Berkshire v. Estate of Berkshire, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2006)
Berkshire v. Estate of Berkshire, Unpublished Decision (3-29-2006)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 3} Decedent died on August 28, 2004, in the State of Pennsylvania. Since decedent's death, appellee has attempted to locate the life insurance policy provided for by the Agreement. At the time of the dissolution, the policy was issued by Anchor National Life Insurance Company, policy no. 02015552. Through her attempts to locate the policy with Anchor, appellee discovered Anchor National was sold in 1999. Appellee believes AIG Sun America Insurance Company purchased Anchor National, but she has been unable to locate any such policy with AIG Sun America.
{¶ 4} On January 6, 2005, appellee filed a Complaint in the Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas, naming decedent's estate, i.e. appellant, as defendant and seeking judgment in the amount of $100,000 as the amount she was entitled to under the Agreement. Appellee filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on June 23, 2005, which the trial court granted via Judgment Entry on September 9, 2005.
{¶ 5} It is from that judgment entry appellant appeals, raising the following assignment of error:
{¶ 6} "I. THE COURT ERRED IN GRANTING THE MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT FILED BY THE PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE."
{¶ 8} Civ.R. 56(C) states, in pertinent part:
{¶ 9} "Summary Judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, written admissions, affidavits, transcripts of evidence in the pending case, and written stipulations of fact, if any, timely filed in the action, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. . . . A summary judgment shall not be rendered unless it appears from such evidence or stipulation and only therefrom, that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion and that conclusion is adverse to the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made, such party being entitled to have the evidence or stipulation construed most strongly in his favor."
{¶ 10} Pursuant to the above rule, a trial court may not enter a summary judgment if it appears a material fact is genuinely disputed. The party moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden of informing the trial court of the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the record that demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. The moving party may not make a conclusory assertion that the non-moving party has no evidence to prove its case. The moving party must specifically point to some evidence which demonstrates the non-moving party cannot support its claim. If the moving party satisfies this requirement, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to set forth specific facts demonstrating there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Vahila v. Hall
(1997),
{¶ 11} It is based upon this standard we review appellant's assignment of error.
{¶ 13} The parties do not dispute appellee acquired a vested interest in decedent's life insurance policy at the time she and decedent entered into the Agreement. See, Thomas v. Studley
(1989),
{¶ 14} Appellant's sole assignment of error is overruled.
{¶ 15} The judgment of the Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed.
Hoffman, J. Wise, P.J. and Farmer, J. concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.