Rainey v. Travis

850 S.W.2d 839, 312 Ark. 460, 1993 Ark. LEXIS 208
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 5, 1993
Docket92-857
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 850 S.W.2d 839 (Rainey v. Travis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rainey v. Travis, 850 S.W.2d 839, 312 Ark. 460, 1993 Ark. LEXIS 208 (Ark. 1993).

Opinion

Robert H. Dudley, Justice.

Appellant, Linda Rainey, the plaintiff below, is the daughter of Dolan Travis and his first wife, who died in the forty-ninth year of their marriage. In 1986, after his wife’s death, Dolan Travis, who was about seventy years old at the time, and appellee, Retha Travis, who now is seventy years old, decided to get married. The prospective spouses each consulted with their attorneys and entered into an antenuptial agreement that gave appellee the right to live in Dolan Travis’s home after his death. The material provision is as follows:

The following real property, which is the prospective husband’s home, shall remain his separate property, except the wife can remain in the home after his death for the rest of her natural life, unless she vacates the property for any reason. Wife specifically waives and relinquishes any dower or homestead rights she may have, now or in the future, in the following real property: [property description].

Dolan Travis and Retha Travis, the appellee, were married on September 6, 1986. He died on September 29, 1987, a little over a year later. After Dolan Travis’s death, appellee continued to live in the home. Unfortunately, the home is located within sight of appellant’s home, and, over a period of several months, appellant and some other neighbors observed that a truck was parked in front of appellee’s home and remained there overnight. Appellant decided that appellee was permitting a man to stay in the home overnight, and, since it had been her parent’s home, she thought such action was outrageous. She filed suit alleging that the action was in breach of an oral side-agreement to the prenuptial agreement and that it amounted to intentional infliction of emotional distress. Appellee moved for summary judgment, and the trial court granted the motion. Appellant appeals. The ruling of the trial court was eminently correct.

Appellant alleged that appellee’s conduct was in violation of one of four alleged oral side-agreements that were entered into as a part of the antenuptial agreement. She indicated that her father had told her of the existence of these agreements after the antenuptial agreement was written, but before it was executed. One of the alleged oral agreements was that appellee could remain in the home only as long as she lived there alone and only as long as she did not use the home for any immoral purpose. Appellant alleged the breach of this agreement and further alleged that the breach of this agreement constituted the intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Appellant first argues that the prenuptial agreement is ambiguous and that parol evidence is admissible to explain the ambiguity. She makes the argument because it is only when an ambiguity exists in a contract that parol evidence is admissible. See Isbell v. Ed Ball Construction Co., 310 Ark. 81, 833 S.W.2d 370 (1992). The prenuptial agreement is clear on the issue of the appellee’s right to live in the house. There is no ambiguity, and the trial court correctly ruled that extrinsic evidence was not admissible.

Appellant also argues that parol evidence should be admissible to establish the restrictions on appellee’s right to live in the home because the additional agreements are collateral agreements, and extrinsic proof of collateral agreements is not excluded by the parol evidence rule. This court discussed the “collateral agreement rule” in Lane v. Pfeifer, 264 Ark. 162, 568 S.W.2d 212 (1978). There we stated,

It is well recognized that parol evidence cannot be introduced to change or alter a contract in writing. The test of admissibility is whether the evidence offered tends to alter, vary, or contradict the written contract, or only to prove an independent, collateral fact about which the written contract was silent. In the former instance the testimony is inadmissible; in the latter, it is competent and proper. When testimony is offered to prove an independent, collateral fact about which the written contract is silent, the parol evidence rule is not applicable. . . .

Id. at 167, 568 S.W.2d at 215 (citations omitted).

In the present case, the prenuptial agreement provided for appellee’s interest in the home. The agreement gave appellee the right to live in the home after the husband’s death for the rest of her life unless she vacates the property. The agreement covered the subject. The additional requirement, alleged by appellant to have been breached, requires appellant to live in the home alone and to not use the home for any immoral purpose. This relates directly to the unconditional right to live in the home granted in the agreement. The additional requirement is therefore neither independent nor collateral, as is required under Lane. Thus, the trial court correctly ruled that extrinsic evidence was not admissible to establish the existence of additional requirements.

Because the extrinsic evidence proposed by appellant does not concern independent, collateral agreements, it must be offered to alter the antenuptial agreement. As such, the evidence is excluded by the parol evidence rule. Under that rule, all prior and contemporaneous proposals and agreements merge into the written agreement, which cannot be added to or varied by parol evidence. City of Crossett v. Riles, 261 Ark. 522, 549 S.W.2d 800 (1977). This rule applies only to documents that the parties intended as a final and complete expression of their agreement. See Farmers Coop. Ass’n, Inc. v. Garrison, 248 Ark. 948, 454 S.W.2d 644 (1970). In the present case, the antenuptial agreement contains what is termed a “merger clause.” The clause reads, “The provisions contained in this agreement represent the entire understanding between prospective husband and prospective wife pertaining to their respective property and marital property rights.”

Finally, the Court of Appeals has held that the parol evidence rule does not apply to bar a stranger from introducing extrinsic evidence concerning a written agreement. See Silivcraft, Inc. v. Southeast Timber Co., 34 Ark. App. 17, 805 S.W.2d 84 (1991); Sterling v. Landis, 9 Ark. App. 290, 658 S.W.2d 429 (1983). The rule cited by the court in those cases was based on holdings of this court. We have held that the parol evidence rule bars only parties and those claiming an interest under the contract from using extrinsic evidence regarding the contract. See Barfield Mercantile Co. v. Connery, 150 Ark. 428, 234 S. W. 481 (1921); Talbot v. Wilkins, 31 Ark. 411 (1876).

Here, appellant is not in privity of contract with her father, as she did not succeed to the rights of her father under the contract. However, appellant is not a “stranger” to the contract and has sufficient ties to it to be bound by the rule as would the parties.

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Bluebook (online)
850 S.W.2d 839, 312 Ark. 460, 1993 Ark. LEXIS 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rainey-v-travis-ark-1993.