Opinion ID: 2544078
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Appleridge Estates deed of trust

Text: ¶ 14. Though some evidence suggests that Donna signed a version of an arbitration agreement for the Appleridge Estates deed of trust, we are not firmly convinced that the trial court made a mistake in concluding that she had not signed any arbitration agreement. ¶ 15. As it turns out, there are two different arbitration agreements for the Appleridge Estates deed of trust, both dated May 12, 2003. Each agreement refers to the same loan number, bears the same date, and obligates the same amount of money to the borrowers. Yet there are glaring differences between the two documents. To add to the confusion, the two experts based their opinions on different versions. ¶ 16. The Bank's expert, Grant Sperry, referenced an arbitration agreement Bates-stamped ORG-000098 and ORG-000099. This particular agreement was signed by Mike, Donna, and McAlpin. The signature line lists Donna as Vice President and Member of Appleridge Estates, LLC. The title Vice President, however, is manually crossed out with Donna's initials alongside. Sperry concluded to a reasonable degree of certainty that Donna had signed this particular document, referred to here as the Sperry agreement. ¶ 17. In contrast to the Sperry agreement, the agreement to which Donna's expert, Robert Foley, referred is Bates-stamped ORG-0000101 and ORG-0000102. It was signed by Mike, Donna, and an individual apparently named Dennis, whose last name is undiscernible. One signature line merely lists Donna's name, while the other line lists her as Member of Appleridge Estates, LLC. Foley found a strong probability that Donna had not signed this document, referred to here as the Foley agreement. ¶ 18. Sperry and Foley thus rendered opinions based on two different, May 12, 2003, arbitration agreements. It is unclear whether either expert examined the version referenced by the other. ¶ 19. In her sworn affidavit and in her deposition testimony, Donna denied signing any arbitration agreement on May 12, 2003. The Bank confronted Donna in her deposition about the striking similarities between her actual signature and the signature on page ORG-000099 of the Sperry agreement. She answered, I did not sign that. If a handwriting expert says I did, then I'm wrong, but I did not sign that.... [F]or all I know, they traced it. ¶ 20. Because of the evidentiary morass of different versions of the same document together with conflicting expert and deposition testimony, we cannot say that the trial court clearly erred in finding no convincing evidence that Donna had signed any arbitration agreement pertaining to the Appleridge Estates deed of trust.