Summary Judgment – Constructive Trust

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WI Court of Appeals – District II

Case Name: J. Steven Tikalsky v. Terry Stevens

Case No.: 2017AP170

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Gundrum and Hagedorn, JJ.

Focus: Summary Judgment – Constructive Trust

Steven Tikalsky is one of four children. During the later years of his parents’ lives, he became estranged from them and other extended family members, leading his parents to exclude him from having any inheritance. Following the death of his parents, Steven raised multiple claims against all three of his siblings, including respondent Terry Stevens, to try to recover a share of the inheritance. One of his “claims” was for a constructive trust. The circuit court granted summary judgment on the constructive trust “claim” on the ground that when Steven voluntarily withdrew his unjust enrichment claim, he no longer had a basis to seek a constructive trust.

The issue before us is whether Tikalsky has presented enough material on summary judgment to continue seeking a constructive trust. We conclude he has. A constructive trust is a permissible equitable remedy upon a showing that the legal title of some property is held by someone who in equity and good conscience should not be entitled to its beneficial enjoyment where title was obtained by means of actual or constructive fraud, duress, abuse of a confidential relationship, mistake, commission of a wrong, or by any form of unconscionable conduct. Here, Steven is seeking title to funds he alleges were obtained by some measure of untoward conduct on the part of Susan and James, his two other siblings. Even if the specific claim of unjust enrichment itself has been withdrawn, the factual claims undergirding the potential remedy of a constructive trust have been sufficiently established at this stage of the proceedings. Therefore, we reverse the circuit court’s order dismissing the constructive trust “claim.”

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.