Court Opinion

ID: 9793124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:42:54.782845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:01:14.527407
License: Public Domain

BOSSON, Judge (specially concurring). {28} I concur in the opinion of the majority with respect to the statute of limitations as it applies to Petitioner’s claim against the estate. However, everything Judge Encinias found below would support a claim against Mrs. Baca individually for restitution and quantum meruit. After all, the essence of the judgment below is that Mrs. Baca should not be able to retain unfairly these monies given her by Petitioner, nor profit unfairly from Petitioner’s efforts. Those findings remain today, although their efficacy against the estate has been neutralized by the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations. Common principles of issue preclusion may make those same findings binding on Mrs. Baca in any future claim against her individually thereby facilitating a judgment against her. It is fair to say that Mrs. Baca’s assertion of her statute of limitations defense against Petitioner’s restitution and quantum meruit claims was at best ambiguous, and she may have misled Petitioner into not asserting such a claim earlier against Mrs. Baca individually. Estoppel may be appropriate for consideration in any future litigation with respect to whatever statute of limitations defense Mrs. Baca may assert in her own defense.