Hunter v. Christian
Annotate this CaseJanuary 1994 Term
___________
No. 21895
___________
STELLA HUNTER, ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE
ESTATE OF SHARON PAULA DINGESS,
Plaintiff Below, Appellant
V.
WILLIAM WOODROW CHRISTIAN AND
WILLIAM A. CHRISTIAN,
Defendants Below, Appellees
AND
LEWIS McCOY,
Intervenor Below, Appellee
V.
STELLA HUNTER, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS
ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE
OF PAULA DINGESS,
Defendant Below, Appellant
WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
AND HUMAN RESOURCES, CHILD ADVOCATE OFFICE,
Intervenor
___________________________________________________
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Logan County
Honorable Eric O'Briant, Judge
Civil Action No. 92-C-450
REVERSED
___________________________________________________
Submitted: May 11, 1994
Filed: June 16, 1994
Peter A. Hendricks
Madison West Virginia
Attorney for the Appellant
Stella Hunter
Henry E. Wood, III
Wood & Associates, L.C.
Attorney for the Intervenor Below
Lewis McCoy
Amy K. Naegele
Assistant General Counsel
Child Advocate Office
Charleston, West Virginia
Attorney for Intervenor
West Virginia Department Of Health and Human Resources,
Child Advocate Office
This Opinion was delivered PER CURIAM.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1. "The doctrine of estoppel should be applied
cautiously and only when equity clearly requires it to be done."
Syl. pt. 3, Humble Oil & Refining Co. v. Lane, 152 W. Va. 578, 165 S.E.2d 379 (1969).
2. "The general rule governing the doctrine of equitable
estoppel is that in order to constitute equitable estoppel or
estoppel in pais there must exist a false representation or a
concealment of material facts; it must have been made with
knowledge, actual or constructive of the facts; the party to whom
it was made must have been without knowledge or the means of
knowledge of the real facts; it must have been made with the
intention that it should be acted on; and the party to whom it was
made must have relied on or acted on it to his prejudice." Syl.
pt. 6, Stuart v. Lake Washington Realty Corp., 141 W. Va. 627, 92 S.E.2d 891 (1956).
Per Curiam:
This is an appeal from the May 12, 1993, order of the
Circuit Court of Logan County, West Virginia, which granted the
appellee, Lewis McCoy, one-half of all net proceeds collected in
the wrongful death action filed by the appellant, Stella Hunter, on
behalf of the estate of Sharon Paula Dingess, when it was
determined, after Sharon Dingess' death, that Mr. McCoy was her
biological father. This Court has before it the petition for
appeal, all matters of record and the briefs and argument of
counsel. For the reasons stated below, the judgment of the circuit
court is reversed.
I
On July 17, 1972, the appellant, Stella Hunter (then
Stella Dingess), gave birth to the decedent, Sharon Paula Dingess.
Ms. Hunter was then sixteen-years old, single and living at home.
When Ms. Hunter asked the appellee, Lewis McCoy, to acknowledge
that he was the father of Sharon, he refused. The relationship
between Ms. Hunter and Mr. McCoy subsequently ended.See footnote 1
On August 29, 1977, Ms. Hunter applied for Aid to
Families with Dependent Children benefits from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (hereinafter "DHHR"), in
order to support her dependent child. The DHHR subsequently asked
Mr. McCoy to acknowledge paternity of Sharon Paula Dingess when it
sent to him a paternity acknowledgement form, pursuant to Public
Law 93-647, which required the West Virginia Office of Child
Support Enforcement to seek establishment of paternity of children
who are receiving public assistance from the state. Mr. McCoy
failed to sign or return this form.
On July 18, 1980, Mr. McCoy appeared at the Logan County
Welfare office where, according to the DHHR's narrative
recording/data transmission log, he again denied that he was the
father of Sharon Dingess. In 1980, the statute of limitations to
establish paternity was three years from the birth of the child.
W. Va. Code, 48-7-1 [1969].See footnote 2 In that Sharon was, by 1980, seven years old, the three-year statute of limitations had already run.
Thus, unless the statute was challenged, without Mr. McCoy's
voluntary acknowledgement of paternity, nothing further could be
done.
