Ward v. Ward

236 W.Va. 753 (2016)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P is the owner of record of land in West Virginia. P allowed her son, Gary, and his wife, D, to construct a log cabin home on a portion of her property. The parcel was not subdivided. The parties did not create any written agreement memorializing their arrangement. Gary and D paid $50,000 for the subject log cabin home kit, and P claims that she financed the site preparation and construction. D asserts further that she and Gary incurred additional expenses related to the building and maintenance of the log home. Two separate county property tax tickets were issued for P's lot. D represents that she and Gary gave P money to pay for the property taxes. She further claims that, for a period of eighteen months, they gave P $500 per month to pay for the property taxes. P acquiesced to D, Gary Ward, and their children living in the log cabin home on her property, and this living arrangement continued in this fashion until April 2014. On February 28, 2014, Gary died. On April 28, 2014, P served a Notice to Quit upon D and her two children demanding they vacate the log cabin home. D refused to move, claiming an entitlement to the log home arising from her purchase thereof. P filed a complaint against D asserting a cause of action for unlawful detainer. D filed her answer pro se and P then moved for judgment on the pleadings. The circuit court granted P's motion for judgment on the pleadings. It ruled that P is entitled to recover her property from D, who has no ownership interest in the parcel. The court further determined that P would be unjustly enriched by the addition of the log cabin home to her property and, thus, required her to pay D $50,000, i.e., the cost of the log cabin home kit, for these improvements. The court conditioned P's recovery of the subject property upon her payment of this sum to D and ruled that d is not required to vacate the premises until ten days after her receipt of these funds. P appealed.