Cluney v. Law

852 So. 2d 33, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 327
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJune 11, 2002
DocketNo. 2000-CA-02025-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 852 So. 2d 33 (Cluney v. Law) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cluney v. Law, 852 So. 2d 33, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 327 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

SOUTHWICK, P.J.,

for the court.

¶ 1. The chancellor cancelled as fraudulent a deed to the appellant from a man who thought that she was his wife. In fact, the appellant had a hidden existing marriage. On appeal the non-wife argues that regardless of this misrepresentation, there was no proof that the fraud caused the conveyance. We agree that there was substantial evidence that the appellant had misrepresented her marital status to the deceased who thought he had married her. The deception was continued for a time even in this suit. Still, there was no evidence that the grantor deeded the proper[35]*35ty only because he thought he was married to the grantee. We therefore reverse and render.

FACTS

¶ 2. George Law was married to Geraldine Law when she died in 1989. Mr. Law then met Dolores Cluney in 1992. There was testimony from one of Law’s sons that appears to state that Cluney lived nearby in a small trailer and perhaps foraged for food from a dumpster. She would come to Law’s backdoor wanting to borrow cigarettes, sugar, or use the telephone. There was evidence introduced that she was receiving Social Security Administration disability payments, and that she was easily confused by a variety of matters, including finances. She was described as being of low intelligence, with one witness comparing her to a twelve-year-old. Cluney began to provide company for the older man, who was growing blind and had a variety of other physical problems. Law and Clu-ney lived together beginning in September 1992. On January 8,1994, they underwent a marriage ceremony. Mr. Law was about 73 years of age and Cluney was 40. This marriage was invalid because Cluney had a prior undissolved marriage.

¶ 3. There was evidence that Cluney left Law three times. The first was for about seven days and was before the wedding. She then left again sometime after the wedding. It was after her second return that Law conveyed her a survivorship interest in the house. She last left him when or perhaps just before he went into the hospital in 1999, but she returned before he died.

¶ 4. Approximately six months after the 1994 wedding, Law conveyed his residence, which included a one acre lot on which his home was located, to himself and Cluney as “joint tenants with full rights of surviv-orship and not as tenants in common.” Law died intestate in 1999. At that time, he also owned about 190 acres of farmland that was inherited by his children. His son, John Law, was appointed the administrator for his estate. Shortly thereafter, John Law petitioned the court to have the deed set aside and the purported marriage declared void.

¶ 5. Cluney made several misrepresentations to the court during the initial stages of these proceedings, when the administrator was unaware of her former marriage. It was established that Cluney made false statements about her marital status, her level of education, and about the use of the name, Dolores Cluney. The former marriage was to a Raymond Cluney, which occurred in 1972 when the bride would have been about nineteen years old. Dolores Cluney in these proceedings testified that the couple lived together only for a month. There is mention in the administrator’s brief that a secretary for the estate attorney first made the connection between Dolores Spadoni Law, as she was known to Mr. Law, and a Dolores Cluney who had sought to have her “common law husband” Timothy Johnson committed to the state mental hospital in 1992. Regardless of the source of the information, once the administrator became aware of these questions, an investigation into Cluney’s background was undertaken. When these issues first came to the fore, the appellant denied that she was the Dolores Cluney who had signed the commitment papers on Johnson. Later she admitted her role in the Johnson commitment.

¶ 6. The chancellor granted partial summary judgment by setting aside all of Clu-ney’s inheritance rights. No error is alleged in that decision. A trial was later held that led to the chancellor’s setting aside the deed and establishing a constructive trust for the benefit of the heirs. Cluney appeals.

[36]*36DISCUSSION

¶ 7. Cluney’s sole assertion of error is that the administrator failed to prove that fraud underlay the conveyance. She argues that there was no proof that Law’s belief that the two were married was the reason for the conveyance of the house and land.

¶ 8. These are the requirements for setting aside a conveyance based on fraud:

The elements of fraud, which must be proven by clear and convincing evidence, include: 1) a representation; 2) its falsity; 3) its materiality; 4) the speaker’s knowledge of its falsity or ignorance of its truth; 5) his intent that it should be acted upon by the person and in the manner reasonably contemplated; 6) the hearer’s ignorance of its falsity; 7) his rebanee on its truth; 8) his right to rely thereon; and 9) his consequent and proximate injury.

Levens v. Campbell, 733 So.2d 753, 761-62 (Miss.1999). It is obvious that the misrepresentation alone, even of a matter as significant as this, is not enough to invalidate the deed.

¶ 9. The chancellor quoted these factors in her opinion, but then did not make findings on all of them. The chancellor’s opinion primarily relied on the fact that a fraudulent marriage occurred. There at least was a finding that the misrepresentation was material to the conveyance:

Based on the totality of the situation and the credible proof, Dolores made a false representation as to her marital status and this representation was material to [Law] deeding an interest in his real property to her. It was only after six months of a purported marriage that a deed was executed and the deed itself refers to Dolores as [Law’s] wife in two locations in the document. Where one party (in this case, Dolores) knows of an impediment to marriage and practices fraud on the other, ... there is no reason why this fraud should not vitiate the gift. Accordingly, this Court grants the relief requested and does hereby set aside the transfer based on fraud from [Law] and Dolores....

¶ 10. Proof of the elements of fraud must be by clear and convincing evidence. Id. at 761. We look to the record to determine what evidence existed on these factors. Though there are not findings on each factor, we can in a non-domestic relations case imply the findings on contested evidence necessary to uphold the decision unless there are indications that the chancellor was not applying the correct legal principles. Watson v. Lillard, 493 So.2d 1277, 1279 (Miss.1986)(“where the trial judge did not make specific findings of fact with regard to controverted issues, this Court will assume that the trial judge made all findings of fact that were necessary to support his verdict”). The chancellor set out these same factors as being necessary for proof of fraud, then found that fraud was proven. Therefore, we will imply the necessary findings if there is evidence to support them.

A. Representation.

¶ 11. Proof that Cluney knowingly misrepresented the fact that she was not married was shown. For a time Cluney argued that she forgot about the former marriage, but no serious dispute exists on appeal that a knowing misrepresentation was made. Not only did Cluney not disclose her marital status to Law, she committed perjury during her depositions and court room testimony.

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Related

In Re Estate of Law
852 So. 2d 33 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
852 So. 2d 33, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cluney-v-law-missctapp-2002.