On January 23, 1992, when Sharon Dingess was nineteen
years and six months old, she was killed in an automobile accident
in Logan County. Sharon Dingess was unmarried, had no children,
and died without a will. As administratrix of the estate of her
daughter, Ms. Hunter filed a wrongful death action. During the
pendency of that action, Mr. McCoy, who had previously denied that
he was the father of Sharon Dingess, to avoid the legal obligation
of paying child support and whose paternity had never been
judicially determined, filed a motion to intervene,See footnote 3 alleging that, as Sharon's father, he was entitled to one-half of the net proceeds
recovered in the wrongful death action.See footnote 4
At a hearing concerning application of settlement of the
wrongful death action, held on September 9, 1992, Ms. Hunter
testified that either Mr. McCoy or Tony Belcher, the father of her
oldest child, was the biological father of Sharon Dingess. In
order to determine the distribution of the wrongful death proceeds,
Ms. Hunter and Mr. McCoy agreed to submit to DNA testing,See footnote 5 to
establish the paternity of Sharon Dingess. The results of the DNA
testing established that the probability that Mr. McCoy was the
biological father of Sharon Dingess was 99.93%.
Ms. Hunter subsequently sought to dismiss Mr. McCoy's
claim to the wrongful death proceeds on the grounds that his claim
was barred under W. Va. Code, 48A-6-2(a) [1989],See footnote 6 which provides
that an action to establish the paternity of a child must be
brought before the child reaches eighteen. In its opinion of April
16, 1993, granting Mr. McCoy's motion for summary judgment, the circuit court ruled that the statute of limitations contained in W.
Va. Code, 48A-6-2(a) does not apply because this was not a
proceeding to establish paternity, though the "parties agreed that
one of the methods commonly used in paternity actions would be
adopted to see if [Mr. McCoy] was to be excluded as the father of
[Sharon Dingess]." (emphasis in original). The circuit court
further held that, in that Mr. McCoy has been determined to be the
biological father of Sharon Dingess, he is to share in one-half of
the net proceeds of the wrongful death settlement, pursuant to the
statute in effect at the time of Sharon's death.See footnote 7
Ms. Hunter subsequently retained new counsel and moved to
file an amended answer and permissive counterclaim and what is
designated as a petition for reconsideration of the circuit court's
decision, arguing the following: (1) that Mr. McCoy, who
previously disavowed paternity of Sharon Dingess, should be
equitably estopped from now asserting it; (2) that, should
equitable estoppel not apply in this case, then Mr. McCoy's share
of the wrongful death proceeds should be set off by reimbursement
of child support; and (3) that the 1992 amendmentsSee footnote 8 of the wrongful death act should be applied retroactively.See footnote 9
The circuit court denied Ms. Hunter's motion to amend and
petition for reconsideration, and denied, without prejudice, her
motion to file a permissive counterclaim for reimbursement child
support. However, the circuit judge refused to escrow Mr. McCoy's
share of the wrongful death proceeds pending resolution of the
reimbursement issue.
II
As we indicated above, one of the issues on appeal to
this Court is that of equitable estoppel. In that Mr. McCoy
previously denied to Ms. Hunter and to the DHHR the paternity of
Sharon Dingess, Ms. Hunter contends that he should be equitably
estopped from now asserting it for the sole purpose of collecting
wrongful death proceeds. We agree and reiterate that "[t]he
doctrine of estoppel should be applied cautiously and only when
equity clearly requires it to be done." Syl. pt. 3, Humble Oil &
Refining Co. v. Lane, 152 W. Va. 578, 165 S.E.2d 379 (1969). Indeed, if ever a case existed to which the doctrine of estoppel
should be applied, this is it.See footnote 10
This Court articulated the elements of equitable estoppel
in syllabus point 6 of Stuart v. Lake Washington Realty Corp., 141
W. Va. 627, 92 S.E.2d 891 (1956):
The general rule governing the doctrine
of equitable estoppel is that in order to
constitute equitable estoppel or estoppel in
pais there must exist a false representation
or a concealment of material facts; it must
have been made with knowledge, actual or
constructive of the facts; the party to whom
it was made must have been without knowledge
or the means of knowledge of the real facts;
it must have been made with the intention that
it should be acted on; and the party to whom
it was made must have relied on or acted on it
to his prejudice.
In 1977 and again, in 1980, Mr. McCoy denied to both Ms.
