Opinion ID: 2826082
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: [¶2] There are four issues on appeal. 1. Whether the district court erred when ruling against the Goulds on their claims related to the disputed cattle ownership. 2. Whether the district court erred when ruling against the Goulds on their claims related to the disputed cattle brand. 3. Whether the district court erred in denying the Goulds’ W.R.C.P. 15(b) motion to amend their complaint to conform to the evidence and add promissory estoppel claims. 4. Whether the district court erred in finding the parties did not have an enforceable settlement agreement. FACTS1 [¶3] James Frank Gould, IV (Mr. Gould) grew up on the Gould Ranch, located west of Meeteetse, Wyoming. The Gould family owned and operated the Gould Ranch for five 1 Our standard of review following a bench trial requires that we accept a prevailing party’s evidence as true. Redland v. Redland, 2012 WY 148, ¶ 163, 288 P.3d 1173, 1209-10 (Wyo. 2012). Thus, to the extent our factual overview relates to claims on which Defendants prevailed, we draw disputed facts from Defendants’ evidence. Where consideration of conflicting evidence enters our analysis, we will set forth that evidence in our discussion of the district court’s ruling. 1 generations, since 1870, and Mr. Gould continued to live on the ranch as an adult along with his wife, Erin Gould, and their two children, James Frank Gould, V (Frank) and Jasmine Gould. [¶4] In 2001, Daniel Ochsner entered into a lease agreement to lease the Gould Ranch. At that time, Mr. Ochsner owned and operated a limited liability company, YU Land and Cattle, LLC, which operated three other ranches. In 2002, Mr. Ochsner purchased the Gould Ranch and renamed it the Flying River Ranch (Ranch). Mr. Ochsner retained Mr. Gould as ranch manager pursuant to an oral agreement by which Mr. Gould would receive, among other compensation, a monthly salary of $2,000.00, free housing for him and his family, and a $1,000,000.00 bonus if Mr. Gould profitably managed the ranching operation for seven years. [¶5] In February 2004, Mr. Gould was in a work-related vehicle accident and sustained severe injuries, including “a traumatic brain injury with residual cognitive difficulties, headaches and sleep apnea,” as well as injuries to his cervical and lumbar spine, and right ankle, knee, wrist and shoulder. Mr. Gould received workers’ compensation medical and disability benefits as a result of these injuries, and he underwent multiple surgeries and remained on full temporary total disability (TTD) benefits until March 2005. In March 2005, Mr. Gould entered into an approved light duty work agreement with the Ranch, whereby eighty percent of Mr. Gould’s salary was covered by TTD benefits and the remaining twenty percent was paid by the Ranch. This arrangement continued until February 26, 2007, at which point Mr. Gould had received the maximum 36-month allowance of TTD benefits. [¶6] After Mr. Gould’s accident in 2004, Mr. Ochsner had informed Mr. Gould that he wished to sell the Ranch, and in a subsequent conversation in 2007, Mr. Ochsner informed Mr. Gould that he was going to sell his cattle and get out of the cattle business because he had enough on his plate without the ranching operation. In early 2008, Mr. Gould proposed to Mr. Ochsner that he lease the Ranch to Albert and Rainy Renner, who Mr. Gould knew were looking for grass on which to graze their cattle.2 Mr. Ochsner agreed to the lease arrangement, which he described as follows:
said, Dan, Albert and Rainy and I would like to lease the ranch. I said, Jim, what are you thinking? He said, Albert and Rainy, they can do all the work or most of the work, and it will allow me to also go to Bairoil and work my little oil field down there. 2 Also in early 2008, on January 16, 2008, Mr. Gould began receiving permanent total disability (PTD) benefits at a monthly rate of $2,134.99. 2 And I said, okay, I'll think about it. And I thought about it for a while. Then I said, okay, I will enter into that lease. And I said, if you keep the property in pristine condition because I’m trying to sell this property, I would have a much better chance of selling the property if it was in pristine condition. What I did was I gave them a lease for $12,000, and that was an incredible lease. Q. Let me stop you there. Who’s the “they” in that? A. Oh, okay, okay. Jim, Albert and Rainy.