Rachel Staggs v. Corena Buxbaum

60 N.E.3d 238, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 207, 2016 WL 3541707
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 28, 2016
Docket47A04-1510-PL-1758
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 N.E.3d 238 (Rachel Staggs v. Corena Buxbaum) 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
Rachel Staggs v. Corena Buxbaum, 60 N.E.3d 238, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 207, 2016 WL 3541707 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

BROWN, Judge.

[1] Rachel Staggs appeals the trial court’s order awarding treble damages, actual costs, and attorney fees pursuant to the Crime Victim Relief Act (“CVRA”) in favor of Corena Buxbaum. Staggs raises two issues which we revise and restate as:

I. Whether the trial court applied the wrong standard in awarding exemplary - damages under the CVRA; and
II. Whether the court’s award of exemplary damages is clearly erroneous.

We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

[2] This is an appeal following remand from this court. In our first decision we summarized the facts as follows:

In 1998, Staggs married Dwight Staggs and moved into his residence (the Property). In 2005, Dwight passed away and Staggs became the sole owner of the Property.
In 2008, Staggs decided to sell the Property. On the Seller’s Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure Form, Staggs indicated that the septic field/bed was not defective, that she did not know the condition of the septic and holding tank/septic mound, and that there were no moisture or water problems in the basement.
Buxbaum was interested in purchasing the Property. She visited the house twice and did not notice any moisture problems in the basement. Buxbaum hired an inspector, who identified a radon problem on the Property but did not identify any other problems.
On August 27, 2008, Buxbaum purchased the Property from Staggs. Shortly thereafter, Buxbaum attempted to locate the septic system on the Property as she planned to build a garage and did not want to build above the septic tank. Eventually, Buxbaum learned that there was no septic system on the Property. Instead, sewage was expelled through a sewage pipe that traversed several hundred feet across the Property and terminated at the back of the Property.
In November 2008, Buxbaum learned that there was a leak in the basement. An employee of the company Buxbaum hired to remedy the moisture problems stated that he believed the basement had been leaking for years, as he observed water stains and noticed that the floor had been pushed up because of hydrostatic pressure.
On December 14, 2009, Buxbaum filed a complaint against Staggs, alleging a single count of fraudulent misrepresentation. A bench trial took place on May 12 and December 12, 2013. On the first day of the trial, Staggs was represented by attorney Philip Chamberlain. Between the first and second days of trial, Mr. Chamberlain’s license to practice law was suspended, so Staggs appeared pro se at the second day of trial.
Over the course of the trial, the following evidence was submitted to the trial court:
• Staggs’s stepdaughter testified that she had grown up in the house on the Property. She knew that there was no septic system and stated that she was present for multiple conversations *241 between her father and Staggs in which her father told Staggs that there was no septic system and that one would need to be installed before attempting to sell the Property.
• Staggs’s stepdaughter also testified that the basement was wet all the time, that Staggs was aware of that fact, and that at one point in time, the family needed to rent a machine to pump water out of the basement.
• Staggs’s stepson testified that he was also present for multiple conversations between his father and Staggs in which his father stated that the Property had no septic system. He also testified that he and Staggs had actually walked through the Property several times and seen the pipe out of which the sewage drained.
• Staggs’s stepson also testified that the basement frequently had two to four inches of standing water and that Staggs had moved things out of the basement to avoid water damage.
• In 2007, Scott Nordhoff of Hydra Stone viewed the Property with potential interest of buying it. At that time, he spoke with Staggs about water problems in the basement and Staggs told him that it was a good thing that he was in the waterproofing business. Nordhoff did not buy the Property but did end up waterproofing the basement in 2009 when Bux-baum hired Hydra Stone to solve the problem. Nordhoff testified that he believed the basement had been leaking for years.
Buxbaum had to hire professionals to install a septic system, remedy the moisture issues in the basement, and waterproof the basement. The total cost to her of making these changes was $21,939.58.
On March 4, 2014, the trial court ruled in favor of Buxbaum. Among other things, the trial court found as follows:
2. ... [Staggs] had actual knowledge of the defects in both the basement and the septic system prior to filling out the disclosure form and selling the home and made false statements of important past and existing facts regarding the basement and septic system.
3. The court finds that it was not an error, inaccuracy or omission by [Staggs] that was not within her actual knowledge and would keep her from liability.
⅜ ⅜ ⅝
Damages
⅜ ⅜
3. ... The court finds that there was the requisite specific intent to make a finding of fraud for the purposes of awarding treble damages.... The Court now awards [Buxbaum] her request for treble damages.
Appellant’s App. p. 14-15 (emphasis original). The trial court calculated damages as follows: (1) out-of-pocket costs of $21,939.58; (2) treble damages of $65,818.74; and (3) attorney fees of $7,040. The trial court added all of those amounts for a total damages award of $94,798.32.

Staggs v. Buxbaum (Staggs I), No. 47A01-1406-PT-254, slip op. at 2-5, 2015 WL 803118 (Ind.Ct.App. February 25, 2015).

[3] This court addressed three issues in Staggs I, namely, whether the court erroneously found in favor of Buxbaum on her claim of fraudulent misrepresentation, whether the court should reconsider an award of treble damages in light of the Indiana Supreme Court’s decision in Wysocki v. Johnson, 18 N.E.3d 600 (Ind.2014), and whether the court erred in cal *242 culating damages. Id. at 6-7, 9. On the fraudulent misrepresentation issue, this Court held that the evidence supported the trial court’s judgment and that Staggs’s arguments were a request to reweigh the evidence, Id. at 7. Regarding treble damages, we observed that Wysocki was handed down after the trial court issued its order, that under Wysocki “an additional finding of criminal culpability is now required to support an award of treble damages,” and that accordingly remand to reconsider the damages award was warranted. Id.

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60 N.E.3d 238, 2016 Ind. App. LEXIS 207, 2016 WL 3541707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rachel-staggs-v-corena-buxbaum-indctapp-2016.