondents.
Eastern District,
Division One.
Charles L. Gooch, Barbara Harris Pape & Associates, P.C., Columbia, for appellant.
Michael S. Wright, Warrenton, Richard K. Zerr, Ronald R. Fralicx, Beck, Tiemeyer & Zerr, St. Charles, for respondents.
AHRENS, Presiding Judge.
Plaintiff, Albert F. Maturo, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Emilia Cannizzaro, appeals from a directed verdict in favor of defendants, Gary Stone, Marietta Stone, Jerry Benoit, and Barbara Benoit. Plaintiff claims the trial court erred in excluding the deposition of a deceased witness, Edward Cannizarro, taken in a prior lawsuit. The defendants were not parties in the prior case. We affirm.
Plaintiff filed this action against the defendants for damages for conspiracy, conversion, and breach of a fiduciary duty, alleging the defendants wrongfully converted $100,000 from Edward and Emilia Cannizzaro. Edward Cannizzaro (Cannizzaro) and his mother, Emilia, had a joint checking account at the First Missouri Bank of Warrenton. Plaintiff claims the defendants conspired together and wrongfully converted the $100,000 from the Cannizzaros by forging Cannizzaro's signature on a check and depositing the money in their own bank account.
Defendant Gary Stone (Stone) met Cannizzaro while the two were living in California. Stone eventually moved to Missouri. Sometime thereafter, Cannizzaro decided to sell his home in California and move out of state. At or near the time Cannizzaro sold the house, he granted Stone a general power of attorney. Cannizzaro subsequently moved to Missouri.
Stone and defendant Jerry Benoit (Benoit) had joint business interests in Missouri. Soon after Cannizzaro moved to Missouri from California, Stone and Benoit experienced financial difficulties with some of their business ventures. In December, 1985, Stone obtained a check made payable to him in the amount of $100,000; the
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signature on the check purported to be Cannizzaro's. The check was drawn from the joint checking account of Cannizzaro and his mother at the First Missouri Bank of Warrenton.Prior to filing this lawsuit, Cannizzaro and his mother filed suit against the First Missouri Bank of Warrenton. That case settled prior to trial. The pleadings from the previous case are not included in the record, and were not in evidence at trial. The record indicates, however, that the prior suit was to recover $100,000 from the First Missouri Bank of Warrenton for wrongfully accepting the check. During the course of discovery in the suit against the First Missouri Bank of Warrenton, a representative of the bank deposed Cannizzaro. The defendants were not parties in the prior case. Cannizzaro predeceased his mother; both died prior to trial of this case.
This was a bench trial. During plaintiff's opening statement, counsel referred to Cannizzaro's deposition. Defendants objected to any...
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Basta v. Kan. City Power & Light Co., WD 77251
...the parties not involved in 456 S.W.3d 457the prior deposition had no real opportunity to cross-examine the witness. Maturo v. Stone, 856 S.W.2d 84, 85 (Mo.App.E.D.1993). However, “[a]n exception to the general rule of inadmissibility exists when there is a clear identity of issues and of p......
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Nugent v. Owens Corning Fiberglas, Inc., OWENS-CORNING
...immediate case, during unrelated litigation between parties with no identity of interests to the present parties. See Maturo v. Stone, 856 S.W.2d 84, 85-86 (Mo.App. E.D.1993). The prejudicial effect of the opinion testimony contained in the Hazard deposition cannot be deemed cured by the tr......