Mitchell v. Stevenson
| Decision Date | 28 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 36A05-9505-CV-172,36A05-9505-CV-172 |
| Citation | 677 N.E.2d 551 |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
| Parties | Lee Etta R. MITCHELL, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of George David Mitchell, Deceased d/b/a Serenity Chapel, Appellant-Respondent, v. Barbara Mitchell STEVENSON, Annalou Freeman, and Wyrtis Mitchell, by her next friend, Annalou Freeman, Appellees-Petitioners. |
Lee Etta Mitchell appeals the trial court's judgment in favor of the plaintiff-appellees, Barbara Mitchell Stevenson, Annalou Freeman and Wyrtis Mitchell (collectively "the Appellees"). This case arose when Lee Etta disinterred her husband's remains. Lee Etta raises six issues for our review which we consolidate and restate as:
1) whether the trial court erred in granting a motion to join additional parties;
2) whether the trial court erred in holding Lee Etta in contempt of court for violating prior court orders;
3) whether the trial court erred in determining that Lee Etta committed intentional infliction of emotional distress; and
4) whether the trial court erred in reserving Barbara's claims against Lee Etta.
We affirm in part and reverse in part.
The facts most favorable to the judgment follow. 1 On March 7, 1982, George David Mitchell ("the deceased") married his second wife, Lee Etta. Together, they operated a funeral home named Serenity Chapel until the deceased's death on December 17, 1989. In addition to his wife, the deceased was survived by his daughter from a previous marriage, Barbara, his mother, Wyrtis, and his sister, Annalou.
On August 6, 1991, Barbara filed an action alleging that Lee Etta had exerted undue influence over the deceased shortly before his death causing him to revoke a will which named Barbara as the primary beneficiary. Barbara also alleged that Lee Etta engaged in fraudulent conduct and abused her authority as the deceased's attorney-in-fact.
While this action initially focused on the distribution of the deceased's assets, Lee Etta's failure to maintain the grave site at Greenlawn Cemetery became an increasingly sensitive matter. For nearly four years after the deceased's death, Lee Etta refused to place a headstone upon the grave.
The trial court set a trial date for October 18, 1993; however, the parties negotiated a settlement agreement on the morning of the trial. According to the settlement, Lee Etta agreed to pay Barbara $60,000 in two equal installments. In addition, Barbara was given primary responsibility for the deceased's grave and entitled "to purchase, place, and then be allowed to maintain a monument upon the grave site...." 2 Record, p. 18. The settlement agreement was then recited in open court. After which, the trial court placed the parties under oath and questioned them individually regarding their understanding of the agreement as well as their desire to enter into the agreement. Later, the court entered an agreed judgment order which memorialized the settlement agreement.
Pursuant to the agreement, Barbara placed a headstone on the deceased's grave. However, about one week after reaching the agreement, Lee Etta secretly applied for a permit from the Indiana Department of Health to disinter the deceased's remains. According to the application, Lee Etta intended to cremate the deceased and scatter his remains at sea. Although such a procedure was contrary to the deceased's intentions, Lee Etta never revealed to Barbara that she had obtained the disinterment permit. Lee Etta later admitted that her decision to disinter the deceased's remains was motivated by the "result of the hearing and will contest." Record, p. 411.
On January 4, 1994, Barbara filed a verified petition to show cause for indirect contempt, primarily alleging that Lee Etta had failed to make payments pursuant to the agreed judgement order. After conducting an evidentiary hearing on the petition, the trial court entered an order on March 17, 1994, finding Lee Etta in contempt for acting "maliciously, in bad faith, and with ill will toward the plaintiff and in violation of the Court's Orders and contrary to the Agreed Judgment entered herein...." Record, p. 9. The trial court appointed two commissioners to secure sufficient funds from Lee Etta to satisfy the settlement payments. In addition, the court awarded to Barbara punitive damages of $5,000, attorney fees of $5,601, and damages for wage loss and mileage expense incurred of $195. The court also ordered a ninety day jail sentence, but suspended the sentence on the condition that Lee Etta purge the contempt by complying with all prior and contemporaneous orders. On April 25, 1994, Lee Etta made a $76,770.65 payment, satisfying her money payment obligations under the agreed judgment order and the order of March 17, 1994.