Hunter and the DHHR that he was the biological father of Sharon
Dingess. Mr. McCoy's false representation that he was not Sharon's
father enabled him to avoid the legal and moral responsibility of
paying child support. Throughout Sharon's life, however, he was
well aware that he was her father, as evidenced by his motion to
intervene, filed almost immediately upon Sharon's death, and by his unsuccessful attempts to establish a relationship with her when she
became an adult.See footnote 11
Furthermore, in 1980, Ms. Hunter and the DHHR were
without the means of knowledge of Sharon's paternity. As we noted
above, the statute of limitations for bringing a paternity action
at that time was three years from the birth of the child although
that statute was ultimately determined to be unconstitutional.
W. Va. Code, 48-7-1 [1969]. However, Mr. McCoy could have freely
acknowledged paternity and provided financial support for his
daughter. Instead, Mr. McCoy denied the paternity of Sharon
Dingess with the intention that Ms. Hunter raise her without his
assistance and with his financial responsibility being assumed by
the State.See footnote 12
A creature of equity, the doctrine of equitable estoppel
is rooted in natural justice and good conscience. 7A Michie's
Jurisprudence, Estoppel § 14. Therefore, for the reasons stated
above, Mr. McCoy is equitably estopped from reaping the financial
benefits of the death of his daughter, Sharon Dingess, when, during her life, he disavowed paternity in order to escape legal and
financial responsibility to her. Accordingly, the judgment of the
Circuit Court of Logan County is reversed.See footnote 13
Reversed.
Footnote: 1 Numerous affidavits executed by family and friends of
Sharon Dingess and introduced below by Ms. Hunter allege that Mr.
McCoy had no contact with Sharon during her minority. According to
these affidavits, Mr. McCoy extended neither financial nor
emotional support to his daughter during her life. When Sharon was
eighteen years old, Mr. McCoy apparently attempted to establish a
relationship with her, but she resisted. No other evidence of
contact between Mr. McCoy and Sharon Dingess was taken below.
Footnote: 2 In 1980, W. Va. Code, 48-7-1 [1969] stated:
Any unmarried woman may go before a
justice of the county in which she resides and
accuse any person of being the father of a
bastard child of which she has been delivered.
Such justice shall examine her under oath, and
reduce her examination to writing and sign it.
On such examination, unless the child be three
years old or upwards, the justice shall issue
a warrant, directed to the sheriff of, or a
constable in, any county where the accused may
be, requiring him to be apprehended and taken
before a justice of the county in which he may
be found[.]
We note that in the case of State ex rel. S.M.B. v. D.A.P., 168
W. Va. 455, 284 S.E.2d 912 (1981), this Court found the three-year
statute of limitations to be unconstitutional. In 1983, our
legislature subsequently enacted the Intrastate Support Act, W. Va.
Code, 48-7-1 to 48-7-5. W. Va. Code, 48-7-4(a) provided a ten-year
statute of limitations for paternity actions. That provision,
along with the Intrastate Support Act, was repealed in 1986.
In 1986, our legislature enacted § 48A-6-2: "(a) Except
for an action brought by a child in his or her own right under the
provisions of subdivision (6), subsection (a), section one of this
article, an action for the establishment of the paternity of a
child shall be brought prior to such child's eighteenth birthday."
This statute was amended in 1989. See n. 6, infra.
Footnote: 3 Mr. McCoy also filed a declaratory judgment complaint
and petition to remove Ms. Hunter as administratrix of the estate
of her daughter.
Footnote: 4 At the time of Sharon Dingess' death, the applicable
provisions of our wrongful death act were W. Va. Code, 55-7-6(b)
[1989], which governs the distribution of damages in a wrongful
death action when tried by a jury or by a court without a jury, and
W. Va. Code, 55-7-7 [1989], which relates to the distribution of a
settlement of a wrongful death action and directs the proceeds to
be distributed "in the same manner as in the cases tried without a
jury."
In Arnold v. Turek, 185 W. Va. 400, 407 S.E.2d 706
(1991), and White v. Gosiene, 187 W. Va. 576, 420 S.E.2d 567
(1992), this Court held that, the statute in effect on the date of
the decedent's death will control and, pursuant to W. Va. Code, 55-
7-6 and W. Va. Code, 55-7-7, as amended in 1989, the net proceeds
of a wrongful death damage award are to be distributed in
accordance with the decedent's will or, if there is no will, in
accordance with the laws of descent and distribution as set forth
in W. Va. Code, 42-1-1, et seq.
W. Va. Code, 42-1-1 [1957] provides, in part:
When any person having title to any real
estate of inheritance shall die intestate to
such estate, it shall descend and pass in
parcenary to his kindred, male and female, in
the following course:
. . . .
