Janis V. Spelts

This lawsuit involved two parcels of land, 320 acres in Carefree, Arizona, and certain property in Phoenix at 40th Street and Van Buren (40th Street Property). The plaintiffs filed a complaint seeking the imposition of a constructive trust on the Carefree property and a division of certain profits on the sale of the 40th Street Property. In conjunction with the filing of the complaint, plaintiffs filed a lis pendens on the Carefree property. The defendants answered and counterclaimed for removal of the lis pendens, together with damages, attorney's fees and costs pursuant to A.R.S. § 33-420(C). The case was tried to a jury.*fn1 Both parties won and lost in the lower court. The jury found that a constructive trust should not be imposed on the 320 acres, that the plaintiffs' position on the split of the profits from the sale of the 40th Street Property was correct and that plaintiff Lynn Janis recorded a wrongful lis pendens on the Carefree property. The jury further awarded the sum of $1 in damages for the filing of the wrongful lis pendens.