King v. French

383 S.W.3d 426, 2011 Ark. App. 257, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 271
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedApril 6, 2011
DocketNo. CA 10-736
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 383 S.W.3d 426 (King v. French) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. French, 383 S.W.3d 426, 2011 Ark. App. 257, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 271 (Ark. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

JOHN B. ROBBINS, Judge.

| TThis appeal concerns the right to use burial plots in the Tyro Cemetery located in Lincoln County, Arkansas. Here, the dispute concerns burial spaces lying between the King and Key family plots. King sought to have a Key family member disinterred and the adjoining grave site declared to be solely for King family use. King did not prevail, and on appeal, he argues (1) that the trial court erred in dismissing Griffin Funeral Service from his lawsuit; and (2) that the trial court’s finding, that King’s claim to two particular grave spaces was barred by the doctrine of laches, was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. We affirm.

Appellant Kenneth King initially filed suit in August 2007 claiming that the neighboring burial-right owners, the Key family, had wrongfully buried three family members inside the King plot and encroached on one more burial space. King sued the trustees of the 12cemetery association (A.O. French and John Edd Curry)1 and Keith Griffin doing business as Griffin Funeral Service. King contended that he complained to the trustees after the 1987 and 2002 burials and prior to the 2006 burial. King claimed that he also complained directly to Griffin Funeral Service in the days prior to the 2006 burial of George Myers. King sought equitable relief due to the deprivation of the use of the plots, an order to disinter George’s remains, and an injunction to prevent further encroachment in the burial space next to George.

Griffin answered the complaint, asserting (1) that his employees acted solely at the direction of the cemetery association in excavating and closing the plot for the March 2006 burial such that dismissal was warranted, and (2) that King had failed to join the next of kin of the buried person as necessary parties. The association answered with a general denial of the allegations and added the defense of laches. King amended his complaint to name Paul Key (Key family representative) and Rebecca Myers (member of Key family and widow of George Myers) as additional defendants. Paul and Rebecca filed general denials of the allegations. In April 2009, the trial judge entered an order dismissing with prejudice King’s complaint against Griffin on the basis of Ark. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). King sought to appeal that dismissal but later withdrew his notice of appeal regarding that order.

In January 2010, the case was tried to the bench. The evidence was largely undisputed. The cemetery land is owned by the cemetery association, donated to it by the King family |3some years ago. Families desiring to purchase a license or right to certain areas for burial would pay $250 to the association, which covered basic maintenance. Generally, the designated family plots were 24' x 24', but there were variances due to obstructions like trees or driveways. The family plots typically hold up to twelve burial spaces. Between 1977 and 1980, the Key and King family plot licenses were purchased. The Key plot (# 125) is directly north of the King plot (# 126). Both family plots face east along a driveway, which would be considered the frontage of each plot. As drawn, each plot would appear to accommodate more grave sites along the front, so the meeting point between the family plots would be two grave sites “long” along the depth of the family plots.

The first body interred between the two family plots was of Bessie King, who died in 1980. Someone placed corner stones to mark the corners between the family plots. Bessie was placed well inside the King plot to its southern end. Next to pass away was John King, who was buried next to Bessie in the far southern end.

The first of the Key family to pass away and be buried in this cemetery was Eloise Key, who died in 1987 and was buried on the far southwest corner of the Key plot, which King believed to encroach onto his family’s northwest corner. King complained to the association that her grave and the adjoining headstone for her husband N.B. was on the King plot. King said that this was when he noticed the King family plot corner markers had been moved to the south and farther onto the King family plot.

N.B. died in 2002 and was buried to the south of Eloise, further encroaching upon the King family plot. These two burial places were along the backside of the family plots, |4near the barbed-wire fencing to the west. King complained again, and cemetery personnel measured the boundary markers, deciding that the placement was correct as it was. King hired an attorney at that time due to his concerns but nothing came of it.

In March 2006, George Myers died. King became aware that George (married to a member of the Key family) was to be buried in the far southeast of the Key plot in line with N.B., which would complete the east-west line between the family plots. King saw this as essentially taking four plots (Eloise and N.B. in back, George and later his wife in front) that belonged to his family. King complained to the association, which re-measured and decided the boundaries were correct, and he also complained to the grave diggers who worked for Griffin prior to the burial.

King was not seeking to move Eloise and N.B., but he believed that George should be moved because he warned not to bury him there. He also objected to the dual headstone placed for George because it created an intended space next to him for his wife, which would take another of his family’s spaces (in line with Eloise’s grave and along the front of their plots).

King paid a surveyor to prepare a drawing of existing markers and graves. The surveyor found that the Key family plot was approximately 21.3' wide whereas the King family plot was 18.4' wide. This meant that both families were “shorted” a few feet in width across the front. But each family plot was a bit more than 24' in depth.

Carol Leonard, the current cemetery caretaker, also testified about the size and square footage of the Key and King family plots, noting that although there was a shortage in | ¿frontage for both families, there was extra room in the area between the back of the plots and the barbed-wire fence to the west that could be utilized. Ray Leonard, Carol’s brother-in-law, was asked by Carol to re-measure the plots to ensure they were correct. Ray testified to his belief that the southern corners of the Key plot were correct.

Paul Key testified that he was at the grave site when the plot for George was to be dug in 2006. Paul said King was also present but made no complaint to him except to request that they not get dirt on his wife’s grave, directly to the south of the plot where George was to be placed.

In March 2010, the trial judge entered an order dismissing King’s complaint. The judge found that (1) the King family staked out their plot first giving King a precedential interest in the grave sites; (2) due to the movement of the corner markers between the Key and King plots, which King noticed in 1987, the King plot was diminished by a width of two grave sites; (3) King abandoned his lawful claim by sitting on his rights after the 1987 and 2002 burials and not filing suit; and (4) the request to disinter George would be denied. King filed a timely notice of appeal from the March 2010 order.2

| fiFirst, King asserts that the trial court erroneously dismissed Griffin Funeral Services from this lawsuit.

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Bluebook (online)
383 S.W.3d 426, 2011 Ark. App. 257, 2011 Ark. App. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-french-arkctapp-2011.