Arkansas Court of Appeals Affirms Statute of Limitations-Based Dismissal of a Breach of Oral Contract Claim; Conflicting Testimony as to Date of Last Payment Is For Trial Court to Resolve
The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed Union County Circuit Judge Carol Crafton Anthony in Glenn Mechanical, Inc. v. Lucy Gibney, No. CA 06-1169, an unpublished decision by Judge Miller.
In 1998, Lucy Gibney formed an oral contract with Glenn Mechanical, Inc. to perform "plumbing, heating, and air services for the new home she was constructing." Glenn finished the project on October 28, 1999.
Glenn sued Gibney in 2003 for breach, claiming that Lucy had stopped paying for the job. Judge Anthony presided over a bench trial and there was conflicting testimony as to the date of Lucy's last payment; various witnesses identified the date as (a) August 1, 2001, (b) October 4, 2000, or (c) September 4, 2002.
Judge Anthony found that the last payment had been made on October 4, 2000, and dismissed the case based on Arkansas's three-year statute of limitations for breach of an oral contract.
The Court of Appeals affirmed, citing the standard rule that, in a bench trial, "[w]e do not reverse on a factual issue as long as there is evidence to support the trial court's finding and the finding is not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence." The trial court's determination of the date of last payment fell well within the bounds of this rule.
