Opinion ID: 690774
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Amount of Time John Becktold Spent at His Parents' Home

Text: 10 John Becktold 3 testified as follows at trial when questioned by State Farm's counsel: 11 Q. Can you tell us how much time, total time, during that calendar year of 1989 you would estimate that you spent at 4540 Trailmaster [his parents' house]? 12 A. None. 13 Q. Listen to my question.... Whether it was a visit or whatever you want to call it to 4540 Trailmaster, can you tell us how many days or percentage of time or months or weeks you stayed at 4540 Trailmaster during 1989? 14 [Estate's counsel objects that question has been asked and answered. Court overrules objection.] 15 A. I might have stayed there two, three nights at the most. 16 Q. How about during the year 1988, which was the year before? 17 A. About the same. 18 Q. How about 1987? 19 A. Pretty much the same. 20 RT 265-66. John Becktold's father testified as follows: 21 Q. During 1989 ... can you give us any estimate of the percentage of the year, either in months, weeks, days, whatever it might have been, John stayed at your home at 4540 Trailmaster? 22 A. I wouldn't think it would be a week, or two weeks at the most. 23 Q. Putting all the times together? 24 A. Putting altogether. 25 RT 404. 26 Chris Thom, a friend of John Becktold's, testified that he lived [k]ind of all over, staying with me or just with all of his friends. RT 319. Thom also testified that Becktold would stay with his parents [o]nce in a while, [n]ot too often, and that he [m]ight spend the night there. RT 321. Scott Banderob, a former friend of John Becktold's, testified that Becktold would often stay at his home for a week or two at a time. RT 86. He also testified that a week or so after the accident, John Becktold came to stay with him, stayed for a week, and then came back again to stay for a week or so one or more times. RT 88 (about a week and then he'd go back), 89 ([I]t would be a week on or a week off, it kind of varied.). Eugene Iverson testified that John Becktold just lived everywhere. RT 330. 27 Jim Littleton, an uncle of John Becktold's who lived with Becktold's parents from 1981 to 1987, testified that John Becktold moved out of the house shortly after 1981. RT 342-43 (Once in a while he would stay the night.... Maybe once a month.). Littleton testified that he visited the house at least daily in 1989-90, but only saw John Becktold once in a while, either leaving or just coming in as I ... come to visit. RT 371-72. 28 In contrast to this evidence supporting the district court's finding, there is also much contrary evidence. There is John Becktold's consistent use of his parents' address as mentioned above. John Becktold stated on some occasions that he was living at his parents' home. ER 53, 59 (February 1990 deposition); ER 208 (declaration to police officer in March 1988). His father had also stated that he was living there. ER 256-57 (declaration to State Farm in March 1990); RT 414 (statement under oath in July 1990, Pl.'s Ex.34 at 2). Laurel Parsons, John Becktold's adoptive sister, testified that she often saw Becktold and his belongings at his parents' home in 1989-90. RT 131-32 (I seen him there ... [a] lot.). She was visiting their parents' home at least twice a week during that period. RT 133-35. John's brother Ralph testified that after going to live with friends, John would come back to live with his parents. RT 111-12. Scott Banderob similarly testified that after John Becktold's stays at his home ended, Banderob would often drive Becktold back to his parents' home. RT 86. Process was served on John Becktold twice at his parents' home in January 1990. ER 187, 190. 29 There is also evidence tending to cast doubt on John Becktold's credibility and that of his father. In John Becktold's February 1990 deposition, he testified: 30 Q. Were you living at home in 1982 ...? 31 A. Yes. 32 Q. Can you tell me where you've lived in order since that time? 33 A. At my parents' house. 34 Q. You haven't lived anywhere other than your parents' since 1982? 35 A. No. 36 Q. That's been your only residence? 37 A. Yes. 38 ER at 59. Laurel Parsons, Becktold's adoptive sister, testified that Becktold's father had asked her to keep quiet when she was subpoenaed, and that State Farm's lawyer had induced her to sign an affidavit by falsely promising that a statement about where Becktold lived would be changed. RT 135-37. Becktold's father, however, denied having asked her to keep quiet. RT 395. Becktold's father also stated that Becktold stopped being a resident of his house in 1985, RT 405, whereas Becktold himself said that he had left the house [s]ometime in '83, RT 196, and [a]round '83 and '84, RT 269. John Becktold also testified that shortly after the accident he lived for a while with Eugene Iverson in Billings, RT 255, but Iverson himself testified that he was in Washington State at the time, RT 327-28. 39 The district court's finding of fact regarding the amount of time John Becktold spent at his parents' home involved difficult credibility determinations, contradictions between witnesses' testimony, and inconsistencies within some witnesses' testimony. Witness demeanor was important in resolving these contradictions. On matters of credibility ... we will rarely overturn the factual findings of a district court. United States v. Attson, 900 F.2d 1427, 1433 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 961 (1990). We cannot say that the district court's finding on this issue was clearly erroneous. See id. 40