Wing v. Munns

• Decision Date: 03 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 18732,18732
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals
• Parties: Elwood (Woody) D. WING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Lysle MUNNS, Defendant-Respondent.

Page 954

849 P.2d 954

123 Idaho 493

Elwood (Woody) D. WING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Lysle MUNNS, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 18732.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

March 3, 1992.

[123 Idaho 494] Daniel L. Hawkley, Boise, for plaintiff-appellant.

Hall & Friedly, Mountain Home, for defendant-respondent. Perce E. Hall argued.

SWANSTROM, Judge.

Elwood Wing filed an action against Lysle Munns to have Munns remove his mobile home from Wing's farm and vacate the premises. Munns counterclaimed, alleging that he was lawfully on Wing's property under an oral lease, and that Wing was responsible for damages because he interfered with the system upon which Munns depended for his domestic water supply. The district court issued a preliminary injunction and ordered Wing to restore Munns's water system pending the outcome of the litigation.

The case was tried before a jury, and the jury concluded that Wing was not entitled to rental payments from Munns. Munns also prevailed on his counterclaim and was awarded $4,000 in compensatory damages and $2,000 in punitive damages. Both Wing and Munns filed motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Wing contended that the award of damages to Munns was unwarranted and unsubstantiated. His motion, as well as Munns's motion, was denied. Wing has appealed.

ISSUES

Wing contends that the district court erred in concluding that Munns had an enforceable oral lease giving him the right to reside on Wing's farm for a two-year period. Wing asserts there was no meeting of the minds for a lease, and, even if there were, the lease was in violation of the statute of frauds, I.C. §§ 9-503, 9-505.

Wing also contends the court erred in issuing a preliminary injunction because: (1) it effectively gave Munns all of the relief he was seeking without a trial; (2) it was based on the assumption that an enforceable oral lease existed between the parties; and (3) the court improperly placed the burden on Wing to show cause why the preliminary injunction should not be issued.

Third, Wing contends that his right to a fair trial was prejudiced because the court erroneously allowed the jury to hear evidence regarding the preliminary injunction and evidence of collateral hardships suffered by Munns, which Wing did not cause and which Wing could not have avoided.

Finally, Wing contends that these errors were compounded when the court failed to grant his motions for a directed verdict and for judgment n.o.v. We hold this issue has merit and is dispositive of the case because it encompasses other critical issues raised by Wing. For reasons herein stated, we conclude that the district court erred in denying Wing's motions, and we remand for entry of judgment in favor of Wing on Munns' counterclaim.

FACTS

The relationship between Wing and Munns developed as follows. Lysle and Norma Munns, in 1979, contracted to buy 320 acres of farmland in Elmore County Idaho. They installed a mobile home on a concrete foundation, dug a well for domestic water, and made other improvements while they occupied and farmed the property.

Eventually, their farming enterprise failed. After they filed a bankruptcy proceeding, their seller was successful in regaining the property and quieting his title in 1985. He resold it to Elwood Wing in February, 1988. At the time of this sale, the Munns still had their mobile home on the property, and they were living in it with the acquiescence of the owner of the property.

In February, 1988, Munns contacted Wing, the new owner, and asked first if he could buy fifteen acres of the farm. Wing made it clear that he could not. Munns then asked if he and his wife could continue to live in their mobile home on the property until his retirement in two years. Wing said it would probably be all right, but he wanted to confirm this with his son, Sid, who was going to be involved in farming the property.

The parties agree only to the above facts about the first meeting. Altogether, four or five meetings took place between Munns and one or both of the Wings where they discussed terms and conditions of an oral "agreement" which would enable Munns to keep his mobile home on the property for two years, until he could retire. The parties' trial testimony disputed, or left unclear, what was said and what was agreed to at each of these meetings. Because Wing contends that the evidence was not sufficient to show there was ever a meeting of the minds concerning the essential terms of an oral lease, we will summarize the evidence.

