Walters v. Parrott

58 V.I. 391, 2013 WL 1815783, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 18
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedApril 30, 2013
DocketS.Ct. Civ. No. 2009-0049
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 58 V.I. 391 (Walters v. Parrott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walters v. Parrott, 58 V.I. 391, 2013 WL 1815783, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 18 (virginislands 2013).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

(April 30, 2013)

Swan, Associate Justice.

Appellant1 Melvin Walters, importunes this Court to overturn the trial court’s Findings of Fact and reverse the trial court’s Judgment awarding Appellee, Loretta Parrott, an equitable interest in property held by Appellant in fee simple absolute, and to simultaneously reverse the Judgment on the partition of a property held by the parties as tenants-in-common. Appellant further requests relief from this Court on other grounds related to the interests in these properties. For the reasons elucidated below, we affirm the Judgment and orders of the Superior Court.

[395]*395I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This case involves two parties who are unwilling to agree on' even the most innocuous facts. The rudimentary facts are as follows: The parties, Melvin Walters, Sr. (“Walters”) and Loretta A. Parrott (“Parrott”), never married but maintained a long, romantic relationship, which began in the late 1970’s. In 1982, the parties began cohabiting. Two children were born to them during their relationship. The parties also contributed to the care and maintenance of three children Walters had fathered prior to his romantic relationship with Parrott.

The issues in this case, however, concern two parcels of real property on St. Thomas. The first parcel, number 2W-62 Estate Nazareth (“Estate Nazareth property”), was purchased by Walters in 1979. The trial court’s Findings of Fact state that the Estate Nazareth property was undeveloped at the time of purchase. Walters later constructed a dwelling on the property. However, Walters claims that he purchased this property with a two-story house already constructed on the property.2 (Appellant’s Br. at 17.) The second parcel, an undeveloped lot at number 29B Estate Frydenhoj (“Estate Frydenhoj property”), was purchased jointly by the parties in fee simple absolute in 1992.3

Beginning about 1982, when the parties started cohabiting, they resided at the Estate Nazareth property and continued this cohabitation for several years. However, by January 2002, the parties’ relationship had deteriorated; therefore, they ceased cohabiting. Subsequently, Walters relocated outside the territory, but Parrott continued to reside at the Estate Nazareth property with their two children.

[396]*396On November 25, 2003, Parrott filed suit in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands seeking, among other things, the partition and/or sale of both the Estate Nazareth and Estate Frydenhoj properties. (Appellee’s App. at 2-3; Compl. at 2-3.) In response, on or about November 8, 2004, Walters moved for dismissal of Parrott’s Complaint. He further counterclaimed for a share of the rent from tenants residing on the Estate Nazareth property which Parrott had collected over the years.4 His counterclaim also included a claim for rent Parrott allegedly owed Walters because of her continued occupancy at the Estate Nazareth property after January 2002, and a claim for an accounting of costs and fees generated by the property. (Appellee’s App. at 6-7; Answer, Defenses and Counterclaim at 3.) Thereafter, the parties filed a plethora of motions, most of which were not included in the record submitted on appeal. These motions concerned issues central to this appeal; namely, Walters’s inability to gain access to the Estate Nazareth property, rent collected from the Estate Nazareth property, expenses incurred through maintenance of the property, access to documents concerning the property, and the conduct of the parties. Consequently, in a September 12, 2005 Order, the trial court, in pertinent part:

ORDERED, that Defendant’s Motion for Leave to Compel Request for Inspection and Permission to Enter Property (2W-62 Estate Nazareth) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, subject to the above stated restrictions; and it is further
ORDERED, that Defendant’s Motion to Collect Rent and Expenses is hereby DENIED; and it is further
ORDERED, that Defendant’s Motion for Emergency Restraining Order and/or Potential Domestic Violence Civil Protection Order Against Plaintiff is hereby DENIED for lack of jurisdiction; and it is further
ORDERED, that Defendant’s Motion to Compel Request for Production of Documents is hereby DENIED, however, Defendant is free [397]*397to resubmit a request for production of documents within the appropriate format outlined in Fed. R. Civ. R 34(b); and it is further
ORDERED, that a decision on Defendant’s Motion to Recover Appraisal Cost[s] is held in abeyance until an invoice is submitted no later than Monclay, October 3, 2005[.]

(Appellant’s App. at 66-67) (emphasis in original). The “above-stated restrictions” in the first paragraph of the September 12,2005 Order were based on the trial court’s finding that “[b]oth property appraisals of the Nazareth dwelling indicated the need for slight maintenance[;]” therefore, the trial court granted Walters, but denied his family members, the right to enter and inspect the Estate Nazareth property upon seventy-two hours’ notice to Parrott. (Id. at 66.) The trial court also ordered that the parties equally share the costs of any repairs to the Estate Nazareth property. The trial court further ordered that Walters’ s Motion to Collect Rent and Expenses was denied because rent and expenses were underlying issues in this case; therefore, the Motion was premature. (Id. at 66.) The trial court also found that Walters’s Motion to Compel Request for Production of Documents failed to state with specificity the documents Walters desired to obtain; therefore, it constituted a mere “blanket fishing expedition.” (Id.)

Walters filed at least four additional motions with the trial court, namely “(1) [M]otion to [Disqualify the [UJndersigned Judge; (2) [E]mergency [M]otion for [R]econsideration [of the trial court’s June 20, 2006 Order]; (3) [M]otion to [C]ontinue (reschedule) [H]earing; and (4) [E]mergency [M]otions to [E]nter (2nd [f]loor apartment) (2w-62 Estate Nazareth) to [R]emove [P]ersonal [P]roperty and [Preserve [L]egal [D]ocuments, [R]ecords and [0]ther [E]vidence.” (Id. at 42.) In its August 3, 2006 Order, the trial court denied Walters’s Motion to Reconsider the June 20, 2006 Order and denied Walters’s Motion to Continue or Reschedule the hearing. Additionally, the trial court ordered that Walters’s Emergency Motion to Remove Personal Property and Documents would be heard at the impending August 17, 2006 trial. (Id. at 43.)

Trial was held on August 17, 2006. (Id. at 36.) On October 3, 2007, the trial court’s Findings of Fact and Judgment, nunc pro tunc to August 17, 2006, were entered. (Id. at 34-40.) In its Judgment, the trial court disposed of the equitable interests in the two properties as follows: Walters was awarded an exclusive interest of $45,000.00 and one-half of the remaining equitable interest in the Estate Nazareth property. Parrott was [398]*398awarded one-half of the remaining equitable interest in the Estate Nazareth property, after deduction of Walters’s exclusive $45,000.00 interest. Walters was also awarded a right of first refusal to purchase Parrott’s interest in the Estate Nazareth property.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 V.I. 391, 2013 WL 1815783, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walters-v-parrott-virginislands-2013.