Scollard v. Scollard

947 S.W.2d 345, 329 Ark. 83, 1997 Ark. LEXIS 392
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 16, 1997
Docket96-953
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 947 S.W.2d 345 (Scollard v. Scollard) 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
Scollard v. Scollard, 947 S.W.2d 345, 329 Ark. 83, 1997 Ark. LEXIS 392 (Ark. 1997).

Opinion

David Newbern, Justice.

In 1991, Garrett Scollard, the appellant, was negotiating property rights in the course of being divorced from Mary Scollard. He was also fearful that a judgment of a Florida court in favor of his former wife, Jeanette Scollard, would be registered in Arkansas. Admittedly in order to frustrate the collection of any such judgment, Garrett Scollard, on August 31, 1991, conveyed a tract of land to his son, Stephen Scollard, the appellee, allegedly with the understanding that Stephen would reconvey it to Garrett at a later time. In November 1991, Garrett asked Stephen to deed the property to Mary Scollard, Garrett’s estranged wife. Stephen refused to transfer the property and later sold it.

On January 25, 1995, Garrett sued Stephen in a circuit court action alleging constructive fraud. The Trial Court rendered a judgment for Garrett. Stephen has appealed contending that the action was barred by the statute of limitations and the evidence was insufficient to show constructive fraud. We need not address the sufficiency issue as we reverse and dismiss the case because the statute of limitations clearly barred Garrett’s claim. We also decline, due to lack of citation to authority or convincing argument, to address an argument that Stephen waived his statute-of-limitations defense by not asserting it in a timely manner after stating it in his answer to the complaint.

It is undisputed that Garrett and Mary Scollard separated in October 1991, and in November of that year Garrett told Stephen to convey the property to Mary Scollard. Stephen refused. In February 1992, Garrett asked Stephen to return the land to him. Stephen refused.

On February 14, 1992, Garrett sued Stephen in a chancery court action to establish a constructive trust with respect to the land in his favor. On June 9, 1992, Garrett took a voluntary non-suit in that action.

Stephen’s sale of the land occurred in two transactions, one in 1993 and the other in 1994. Garrett brought his circuit court action on January 25, 1995. The complaint alleged that Stephen’s refusal to return the property amounted to constructive fraud and breach of contract. It prayed for damages based on the amount Stephen received for the property. Stephen’s answer asserted the property had been the subject of a gift. He moved to dismiss on the ground that the action was barred by the three-year statute of limitations. See Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105.

Garrett, in response to the motion, did not dispute the fact that his action was controlled by the three-year period of limitations. He argued that his cause did not accrue until February 1992, because that was when Stephen refused to return the property to him. Alternatively, he submitted that the statute of limitations was tolled for 116 days because that was the amount of time that his 1992 action was pending in Chancery Court.

The Trial Court dismissed the action on November 30, 1995. The Trial Court granted Garrett’s motion to vacate in an order filed on January 11, 1996. The Trial Court found specifically that Garrett’s cause of action accrued on the last day of November 1991 but was not barred because the pendency of the chancery court action tolled the statute of limitations for 116 days. The Trial Court stated in the order that “the commencement of an action tolls the running of the applicable statute of limitations. The present [breach of contract and constructive fraud] action is essentially the same cause of action as was [the constructive trust suit] filed in 1992.”

Í. Statute of limitations

Assuming constructive fraud occurred, it happened on August 31, 1991, when Stephen allegedly agreed to accept the property on condition that it be returned to Garrett but intended all the while not to return it. While any action Garrett may have had accrued on that date, the running of the statute of limitations would be suspended until the fraud was discovered or should have been discovered through the exercise of reasonable diligence. Chalmers v. Toyota Motor Sales, 326 Ark. 895, 935 S.W.2d 258 (1996); Cherepski v. Walker, 323 Ark. 43, 913 S.W.2d 761 (1996). Thus, the statute of limitations did not began to run until Garrett received notice that Stephen viewed the property as his own. Stephen submits that the statute began to run in November 1991 because that was when he refused to transfer the property to Mary Scollard in response to Garrett’s request. Garrett does not dispute that he made that request, but he contends that the statute did not begin to run until February 1992, when he told Stephen to return the property.

We hold that Stephen’s refusal to dispose of the property as instructed provided notice of Stephen’s claim to Garrett. It was at that time that Garrett discovered, or certainly should have discovered, that Stephen had no intention of recognizing Garrett’s claim to the property. Thus, we agree with the Trial Court that the statute of limitations began to run no later than November 30, 1991. The action was barred after November 30, 1994, unless the running of the statute was tolled.

2. Tolling

Stephen contends that the Trial Court erred by finding that the prior chancery court action tolled the statute of limitations during the 116-day pendency of that action.

Once it has been shown that the statute of limitations period has expired, to avoid dismissal the party resisting the limitations defense has the burden of showing that some of the period is tolled. Milam v. Bank of Cabot, 327 Ark. 256, 937 S.W.2d 653 (1997); Cherepski v. Walker, supra.

Garrett argues that the statute of limitations was tolled by the filing of the earlier action in chancery court. The Trial Court found support for Garrett’s position in two of our cases, Erwin, Inc. v. Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co., 261 Ark. 537, 550 S.W.2d 174 (1977), and Linder v. Howard, 296 Ark. 414, 757 S.W.2d 549 (1988), and in his conclusion that the action filed in circuit court was “essentially” the same as the action filed in chancery court “with the exception of the remedy sought.”

In the Erwin, Inc., case, several parties sued Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company (“ARKLA”) for damages allegedly incurred from a gas explosion. All of the plaintiffs claimed damages in excess of the sums that their insurer, Houston General Insurance Company, had paid them. After the expiration of the limitations period, ARKLA reached an agreement for settlement with each plaintiff, less the amount paid to him or her by the insurance company. With respect to the remainder of each claim, ARKLA asserted that the insurance company was the real party in interest but not a formal party to the litigation, thus those amounts were barred by the statute of limitations. We disagreed on the theory that the insureds were the real parties in interest and the litigation could proceed against ARKLA in their names.

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Bluebook (online)
947 S.W.2d 345, 329 Ark. 83, 1997 Ark. LEXIS 392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scollard-v-scollard-ark-1997.