Munns testified that, at the first meeting, he offered to trade some sprinkler irrigation pipe to Wing in exchange for a two-year lease of the mobile home site. Wing testified that, at the first meeting, there was no mention of any irrigation pipe or rental payment from Munns for allowing him to remain on the property. He testified that he and Munns had been "neighbors" while Munns was attempting to purchase and farm the place. Wing said he had also talked to the previous owner who had suggested that Wing "be gentle so we wouldn't have any problems."

Munns testified that several days later he saw Wing at church, and "[h]e told me he had talked it over with his boy and they decided it was agreeable." Wing made no mention of this contact, and he was not asked if he disputed it. In any event, Munns does not contend that anything further was said about the "agreement" at this time. Munns also testified that within a day, as he was driving down the road, Wing stopped him and told him that Wing did not want Munns to leave any of his equipment on the farm. As we mention later, scattered around the farm were various pieces of old farm machinery which had been left over after a creditor's sale of Munns's equipment, in addition to other items that Wing described as debris or junk. Munns testified that Wing first told him the equipment should be moved off the farm to a certain location then Wing changed his mind. Munns continued:

And about that time I was entirely confused, and so I let him talk on for a minute. And I don't remember what he said, what he previously said, and so I just left and I went home.

The parties agree that a few days after the first meeting an event occurred which precipitated a second significant meeting. Farm workers employed by Wing were loading irrigation pipe which had been piled on the Wing farm about 600 feet behind Munns's mobile home. Munns went out to the workers and, according to his testimony, he pointed to some of the pipe and said, "Now, this pipe here I don't want you to move until you tell your boss to come and see me one more time." That evening Wing and his son Sid drove to Munns's mobile home and met with Munns. According to Munns, the following conversation occurred:

Sid Wing said, "What's the matter? You stopped my men from moving the pipe."

I said, "that's true." And I said, "I wanted to make sure that we definitely understood each other. That we definitely had an agreement and we definitely understand each other."

And he [Sid] said, "Well, our word is as good as yours. We do have an agreement."

And I said, "Okay. Then it's definitely sure I get to stay here for two years for the, for my pipe?"

And he said, "That's true," and they left.

. . . . .

The next day the [farm workers] hauled the pipe away.

Munns later testified that he and Wing had also discussed other aspects of their "agreement" at this meeting, or at an earlier one. He admitted that he had agreed to clean up the scattered junk and debris which was discarded during his farm operation and the items which were left over from the creditors' sale of his equipment. He agreed that Wing wanted him to consolidate or remove any machinery which he owned and wanted to retain. He acknowledged that the Wings had told him they wanted the property cleaned up so that it could be farmed. He admitted discussing with Wing--at some point--the placement of this equipment on a piece of ground about a half-mile from Munns's mobile home. He also recalled that Sid Wing wanted the agreement to be in writing. ¹

Wing testified that it was during this meeting when Munns first brought up his claimed ownership of some of the irrigation pipe. When they purchased the property, the Wings believed that the purchase included all of the irrigation pipe on the premises. From their own inspection, the Wings had counted all of the pieces of pipe, amounting to approximately three-fourths of a mile of "portable main line" pipe, which is the amount of pipe they were to receive in addition to a half-mile of buried main line. Munns said, however, that he told Wing in the very first meeting that he had a half-mile of irrigation pipe which he valued at $4,000 and that he would be willing to exchange the pipe for a two-year lease. In any event, at some point the Wings decided that if Munns was willing to give up his claim to the pipe and the parties could otherwise agree to certain conditions, they would permit him to remain on the property for two more years. The Wings' desire to have a written agreement led to the next, and final, meeting with Munns.

Wing's attorney prepared a document entitled a "settlement agreement." It was not complete. The district judge described it as an intended draft "for the parties to work from to tie up loose ends of their oral agreement." No signature lines were on this draft and there was a blank space for insertion of a property description. It contained some things agreed to by the parties and some which had not been discussed but which the Wings wanted included for their protection. Wing and his son took the document to Munns.

The Wings testified that Munns hardly looked at the document and did not want to discuss it. They said Munns told them that he had applied for a job in Utah and he was going to move in about two weeks; that he was going to "gather up half a mile of pipe and sell it" so that he could pay for the move; that Wing insisted he did not own any of the pipe; and...