Glasser v. Glasser

64 Cal. App. 4th 1004
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 11, 1998
DocketB113263
StatusPublished

This text of 64 Cal. App. 4th 1004 (Glasser v. Glasser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glasser v. Glasser, 64 Cal. App. 4th 1004 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

64 Cal.App.4th 1004 (1998)

STEPHEN R. GLASSER, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
EDWARD GLASSER. Defendant and Respondent.

Docket No. B113263.

Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Five.

June 11, 1998.

*1005 COUNSEL

William Patrick Patterson for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Edward Glasser, in pro. per., for Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

GODOY PEREZ, J.

Plaintiff and appellant Stephen R. Glasser (Stephen), appeals from the judgment entered in favor of defendant and respondent Edward Glasser (Edward), upon Edward's motion for summary adjudication of issues. Stephen contends that the trial court's conclusion that he had no possessory interest in funds allegedly converted was incorrect. Edward contends the notice of appeal was not timely filed. We agree with Edward and dismiss the appeal.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are gleaned from the allegations of the unverified complaint and the declarations filed in support of and opposition to the motion. Edward and his daughter Crisanne Glasser (Crisanne),[1] who was born on January 11, 1993, reside in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Stephen and Edward are brothers and are the sons of Murray B. Glasser (Murray).

Sometime prior to 1994, Murray used his own funds to establish a Resource Management Account at Paine Webber in the names of Murray B. Glasser & Stephen R. Glasser & Edward H. Glasser as joint tenants with *1006 rights of survivorship (the Account).[2] Neither Stephen nor Edward ever deposited any of their own funds in the Account. During his lifetime, Murray was free to dispose of the funds in the Account as he wished. Murray moved from New Jersey to Santa Monica, California in 1986. Stephen and Gloria live in San Diego, California.

In August 1994, Murray suffered a heart attack. He was hospitalized in November 1994. Edward traveled to California to visit Murray in December of that year. During that visit, on December 12, 1994, Murray gave Edward two $10,000 checks; one made payable to Crisanne (check No. 209) and one made payable to Edward (check No. 208). Edward avers that these checks represented gifts from Murray to Edward and Crisanne. Edward wrote out the checks and Murray signed them. Edward accepted the checks but promised to keep the funds liquid in the event that Murray needed the money for his own use sometime in the future.

Edward maintains that Murray was entirely coherent and lucid at the time he gave this money to Edward and Crisanne. Gloria, however, claims that Murray was "very weak and appeared very disoriented" in the days before he died on December 23, 1994, although he had improved on December 17, 1994.

Edward determined that the Account balance on the date Murray died was $32,600, "which included an estimate of account appreciation." As joint tenants on the Account, Edward believed that he and Stephen were each entitled to 50 percent of that sum. Stephen does not dispute that, upon Murray's death, he and Edward were each entitled to 50 percent of the funds in the Account.

After Murray's death, Stephen informed Edward that he, Stephen, was going to dispose of Murray's personal property without consultation with Edward. Edward thereafter investigated the status of the Account and learned that a $10,000 check (check No. 226) had cleared the account six days after Murray's death. It was undisputed that Murray's name was signed to this check by Stephen and the check was cashed by Stephen. Concerned that Stephen was depleting the Account, Edward used check No. 211 to withdraw what he considered to be his $16,300 share of the Account.

Stephen filed his first amended complaint on October 31, 1995. Edward demurred to the entire complaint on the grounds that it failed to state facts sufficient to state a cause of action, was uncertain, and on the grounds that *1007 money cannot be the subject of a conversion. No copy of any order or ruling on the demurrer is included in the record on appeal, however, a copy of a second amended complaint without a file stamp is included therein. Stephen maintains in the second amended complaint that, at the time Edward wrote the first two $10,000 checks, Stephen was the owner of a remainder interest in the sums represented by those checks, and at the time Edward wrote the third check in the amount of $16,300, Stephen was also the owner of a remainder interest in that sum. The gravamen of Stephen's complaint seems to be that Edward took signed blank check Nos. 208, 209 and 211 from Murray, wrote them payable to himself and his daughter, and thereby converted the sums represented by those checks for his own use. Based upon the above facts, the second amended complaint alleged a cause of action for conversion as to each check (first, second and third causes of action), intentional infliction of emotional distress (fourth cause of action), and constructive fraud vis-a-vis each check (fifth, sixth and seventh causes of action).

Edward moved for summary judgment or alternatively summary adjudication of issues on or about October 9, 1996. According to the moving papers, there was no dispute that the $10,000 sums represented by check Nos. 208 and 209 were gifts from Murray to Edward and Crisanne, and that Edward was entitled to withdraw $16,300 from the Account after Murray's death because that sum represented his share of the balance in the Account at that time. Further, Edward maintained that Stephen had no standing to bring an action for conversion because he was not the owner of the funds inasmuch as he had never deposited any of his own funds into the Account, and Murray had the right, during his lifetime, to disburse the funds in any manner he wished. As for the emotional distress claim, Edward argued that the outrageous conduct on which it was premised was the alleged conversion, and because that claim had no merit, the emotional distress claim must also fail. Under the same reasoning, Edward argued, the constructive fraud claims must fail. Further, Edward asserted that there was no allegation or showing that Edward gained an advantage over Stephen by misleading him, an element of constructive fraud.

In opposition, Stephen argued that the motion should be denied because it was premature and that future discovery was likely to show that triable issues of material fact existed. Stephen also argued that the format of the moving papers did not comply with the local rules, the declarations supporting the motion were objectionable, and the issue of whether Stephen had a possessory interest in the funds had already been resolved adversely to Edward as a result of the denial of Edward's demurrer to the second *1008 amended complaint. Stephen, his wife Gloria, and a cousin, filed declarations in support of Stephen's opposition.[3]

Edward's motion for summary judgment, or in the alternative summary adjudication of issues, was heard on November 6, 1996. The order granting summary adjudication as to all issues was filed on December 6, 1996.[4] In that order, the court observed that it could not grant summary judgment because Edward had filed a cross-complaint.

Judgment on the order was entered on December 16, 1996, in favor of Edward and Crisanne and against Stephen on Stephen's second amended complaint. The judgment states that Edward dismissed without prejudice his cross-complaint against Stephen.

Appellant's appendix includes a proof of service of a document entitled "JUDGMENT [PROPOSED]," dated December 13, 1996.

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Related

Glasser v. Glasser
75 Cal. Rptr. 2d 621 (California Court of Appeal, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
64 Cal. App. 4th 1004, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glasser-v-glasser-calctapp-1998.