(a mother died, leaving 117 tillable acres to her three surviving children; a probate court determined (and an appellate court affirmed) that the will gave the brother the right to farm the land for the remainder of his life, but provided that his sisters would equally share in the farm proceeds, each receiving one-third of the landlord’s share; when the brother failed to pay the sister for several years, she filed an action against him, seeking her proceeds under the doctrine of the “law of the case”; in affirming the trial court’s judgment in favor of the sister, the court held that the brother was precluded from challenging his obligation based on res judicata, specifically, issue preclusion; the record contained evidence supporting the trial court’s determination that the fair market rental value of the property was $140/acre; the trial court did err in awarding prejudgment interest because the amount of damages was based upon an exercise of judgment, not “simple math”).
Scholz v. Kirk, No. 37 A03-1211-PL-493, 2013 Ind. App. Unpub. LEXIS 908 (Ind. Ct. App. Jul. 19, 2013)
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