Carson v. Cemetery

357 S.W.3d 288, 2012 WL 242566, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 101
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 25, 2012
DocketNo. SD 31128
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 357 S.W.3d 288 (Carson v. Cemetery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carson v. Cemetery, 357 S.W.3d 288, 2012 WL 242566, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 101 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

ROBERT S. BARNEY, Judge.

Carol Carson (“Plaintiff’) appeals the “JUDGMENT AND ORDER” of the trial court which granted summary judgment in favor of Dixon Cemetery (“Defendant”) and dismissed Plaintiffs petition alleging fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and negligence per se arising from Defendant’s sale of grave lots. In her sole point relied on Plaintiff maintains the trial court erred in granting Defendant’s motion for summary judgment “because the statute of limitations had not run, in that [Plaintiffs] damages were not capable of ascertainment ...” more than five years before this suit was filed.

The record reveals Defendant is a “nonprofit corporation” that “sells grave lots or plots through local funeral homes, which act as the sales agent for [it].” Defendant divides its plots into “half-lots” with each half-lot containing the space for four graves. Single graves are not sold individually. Each half-lot cost $300.00 at the time at issue.

In 1934, the entirety of “Lot 16” of the Veasman Addition in Section Two of Defendant’s cemetery was purchased by the family of Samuel Wade. In July of 1991, Michelle Gray (“Mrs. Gray”) passed away and the arrangements for her interment were handled by the Long Funeral Home. The Long Funeral Home contacted Defendant and it was represented to the Long Funeral Home by Defendant that the eastern half-lot of Lot 16 was available for purchase. This easternmost half-lot of Lot 16 was then purchased by Mrs. Gray’s husband, John Gray (“Mr. Gray”). In exchange for his payment of $300.00, Mr. Gray received a “STATEMENT OF GOODS AND SERVICES SELECTED” from the Long Funeral Home which was dated July 16, 1991. Mr. Gray had Mrs. Gray buried in the northernmost of the four available grave locations in the eastern half-lot of Lot 16.

The record shows four days after the sale of the eastern half-lot of Lot 16 to Mr. Gray, on July 22, 1991, the Long Funeral Home sold the same eastern half-lot of Lot [290]*29016 to Delmas McDonald, who is the father of Mrs. Gray.1

In 2003, a distant relative of Mr. Gray, Ken Carson (“Mr. Carson”), passed away and his arrangements were handled by the Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home. The Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home contacted Defendant who advised the funeral home that “the southernmost two (2) plots in the [easternmost half-lot of Lot 16] were owned by [Mr.] Gray, and were available for sale by transfer to the Carson family.” Mr. Carson’s wife, Plaintiff, then purchased the two plots from Mr. Gray and received a Quit Claim Deed. This “QUITCLAIM DEED,” dated March.2, 2004, stated that “in consideration of the sum of TEN DOLLARS ($10.00) and other valuable consideration ...” Mr. Gray did “REMISE, RELEASE and FOREVER QUITCLAIM” to Plaintiff “[t]wo spaces in the East Half of Lot 16 in Veasman Addition in Section Two in [Defendant’s] Cemetery, being the space in which [Mr.] Carson is interred and the adjoining space.” Mr. Carson was then buried in the southernmost of the four plots of the eastern half of Lot 16.

Thereafter, the McDonalds commenced litigation in December of 2004 against Plaintiff and Mr. Gray claiming that the McDonalds were the rightful owners of the entirety of the eastern half-lot of Lot 16.2 That lawsuit resulted in a judgment in 2007 that the McDonalds were, in fact, the owners of the entire eastern half-lot of Lot 16. The trial court also granted Mr. Gray and Plaintiff “the right to disinter the remains of [Mrs. Gray and Mr. Carson] and move them to a suitable location for burial purposes.”

On March 26, 2010, Plaintiff then filed her “Petition” in four counts: Count I for fraudulent misrepresentation, Count II for negligent misrepresentation and Counts III and IV for negligence per se arising from violation of a statute. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs petition and alleged Plaintiffs causes of action were barred by the five year statute of limitation set out in section 516.120, in that Plaintiff knew or should have known in January of 2005, when the McDonalds’ lawsuit was filed, that there were “possible issues” with the ownership of the eastern half-lot of Lot 16.3 As Plaintiff did not file her lawsuit until March of 2010, Defendant contended Plaintiffs petition should have been dismissed for violating the statute of limitations.

Defendant then filed a motion for summary judgment in July of 2010 in which it reiterated the same argument as encompassed in its motion to dismiss.4 Plaintiff responded to this motion for summary judgment by admitting that she was served with the petition in the lawsuit with the McDonalds in 2005, however, she denied all other claims asserted by Defendant. Plaintiff also attached an affidavit in which she averred that “[u]ntil the Circuit Court of Pulaski County issued its Judgment on November 27, 2007, [she] believed [she] was the record owner of ...” the half-lot at issue. In her suggestions in support of her response to Defendant’s [291]*291motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff argued she “was unable to ascertain that she had been damaged until the Court declared her not to be the record owner [of the half-lot at issue] on November 27, 2007,” such that her damages were not ascertainable until that time and it was that date that the five year statute of limitations began to run. While admitting that she “had some idea that wrongful conduct may have occurred after she was served with the McDonald lawsuit and engaged in formal discovery in that case,” she adamantly asserted the statute of limitations did not begin to run until November 27, 2007, when the judgment in the McDonald lawsuit was entered.

A hearing was held on Defendant’s motion for summary judgment on October 18, 2010. Following argument by counsel for both sides, the trial court took the matter under advisement. On October 25, 2010, the trial court entered its ruling sustaining the motion for summary judgment “and [dismissing Plaintiffs] cause of action.” This appeal followed.

In her sole point relied on Plaintiff asserts the trial court erred in granting Defendant’s motion for summary judgment “because the statute of limitations had not run, in that [Plaintiffs] damages were not capable of ascertainment until judgment was entered on November 27, 2007, declaring [Plaintiff] not to be the owner of the burial plots.”

A summary judgment can only be granted if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rule 74.04(c)(6); Hitchcock v. New Prime, Inc., 202 S.W.3d 697, 699 (Mo.App.2006). Appellate review of the denial of a motion for summary judgment is de novo. Wilson v. Rhodes, 258 S.W.3d 873, 875 (Mo.App.2008). Appellate review is based upon the record submitted to the trial court. Sexton v. Omaha Prop, and Cas. Ins. Co., 231 S.W.3d 844, 845 (Mo.App.2007). That record is viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered, and the nonmoving party is accorded the benefit of all inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the record. ITT Comm. Fin. Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo.

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Bluebook (online)
357 S.W.3d 288, 2012 WL 242566, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carson-v-cemetery-moctapp-2012.