Turcott v. Estate of Bates

443 P.3d 197, 165 Idaho 183
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 2019
DocketDocket No. 45920
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 443 P.3d 197 (Turcott v. Estate of Bates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turcott v. Estate of Bates, 443 P.3d 197, 165 Idaho 183 (Idaho 2019).

Opinion

BEVAN, Justice

I. NATURE OF THE CASE

This appeal concerns a district court's award of damages. Believing that she would be inheriting half of her father Clarence Bates' estate, Deann Turcott and her husband spent considerable time and money making improvements on Clarence's land. However, Clarence subsequently changed his will and left Deann nothing. Deann filed suit seeking quantum meruit damages for the work she had performed. The district court held that quantum meruit damages were not appropriate and awarded damages under a theory of unjust enrichment. Deann appealed the district court's award of unjust enrichment damages as inadequate. We affirm.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1996, Clarence executed a will devising his real property to his two children, Deann *201and Clint, to "share and share alike." From 2007 to 2014, Deann and her husband moved onto Clarence's property and spent considerable time, effort, and money towards the upkeep of the property including: cultivating fields that had become overgrown with weeds; raising hay crops; raising cattle; maintaining fencing; clearing brush; restoring a barn; maintaining and repairing farm equipment; and performing administrative work associated with the farm and timberlands. Deann also built a personal residence on the property in 2012. The evidence showed that most of this work was not performed at the request of Clarence, but it was done with his knowledge. Deann testified the improvements and work were done in anticipation of her inheriting half of Clarence's estate. However, in 2014 Clarence remarried, and in 2015, Clarence revoked his previous will and placed all of his property in trust for himself and his new wife, Janet. In his new will Clarence declared "I purposefully have excluded my daughter, Deann C. Turcott as a devisee of my estate and my daughter, Deann C. Turcott shall take nothing from my estate."

On September 22, 2016, Deann initiated this lawsuit against her father Clarence, his wife Janet, and Deann's brother Clint, to enforce Clarence's alleged promise to maintain his 1996 will. During the litigation Clarence passed away and his estate and the Bates Family Trust (collectively "the Estate") were substituted as the real parties in interest, and Clint and Janet were dismissed in their personal capacities but remained involved in their representative capacities. The district court later dismissed Deann's claim to enforce her father's alleged promise to maintain a will, but allowed Deann to amend her complaint to seek quantum meruit damages for the work she performed on Clarence's land.

The matter went to trial where the issue before the district court was whether to award Deann damages measured in quantum meruit as she claimed, or based on unjust enrichment as claimed by the Estate. Following a bench trial, the district court awarded what it characterized as unjust enrichment damages. Deann was awarded $ 136,402.50, itemized in the following categories:

1. Turcott Residence - $ 130,000.00
2. Barn Repair - $ 3,497.94
3. Forestry Work- $ 531.94
4. Other Reimbursable - $ 854.42
5. Taxes and Insurance - $ 136.14
6. Water Adjudication - $ 1,382.06

On February 2, 2018, Deann filed a motion for reconsideration - again requesting that the district court award damages under a theory of quantum meruit instead of unjust enrichment. Deann argued that if the Court would not reevaluate its decision to award unjust enrichment damages, that it was an error to award any sums other than the value of the residence and $ 136.14, an amount Clarence had specifically asked Deann to pay; thus, Deann effectively asked the district court to reduce her award to $ 130,136.14. On March 6, 2018, Deann revised her motion for reconsideration to request that in the event the court would not award quantum meruit damages, it should increase its award under unjust enrichment by $ 153,717.41.

The district court denied Deann's motion to reconsider:

[T]he Court based its decision on the substantial evidence presented at trial. The Court is also free in a court trial to find reasonable inferences from the evidence presented. The Court found by reasonable inference that the defendants were unjustly enriched as to the renovations of the barn by the cost of materials and such was the reason for the Court to award those damages in the amount of $ 3,497.94.

On March 23, 2018, the district court entered a final judgment. On April 12, 2018, Deann filed a timely notice of appeal.

III. ISSUES ON APPEAL

1. Whether Deann has failed to provide an adequate record for appellate review.

2. Whether the district court erred when it awarded Deann damages for unjust enrichment instead of for quantum meruit.

3. Whether the district court should have also awarded Deann damages for the amount *202she saved Clarence in property taxes by her efforts to maintain his property tax exemptions.

4. Whether the Estate should be awarded attorney fees on appeal.

IV. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court's standard of review of the trial court's findings of fact is outlined in Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a), which states in pertinent part:
In all actions tried upon the facts without a jury or with an advisory jury, the court shall find the facts specially and state separately its conclusions of law thereon and direct the entry of the appropriate judgment .... Findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. In the application of this principle regard shall be given to the special opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of those witnesses who appear personally before it.
In determining whether a finding is clearly erroneous this Court does not weigh the evidence as the district court did. The Court inquires whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial and competent evidence. Id. See also, Viebrock v. Gill , 125 Idaho 948, 951, 877 P.2d 919, 922 (1994) (citations omitted). This Court will not substitute its view of the facts for the view of the district judge. Carney v. Heinson, 133 Idaho 275, 281, 985 P.2d 1137, 1143 (1999). Evidence is regarded as substantial if a reasonable trier of fact would accept it and rely upon it in determining whether a disputed point of fact had been proven.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
443 P.3d 197, 165 Idaho 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turcott-v-estate-of-bates-idaho-2019.