Opinion ID: 2639060
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: [¶ 4] The underlying facts of this dispute are set forth in Hutchins v. Payless Auto Sales, Inc., 2002 WY 8, ¶¶ 3-5, 38 P.3d 1057, ¶¶ 3-5 (Wyo.2002) (hereinafter referred to as Hutchins I ). In 1993, Ms. Hutchins recorded a quitclaim deed conveying real property located in Cheyenne to herself and her daughter, Sandra Hutchins McDonald, as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Hutchins I, ¶ 3. Subsequent to the conveyance, Payless obtained a default judgment against Ms. McDonald and her husband. Id. Ms. Hutchins and Ms. McDonald thereafter conveyed the property by quitclaim deed to Ms. Hutchins and her son, Timothy M. Hernandez, as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Id. [¶ 5] Payless sought to collect upon its judgment against the McDonalds by foreclosing upon the real property. Hutchins I, ¶ 4. Ms. Hutchins attempted to defeat the foreclosure action by asking the district court to reform the quitclaim deeds on the basis of mutual mistake. Id. The district court refused to reform the deeds and granted summary judgment in favor of Payless on its foreclosure claim. Hutchins I, ¶ 5. Ms. Hutchins appealed the district court's order on summary judgment, and this Court subsequently affirmed. Hutchins I, ¶ 1. [¶ 6] At the subsequent foreclosure sale, Payless purchased Ms. McDonald's unencumbered, undivided one-half interest in the real property. Ms. McDonald did not redeem the property, and Payless applied for and received a Sheriff's Deed for a one-half interest in the property. Payless then filed the instant action to partition the real property pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 1-32-101 et seq. (LexisNexis 2003). The appellants filed a counterclaim, setting out three causes of action against Payless. In Count 1, the appellants sought a declaratory judgment on the validity and scope of Payless' interest in the real property. In Count 2, the appellants requested that the district court order Payless to compensate them, under various equitable principles, for waste, rents, and improvements to the real property. Count 3 set forth a claim for partition of the real property. Payless filed a motion to dismiss the counterclaim. Its motion was accompanied by documents other than the pleadings, resulting in a conversion of the motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment under Wyo. R. Civ. P. 56. The district court dismissed Counts 1 and 2 on the basis that the appellants were collaterally estopped from asserting the claims by the rulings in Hutchins I. [¶ 7] Payless filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to order, as a matter of law, that the property be partitioned in accordance with Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-32-109 (LexisNexis 2003). The parties agreed that, because the property included a residential lot and home, it could not be physically divided. The appellants, however, contested Payless' motion for summary judgment, asserting that the district court must compensate them for Ms. McDonald's waste and use of the property and the improvements they had made to the property. The appellants attached Ms. Hutchins' affidavit to their response. [¶ 8] The district court granted Payless' summary judgment motion and ordered that the property be partitioned by sale. The court appointed an appraiser and directed him to submit a valuation of the property to the district court for approval. The district court further ordered that, within 30 days of the Court[']s Order approving the valuation of the property by the appraiser, any party seeking to purchase the property at the appraised value in accordance with Wyo. Stat. § 1-32-109 shall file a written election to purchase, accompanied by the down payment and security as required by Wyo. Stat. § 1-32-110. [¶ 9] The appraiser valued the property at $21,500, and Payless filed its Election to Buy and Motion for Confirmation, together with $10,750, with the District Court. The appellants objected to Payless' motion for confirmation of the sale, once again, claiming a right to compensation for Ms. McDonald's damage to and use of the property. The district court held a hearing and issued an order confirming the sale of the property to Payless for one-half of the appraised value. The record on appeal does not include a transcript of the hearing and the Order Confirming Property Purchase does not revisit the appellants' claims for improvements, rents, and waste. The appellants subsequently appealed.