(c) If there be no child, nor descendant
of any child, nor wife, nor husband, then one
moiety each to the mother and father[.]
The statute of descent was subsequently amended. The new statute,
which differs significantly from the one cited here, became
effective June 5, 1992.
For purposes of this case, W. Va. Code, 42-2-1 [1923],
relating to distribution, provides that the personal estate of the
decedent "shall pass and be distributed to and among the same
persons, and in the same proportions, that real estate is directed
to descend[.]" W. Va. Code, 42-2-1 was subsequently repealed by
Acts 1992.
Footnote: 5 Medical testing procedures to aid in the determination
of paternity are set forth in W. Va. Code, 48A-6-3.
Footnote: 6 W. Va. Code, 48A-6-2(a) [1989], the statute in effect on
the date of Sharon Dingess' death, stated:
Except for an action brought by a child
in his or her own right under the provisions
of subdivision (6), subsection (a), section
one [§ 48A-6-1(a)(6)] of this article, an
action for the establishment of the paternity
of a child shall be brought prior to such
child's eighteenth birthday.
W. Va. Code, 48A-6-2 was amended again in 1993. The 1993
amendment substituted "a proceeding" for "an action," throughout;
and in (a) substituted "(7)" for "(6)" and "(e)" for "(a)."
Footnote: 7 See n. 4, supra.
Footnote: 8 W. Va. Code, 55-7-6(b) [1992] provides:
(b) In every such action for wrongful
death the jury, or in a case tried without a
jury, the court, may award such damages as to
it may seem fair and just, and, may direct in
what proportions the damages shall be
distributed to the surviving spouse and
children, including adopted children and
stepchildren, brothers, sisters, parents and
any persons who were financially dependent
upon the decedent at the time of his or her
death or would otherwise be equitably entitled
to share in such distribution after making
provision for those expenditures, if any,
specified in subdivision (2), subsection (c)
of this section. If there are no such
survivors, then the damages shall be
distributed in accordance with the decedent's
will or, if there is no will, in accordance
with the laws of descent and distribution as
set forth in chapter forty-two [§ 42-1-1 et
seq.] of this code. If the jury renders only
a general verdict on damages and does not
provide for the distribution thereof, the
court shall distribute the damages in
accordance with the provisions of this
subsection.
W. Va. Code, 55-7-7 [1989] provides:
The personal representative of the
deceased may compromise any claim to damages
arising under section five [§ 55-7-5] of this
article before or after action brought. What
is received by the personal representative
under the compromise shall be treated as if
recovered by him in an action under the
section last mentioned. When the judge acts
in vacation, he shall return all the papers in
the case, and orders made therein, to the
clerk's office of such court. The clerk shall
file the papers in his office as soon as
received, and forthwith enter the order in the
order book on the law side of the court. Such
orders, and all the proceedings in vacation,
shall have the same force and effect as if
made or had in term. Upon approval of the
compromise, the court shall apportion and
distribute such damages, or the compromise
agreed upon, after making provisions for those
expenditures, if any, specified in subdivision
(2), subsection (c), section six [§ 55-7-
6(c)(2)] of this article, in the same manner
as in the cases tried without a jury.
Footnote: 9 These issues are currently being argued by Ms. Hunter before this Court. In addition, Ms. Hunter contends that the statute of limitations for establishing paternity, under W. Va. Code, 48A-6-2 [1989], bars Mr. McCoy's claim to the wrongful death proceeds. Footnote: 10 Mr. McCoy contends that if equitable estoppel is to be applied here, this case should be remanded to the circuit court. We disagree. It is undisputed that Mr. McCoy disavowed paternity of Sharon Dingess in 1977 and 1980, as it was based on this disavowal that the DHHR awarded Ms. Hunter AFDC benefits to support her daughter. Since there is no dispute as to whether Mr. McCoy denied paternity in 1977 and 1980, no further evidence need be taken on the issue. Footnote: 11 Mr. McCoy claims that he was reluctant to acknowledge paternity in 1980 not to avoid child support obligations, but rather, because he believed Sharon's father may have been Tony Belcher. Upon Sharon's death, however, Mr. McCoy was clearly anxious to acknowledge paternity and wasted no time in doing so. Footnote: 12 During Sharon's minority, Ms. Hunter received $22,874.00 in AFDC benefits. Footnote: 13 In light of our resolution of this case, it is not necessary to address the remaining assignments of error.
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