However, in May of 1994, Lee Etta disinterred the deceased's remains from Greenlawn Cemetery and moved them to Brown County Memorial Park without notifying the trial court or the Appellees. In addition, Lee Etta took the headstone which Barbara had placed upon the deceased's grave and hid it in her funeral home. Lee Etta placed a different headstone on the deceased's grave at Brown County. Lee Etta later admitted that the new headstone was "a second hand monument," which bore the name of it previous owner on its underside. Record, pp. 552-554.
On May 28, 1994, Wyrtis and Annalou went to Greenlawn Cemetery to decorate the deceased's grave and pay their respects as part of a Memorial Day tradition. They were particularly interested in seeing the new headstone which Barbara had placed upon the grave. When they arrived at the grave site, they discovered that the grave had been desecrated and the headstone had been removed. As a result, Wyrtis and Annalou suffered extreme emotional trauma. When Barbara learned that her father's remains had been disinterred, she also experienced emotional distress and had complications with her pregnancy.
On June 7, 1994, Barbara filed a motion requesting that the trial court allow Wyrtis and Annalou to join the action against Lee Etta, which was granted. On July 14, 1994, the Appellees filed a petition to "enforce the prior orders of this court, for declaratory and equitable relief, injunction, and damages." Record, p. 77. In their petition, the Appellees alleged that Lee Etta had failed to comply with prior court orders and committed tortious acts which caused them emotional distress.
On October 24, 1994, the trial court conducted a bench trial in which both parties presented evidence. On December 30, 1994, the trial court issued its findings of fact and conclusions thereon. In a single judgment, the court held Lee Etta in contempt of court and found that she committed intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, the trial court later entered two separate judgments which vacated its original order. Essentially, the court retained the findings and conclusions of its original order, but separated the contempt charge and tort action into two separate judgments.
In its first judgment, entitled "Order on Motion to Reconsider Finding of Contempt of Court" ("contempt judgment"), the court sentenced Lee Etta to ninety days in jail for contempt of court. In addition, the court awarded the Appellees attorney's fees and expenses.
In its second judgment, entitled "Amended Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Order, and Judgment Following Trial on the Request for Declaratory and Equitable Relief, Injunction and Damages Filed by Plaintiffs-Petitioner" ("tort judgment"), the trial court found that Lee Etta committed intentional infliction of emotional distress and awarded the Appellees damages. The trial court awarded Wyrtis and Annalou compensatory damages in the amount of $75,000 each. In addition, the court awarded Barbara $50,000 in compensatory damages and $3,000 for the stolen headstone. Collectively, the court awarded the Appellees $150,000 in punitive damages to be divided equally as well as attorney's fees and expenses. As a final matter, the trial court reserved Barbara's original claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against Lee Etta even though these claims had been settled in the agreed judgment order.
On appeal, Lee Etta requests that we overturn both the trial court's contempt judgment and tort judgment. Although Lee Etta raises a number of convoluted, repetitive issues in her brief, her arguments essentially amount to four challenges. In our discussion, we will address each challenge in turn.
The first issue raised for our review is whether the trial court erred in allowing Wyrtis and Annalou to join Barbara's action. Lee Etta argues that the court improperly permitted "two previously disinterested parties into a previously disposed of case." Appellant's brief, p. 22. However, we need not reach the merits of this argument because we find that Lee Etta has waived review of this issue on appeal.
Ind. Trial Rule 21(A) governs the misjoinder of parties, which provides in part:
T.R. 21(A). Pursuant to this rule, when a party contends that joinder is inappropriate, he must timely move to drop those individuals as improperly joined parties. McCoy v. Like, 511 N.E.2d 501, 507 (Ind.Ct.App.1987), reh'g denied, trans. denied; see United of Omaha v. Hieber, 653 N.E.2d 83, 87 (Ind.Ct.App.1995), reh'g denied, trans. denied. A misjoinder motion is untimely when filed after the culmination of trial, resulting in a waiver of any objection for review. Celanese Corp. v. Vandalia Warehouse Corp., 424 F.2d...
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