Searles v. Searles

412 N.W.2d 11
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 6, 1987
DocketC1-87-631
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 412 N.W.2d 11 (Searles v. Searles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Searles v. Searles, 412 N.W.2d 11 (Mich. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

POPOVICH, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment dismissing a partition action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Appellant, a Missouri resident, commenced this action seeking her share of respondent’s real and personal Minnesota property acquired during their marriage, which was dissolved in Missouri in 1971. Appellant claims the trial court erred because she asserted a timely and legally sufficient claim for relief. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS

Appellant Antonia Garcia Searles and respondent Scott Searles, Jr. were married in November 1959. In September 1961, respondent purchased, in his name alone, real property located in Polk County, Minnesota.

On October 11, 1971, the parties dissolved their marriage in Columbia, Missouri. The Missouri court decreed respondent “restored to all the rights and privileges of an unmarried person.” The court did not address the parties’ property division.

On September 18, 1986, appellant commenced this action seeking partition of the Minnesota real property and other personal property in the form of bank accounts. In response, respondent brought a motion to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim, upon which relief can be granted.

Following a hearing held in October, the court granted respondent’s motion to dismiss appellant’s claim. In its memorandum, the court determined appellant did not possess a legal interest in the property sufficient to maintain her action. Applying Minnesota law, the court specifically determined appellant’s marital rights to the property were extinguished upon dissolution. The court further stated appellant's claim was “surely time barred by statute and equity.” Appeal is from the judgment of dismissal entered February 11, 1987.

ISSUE

Did the trial court err in dismissing appellant’s complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted?

ANALYSIS

1. Dismissal.

In reviewing dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, we must determine

“whether the complaint sets forth a legally sufficient claim for relief. It is immaterial to our consideration here whether or not the plaintiff can prove the facts alleged.” Royal Realty Co. v. Levin, 244 Minn. 288, 290, 69 N.W.2d 667, 670 (1955) (emphasis supplied). The limited function served by such a motion to dismiss was reiterated in Northern States Power Co. v. Franklin, 265 Minn. 391, 395, 122 N.W.2d 26, 29 (1963):
A claim is sufficient against a motion to dismiss based on Rule 12.02(5) if it is possible on any evidence which might be produced, consistent with the pleader’s theory, to grant the relief [13]*13demanded. To state it another way, under this rule a pleading will be dismissed only if it appears to a certainty that no facts, which could be introduced consistent with the pleading, exist which would support granting the relief demanded.

Elzie v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 298 N.W.2d 29, 32 (Minn.1980).

Appellant claims the trial court erred in summarily dismissing her claim on the grounds (1) statutes of limitation and lach-es barred her claim and (2) appellant lacked sufficient legal interest in the property to maintain her action.

2. Statute of Limitations and Laches.

Appellant claims the trial court erred by dismissing her action on the ground it is “time barred by statute.” Appellant argues her September 1986 action, viable since October 1971, is within the statute of limitations applicable for both personal and real property.

Regarding her claim to recover her share of personal property in the form of bank accounts, the trial court correctly determined her claim is untimely. In 1971, Minnesota imposed a six-year limitation “[f]or taking * * * personal property, including actions for the specific recovery thereof.” Minn.Stat. § 541.05(4) (1971). We therefore affirm this portion of the trial court’s order dismissing appellant’s claim regarding personal property.

Appellant’s claim to recover her share of real property is' barely within a 15-year limitation imposed by Minn.Stat. § 541.02 (1971). That statute, however, primarily applies to adverse possession actions and has not been extended to apply to marital property actions. Without finding Minn. Stat. § 541.02 applies here, we address it because the trial court determined appellant’s claim regarding real property was barred by statute.

The trial court also determined appellant’s claim seeking her equitable share of respondent’s real property was barred by equity. See Aronovitch v. Levy, 238 Minn. 237, 242, 56 N.W.2d 570, 574 (1953). Because of appellant’s lengthy delay in bringing her action, respondent raised lach-es as an affirmative defense in his answer.

In order to prove laches, the person asserting the defense must show inexcusable delay in asserting a right and that the delay caused undue prejudice to the party asserting laches.

City of St. Paul v. Harding, 356 N.W.2d 319, 322 (Minn.Ct.App.1984). Upon careful review of the record, however, we find insufficient facts showing laches to dismiss under Minn.R.Civ.P. 12.02(5). See Elzie, 298 N.W.2d at 32.

The dissent finds sufficient facts evidencing laches by relying on Corah v. Corah, 246 Minn. 350, 75 N.W.2d 465 (1956) and Bredemann v. Bredemann, 253 Minn. 21, 91 N.W.2d 84 (1958). We find these cases distinguishable because the laches determination in both cases followed a trial on the merits and was not determined under a Minn.R.Civ.P. 12.02(5) motion. In Corah, the trial court specifically stated that case “was one of the most unusual ever tried by this Court.” Corah, 246 Minn. at 356, 75 N.W.2d at 469 (emphasis added).

Similarly, in Bredemann, the paternity issue there had been fully litigated twice before the plaintiff attempted to raise it a third time ten and one-half years later. The record indicated the court omitted an express finding regarding paternity in the previous actions to avoid placing the stigma of illegitimacy on the child. In the third action, rather than reopening the case and unavoidably finding nonpaternity, the supreme court concluded laches barred plaintiff’s claim. Bredemann, 253 Minn. at 25-26, 91 N.W.2d at 87-88.

We do not foreclose the possibility of laches in this case after full disclosure of the facts at trial. We hold only that appellant’s real property claim on the facts presented precludes a finding of laches and therefore survives a Minn.R.Civ.P. 12.02(5) motion.

3. Legally Sufficient Property Interest.

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Related

Searles v. Searles
420 N.W.2d 581 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1988)
Searles v. Searles
412 N.W.2d 11 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)

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