Rotary Club v. Chaprales Ramos De Pena

773 P.2d 467, 160 Ariz. 362, 25 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 30, 1989 Ariz. App. LEXIS 2
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 10, 1989
Docket2 CA-CV 88-0178
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 773 P.2d 467 (Rotary Club v. Chaprales Ramos De Pena) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rotary Club v. Chaprales Ramos De Pena, 773 P.2d 467, 160 Ariz. 362, 25 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 30, 1989 Ariz. App. LEXIS 2 (Ark. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

HOWARD, Judge.

This is an appeal from the granting of a summary judgment holding that a Mexican judgment was not entitled to recognition by the Arizona courts. Appellees have filed a cross-appeal which will be discussed later in this decision.

FACTS

The facts considered in the light most favorable to appellants are as follows. On December 3, 1980, Maria Valentina Josefina Ramos Vda. de Chaprales (decedent) executed a will which provided, inter alia:

The rights which may belong to me over the residence located in Palm Tree Drive 9010 in Tucson, Arizona, E.U.A., shall be transferred to some Rotary Club of said city, for the social welfare purposes for people of scarce economic resources in the Mexican colony of said place.

She sold the Palm Tree Drive property on October 15; 1981, and took back a promissory note secured by a deed of trust for $34,101.35. On July 1, 1983, the decedent died in Culiacan, Mexico. Monthly payments were paid into the bank account with the final payment of $29,428.48 being paid in September 1986. The payments totaled $49,684.87. 1

In October 1983, the daughter and son-in-law of decedent, Ana Catalina Chaprales Ramos de Pena and Jose Eleazer Pena, came to Tucson and met with Larry Adam-son, a member of the Rotary Club of Tucson and president of the Rotary Club of Tucson Foundation. The Penas informed Adamson that the proceedings in Mexico would take an extra two years unless the Rotary Club in Tucson informed the Family Law Court in Culiacan that they had received a notice that Mrs. Chaprales had died. Raymond Terlizzi, president of the Rotary Club of Tucson at that time, and Adamson signed a document granting Serapio Lopez Insunza limited special powers to appear in the Mexican court “for the purposes of accepting or repudiating legacies and to vote for the designation of an executor of the Estate of Josefina Ramos de Chaprales.” At the time of executing the Insunza authorization, Adamson knew that Insunza was the personal attorney for Ana Pena whom he also knew to be the daughter of the decedent and beneficiary of 20 percent of the decedent’s estate. Adamson also knew that Insunza was representing other devisees and beneficiaries of the decedent in the probate proceeding pending in the Mexican court.

The Rotary Qlub of Tucson did not authorize Insunza to generally represent them in the proceedings before the Mexican court. In fact, Adamson believed he was giving Insunza power of attorney only to appear before the Mexican court to acknowledge that the Rotary Club of Tucson had received notice that Chaprales had died. Terlizzi understood that they were giving Insunza authority only for the purpose of accepting or repudiating a legacy or inheritance.

On November 25, 1983, the Mexican court declared the decedent’s will to be valid. On February 16, 1984, the Mexican court issued a summons to all legatees *364 under the will of Chaprales to appear within six days of notification and establish their legal capacity to inherit. The court record indicates that Insunza received the summons on behalf of the Tucson Rotary Club. None of the eight rotary clubs in Tucson received the summons.

On March 29, 1984, the Mexican court granted a motion to strike the Rotary Club of Tucson from the list of legatees due to their failure to appear to establish their legal capacity to inherit. Adamson did not learn of the Mexican court’s ruling until more than 20 months later when he received from Insunza a letter informing him that the Mexican court had decided that the Rotary Club of Tucson was not a qualified legatee.

On May 7, 1986, the co-personal representatives filed in the Pima County Superi- or Court a “Submission of Certified Copy Appointment of Domiciliary Foreign Co-personal Representatives and Translation of the Original in Spanish” pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 14-4204 and 14-4205. The Rotary Club of Tucson then filed a “Petition for Determination of Testacy and Nonremoval of Assets From This Jurisdiction.”

In the course of litigation it was discovered that all the funds paid into the bank accounts pursuant to the sale of the Palm Tree Drive property were withdrawn by the appellants and were used to redeem a delinquent deed of trust for a townhouse owned by the decedent described as Lot 71, Townhomes at El Dorado, Tucson, Arizona.

Both parties moved for summary judgment in the trial court. The trial court denied appellants’ motion for summary judgment, and granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment ruling that letters of trusteeship should be issued to the Rotary Club of Tucson as trustee under the last will and testament of the decedent, awarded it judgment in the sum of $42,699.98 and imposed a constructive trust and/or equitable lien on Lot 71, Townhomes at El Dorado.

ISSUES PRESENTED BY APPELLANTS

Appellants contend the trial court erred in (1) not giving res judicata effect to the Mexican court judgment; (2) applying the law of Arizona in determining the validity of the decedent’s bequest to the Rotary Club, and (3) imposing a trust on the townhouse.

RECOGNITION OF THE MEXICAN JUDGMENT

It is clear that the Arizona courts are not required to give full faith and credit to judgments of foreign nations. Multibanco Comermex S.A. v. Gonzales H., 129 Ariz. 321, 630 P.2d 1053 (App.1981). Under what conditions will we recognize foreign nation judgments? Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws § 98 (1971) is our guide in this respect. 2 It states:

A valid judgment rendered in a foreign nation after a fair trial in a contested proceeding will be recognized in the United States so far as the immediate parties and the underlying cause of action are concerned.

Comment c to the above statement of the Restatement sets forth the conditions to recognition of a foreign nation judgment and states that such judgment will not be recognized in the United States unless the court is convinced that the foreign court had jurisdiction and that:

“there has been opportunity for a full and fair trial abroad before a court of competent jurisdiction, conducting the trial upon regular proceedings, after due citation or voluntary appearance of the defendant, and under a system of jurisprudence likely to secure an impartial administration of justice between the citizens of its own country and those of other countries, and there is nothing to show either prejudice in the court, or in the system of laws under which it is sitting, or fraud in procuring the judgment____” Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 202, 16 S.Ct. 139, 158, 40 L.Ed. 95 (1895).

*365 Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws, § 98, Comment c at 298. This brings us to this question.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
773 P.2d 467, 160 Ariz. 362, 25 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 30, 1989 Ariz. App. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rotary-club-v-chaprales-ramos-de-pena-arizctapp-1989.