A-23-0353, Steve A. Oltman & Diane Oltman (Appellants) v. Doug Parde and Cindy Parde (Appellees)
Gage County District Court, Judge Rick Schreiner
Attorney for Appellant: Lyle Joseph Koenig (Koenig Law Firm)
Attorney for Appellee: J.L. Spray & Jacob C. Garbison (Mattson Ricketts)
Civil Action: Motion to Dismiss, Conversion, Breach of Contract, Fraudulent Concealment
Action Taken by the Trial Court: Appellant sued, claiming Appellee breached an oral contract for a lease of agricultural land, converted the rental money owed to Appellant, and fraudulently concealed the conversion and breach of contract from Appellant. The district court granted Appellee’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
The district court held that the lease contract was for real property, so any theory of conversion was inapplicable. It held the conversion claim would also be barred by the statute of limitations. For the breach of contract claim, it held that the Appellants failed to allege sufficient facts to establish a breach of contract claim and the Appellants’ breach of contract claim would have been barred by the statute of limitations as well. Lastly, it held the Appellants failed to allege sufficiently particular facts to establish a claim for fraudulent concealment.
Assignments of Error on Appeal: The Oltmans assign six errors. They assign the district court erred in (1) finding the Oltmans failed to state a claim for conversion within the statute of limitations; (2) finding the Oltmans had failed to state a claim for breach of contract within the statute of limitations; (3) finding that the Oltmans had failed to state a claim for fraudulent concealment within the statute of limitations; (4) failing to find the Pardes were equitably estopped from asserting the statute of limitations applied to the breach of oral contract claim; (5) failing to apply the discovery rule to the statute of limitations based on fraudulent concealment; and (6) failing to permit the Oltmans to amend their complaint.