Kathy Salyer v. Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery v. Kristy Sams

63 N.E.3d 1091, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 423, 2016 WL 6901550
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 23, 2016
Docket69A04-1607-SC-1535
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 63 N.E.3d 1091 (Kathy Salyer v. Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery v. Kristy Sams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kathy Salyer v. Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery v. Kristy Sams, 63 N.E.3d 1091, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 423, 2016 WL 6901550 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

BROWN, Judge.

[1] Kathy Salyer appeals from the May 13, 2016 order of the small claims.court on her complaint requesting the return of a burial space she had purchased. We reverse and remand.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] In 1982, Salyer purchased flve contiguous gravesites in Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery (the “Cemetery”). Gravesite # 15 was located on the northern end of the flve gravesites. Moving south from Gravesite # 15, Salyer’s father was buried at the next site, her first husband was buried at the next site, the next site was empty, and her second husband was buried at the final site at the southern end of the five contiguous sites. Salyer intended to bury her mother at Gravesite # 15 and to have herself buried at the site between her first and second husbands.

[3] In January or February of 2014, Salyer noticed that, a person named Lowell Johnson had been buried at Gravesite # 15. The Cemetery acknowledged that it had inadvertently sold Gravesite # 15 twice, first to Salyer and later for the burial of Lowell Johnson. Salyer requested the cemetery to relocate Lowell, the Johnson family objected, and the Cemetery took no action.

[4] On May 18, 2015, Salyer filed a complaint in small claims court alleging that the sale of her burial spot to another individual and the refusal to return it constituted theft, entitling her to treble damages, and requesting “a judgment requiring the [Cemetery] to remove the body from the lot she owns, treble damages, attorney fees, costs of this action and for all other proper relief.” 1 Appellant’s Appendix at 8. On April 15, 2016, the court held a bench trial at which it noted that Kristy Sams, the daughter of Lowell Johnson, was an intervening third-party. Sal-yer testified that her mother had died, that *1093 Lowell Johnson was buried where she intended to bury her mother, and that she had her mother’s body cremated and buried in the same gravesite as her father.

[5] On May 13, 2016, the court issued an order which provided in part:

[T]he Court, having heard the evidence, now enters judgment in favor of [Sal-yer]. However, specific performance is not warranted given that [Salyer] has already taken action by cremating her mother and burying her mother with her father in the north burial site of plot 14 [site adjacent to and south of Gravesite # 15].
THEREFORE, under I.C. 23-14-59-2 the appropriate remedy to correct the problem given the conflicting interests of [Salyer] and [Sams] is to compensate [Salyer] with the adjacent burial site just south of her burial site and to refund her $75.00 for the purchase of the lot in question plus court costs in the amount of $94.00.

Id. at 6. Salyer filed a motion to correct errors, which the trial court denied. ,

Discussion

[6] Salyer maintains that, because the Cemetery wrongfully buried Johnson at her gravesite, it must relocate Johnson’s body so that the site can be restored to her. She notes that the legislature directed the course of action for a wrongful burial and cites to Ind.Code § 23-14-59-2. That statute states: '

When a wrongful burial, entombment, inurnment, disinterment, disentombment, or disinumment referred to in section 1(1) ,,. of this chapter oecurs, the cemetery owner shall:
(1) at the expense of the cemetery owner, correct the wrongful burial, entombment, inurnment, disinterment, disentombment, or disinurnment as soon as practical after becoming aware of the error;_

Ind.Code § 23-14-59-2. Salyer notes that the legislature uses the words “shall” and “correct” in the statute and contends that the word “correct” does not mean leaving the status quo, that to correct a wrongful burial the person must be relocated from the improper grave, and that the statute “clearly directed the [C]emetery to do something to fix its mistake in reselling lot # 15 and wrongfully' burying Mr; Johnson in Kathy Salyer’s family burial plot.” Appellant’s Brief at 10-11. She also notes that the statute does not allow an exception for correcting a wrongful burial when the family, objects. She requests this Court to require the Cemetery to correct the wrongful burial, by moving Johnson and returning Gravesite # 15 to her. The Cemetery has not filed an Appellee’s brief.

[7] The first step in interpreting a statute is to determine whether the legislature has spoken clearly and unambiguously on the point in question. City of N. Vernon v. Jennings Nw. Reg’l Utils., 829 N.E.2d 1, 4 (Ind.2005). When a statute is clear and unambiguous, we need not apply any rules of construction other than to require that words and phrases be taken in their plain, ordinary, and usual sense. Id. When a statute is susceptible to more than one interpretation, it is deemed ambiguous and thus open to judicial construction. Id. When faced with an ambiguous statute, our primary goal of statutory construction is to determine, give effect to, and implement the intent of the legislature. Id. To effectuate legislative intent, we read the sections of an act together in ordér that no part is rendered meaningless if it can be harmonized with the remainder of the statute. Id. We also examine the statute as a whole and do not presume that the legislature intended language used in a statute to be applied illogically or to bring *1094 about an unjust or absurd result. Id. at 4-5. Additionally, where provisions of a statute are in conflict, the specific provision will take priority over the general provision. Barrett v. City of Brazil, 919 N.E.2d 1176, 1179 (Ind.Ct.App.2010), trans. denied; see Nordman v. N. Manchester Foundry, Inc., 810 N.E.2d 1071, 1074 (Ind.Ct.App.2004) (“When two conflicting statutory provisions appear controlling, the statute dealing with a subject in a specific manner controls over the statute dealing with the same subject in general terms”).

[8] Ind.Code § 23-14-33-6 provides that “ ‘Burial right’ means a right of interment, entombment, or inurnment granted by the owner of a cemetery and unless otherwise stated in the deed, certificate, or license given by the owner of the cemetery, is an easement for the specific purpose of burial.”

[9] Ind.Code §§ 23-14-59 is titled “Potential Liability of Cemetery Owner.” Ind.Code §

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Bluebook (online)
63 N.E.3d 1091, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 423, 2016 WL 6901550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kathy-salyer-v-washington-regular-baptist-church-cemetery-v-kristy-sams-indctapp-2016.