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Sturgis v. Clifton2/13/2002
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
APPEAL FROM PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT HONORABLE JOHN PLEGGE CIRCUIT JUDGE REVERSED AND REMANDED
This is an appeal from an order granting summary judgment on the ground that appellant's cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations. Appellant contends on appeal that the trial court erred in concluding as a matter of law that her claims were time-barred because genuine issues of material fact exist on the question of fraudulent concealment, which would toll the statute of limitations. We find appellant's argument persuasive and reverse.
In 1968, appellant, Vanessia Sturgis, was nineteen years old and was married to J.W. Clifton. On December 19, 1968, J.W. was killed in an automobile accident while a passenger in a wrecker owned by Clifton's Auto Salvage, a business operated by his father, James C. "Papa" Clifton. J. W. and his two brothers, Norman and Kenneth Clifton, worked for their father in the business. At the time of the accident, J.W. and appellant had an eighteen-month-old daughter, Carolyn Frances Clifton.
On January 22, 1999, appellant filed a complaint in the Pulaski County Circuit Court on grounds of fraud and conversion. In her complaint, she alleged that there were several insurance policies on the life of J.W. at the time of his death that named her as the beneficiary, as purchased from James D. McElhanon, an insurance agent. Appellant alleged that Papa Clifton and Norman Clifton obtained the insurance policies from her and assisted her in filling out the claim forms. She alleged that on or about February 28, 1969, Papa Clifton, Norman Clifton, and James D. McElhanon informed her that the insurance companies would not pay on the policies because of defects in the applications and because alcohol was involved in the accident in which J.W. was killed.
Appellant further alleged that she received word in early 1996 that Papa Clifton was dying of kidney failure. She alleged that she spoke with Papa Clifton on the phone in February 1996 and that in this conversation Papa Clifton confessed to her that the insurance companies did honor the policies and that the proceeds were obtained by forging her signature on the drafts. Appellant alleged that she did not know and could not have known of this fraudulent scheme until Papa Clifton's revelation in 1996. Appellant named as defendants to the suit Norman Clifton and several businesses he operated; Ann Brown, who was formerly married to Norman Clifton; the Estate of James C. "Papa" Clifton, as Papa Clifton had died on May 7, 1996; and Kenneth Clifton [all herein- after referred to collectively as the "Clifton appellees"]; James McElhanon and his insurance agency; Woodmen of the World and several "John Doe" insurance companies said to have issued the policies.
Early on in the suit, appellant dismissed her claim against the insurance company, Woodmen of the World. Thereafter, the court granted James McElhanon's motion for summary judgment. The Clifton appellees later filed their own motion for summary judgment. They contended in their motion that appellant's claims were barred by the statute of limitations. They further argued that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law based on a broad release that appellant had executed not long after J.W.'s death in connection with the settlement of a workers' compensation claim. The Clifton appellees also contended that appellant's claims were barred under principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel, because a probate court had denied the contingent claim that appellant had filed against Papa Clifton's estate, which was based on the present cause of action. The trial court granted the Clifto
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