Beverage v. Harvey

Decision Date31 July 1979
Docket NumberNo. 78-1786,78-1786
Citation602 F.2d 657
PartiesCharles B. BEVERAGE, Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Gwendolyn Hicks, Deceased, Appellant, v. Fred Douglas HARVEY, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Thomas W. Williamson, Jr. and Emanuel Emroch, Richmond, Va. (Emanuel Emroch and Associates, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellant.

J. W. Morris, III, Richmond, Va. (R. Hunter Manson, Browder, Russell, Little, Morris & Butcher, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.

Before HALL and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges and DUMBAULD, * Senior District Judge.

DUMBAULD, Senior District Judge.

This action was brought on December 1, 1977, under the Virginia wrongful death statute, on behalf of the infant daughter of Gwendolyn Hicks. Gwendolyn Hicks, a passenger in a car driven by defendant, was injured in a motor vehicle collision (which occurred in Virginia on August 21, 1975) and died the next day. The action is obviously barred by the statute of limitations 1 unless plaintiff can establish its theory of estoppel.

As early as September 19, 1975, one Benjamin M. Zelman, Esquire, of New York City was active in asserting the Hicks claim. Another passenger in defendant's car, one John D. Edmonds, had also been killed, and that case was settled for.$19,000 from defendant's insurer plus $5,000 from the insurer of the other vehicle.

During the two years following the accident, Zelman discussed the case with representatives of defendant's insurer, including Carson E. Hamlett, the claims manager handling the Hicks claim, on approximately ten occasions. In May of 1976, Hamlett offered Zelman $15,000 to settle the claim. Zelman never accepted this offer, and consistently demanded both a larger offer from Hamlett and a contribution from the second driver's insurer. Zelman eventually decided to recommend a settlement consisting of.$19,000 from defendant's insurer and an unspecified amount from the other insurance company. On August 12, 1977, he wrote to Hamlett, saying "I trust that my proposal and suggestion will be accepted by you so that I can proceed to convince the other side, if possible, that the matter should be disposed of by an amicable agreement."

Hamlett did not respond to Zelman's letter until September 6, 1977. On that date, he wrote to Zelman informing him that "unless you have instituted suit prior to August 21, 1977, the statue of limitations have run" (Sic ) and adding "You of course rejected our offer of $15,000.00 when you made a counter-offer of $19,000.00. Since it appears the statue of limitations have run (Sic ), all offers we have previously made to you on the case are withdrawn." Zelman testified that he had not investigated the question of tolling the Virginia statute of limitations on account of infancy, but had formed the impression that Virginia law was substantially the same as New York law where the statute is tolled.

Appellant argues in this appeal that the statute of limitations is tolled by reason of infancy on the part of the beneficiary of the wrongful death action, relying upon Va.Code § 8-30 (1957). That provision applies only to the infancy of the "person to whom the right accrues to bring any such personal action;" but in the case of a wrongful death action Va.Code § 8-634 provided that "every such action shall be brought by and in the name of the personal representative of such deceased person," not by or in the name of the infantbeneficiary. 2 Since the infant's disability thus does not prevent the timely institution of a wrongful death action, there is no occasion to toll the statute of limitations in such actions because of the beneficiary's infancy.

Appellant's case must stand or fall upon its alternative contention that defendant's insurer is estopped from asserting the statute of limitations because it lulled Zelman into a false sense of security and prevented him from filing a timely action. Review of the record supports the findings of the trial court that grounds for estoppel have not been established. It seems clear that Zelman's desire to avoid court costs and splitting his fee with local counsel, as well as his impression that infancy tolled the statute, dictated his failure to file suit in timely fashion, rather than any misleading acts of defendant's insurer.

The trial court reviewed the six elements of estoppel set forth in American Mutual Liability Ins. Co. v. Hamilton, 145 Va. 391, 135 S.E. 21 (1926), and correctly found that appellant had not established the requisite conditions for estoppel to arise. 3

The only wrongdoing laid to the charge of defendant's insurer is delaying until September 6, 1977, its response to Zelman's letter of August 12, 1977, demanding.$19,000 rather than accepting the insurer's prior offer of $15,000. Whether this delay was due to accumulation of business during Carson E. Hamlett's vacation, or to intentional desire to see whether Zelman would let the statutory period elapse without filing suit, the circumstance itself might have seemed suspicious to alert counsel; and in any event Hamlett was not legally required to answer his mail on the day he received it, even if that was his customary practice.

For equitable estoppel to be available as a defense, American Mutual requires a representation or concealment of material fact. As the trial court found, "This was not the concealment of a material fact. In the first place, a statute of limitations is not a fact; it is a law. In the second place, Hamlett's silence was not a concealment. The Virginia statute of limitations for wrongful death actions is clearly written into the statute itself. Hamlett could not conceal the statute of limitations from Zelman by silence. It is self evident that even the slightest research would have apprised Zelman of it."

With regard to the second requisite of estoppel (that the representation or concealment must have been with knowledge of the true state of facts) the trial court found: "It is not denied that Hamlett knew the statute was about to run but had no knowledge of...

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11 cases
  • Overstreet v. Kentucky Cent. Life Ins. Co.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • December 4, 1991
    ...that equitable estoppel would toll that statute. Beverage v. Harvey, 456 F.Supp. 1044, 1046 (E.D.Va.1978), aff'd on other grounds, 602 F.2d 657 (4th Cir.1979). Kentucky Central mistakenly relies on Dodson v. Potomac Mack Sales & Service, Inc., 241 Va. 89, 400 S.E.2d 178 (1991), for the prop......
  • ESTATE OF DEARING BY DEARING v. Dearing
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia
    • October 22, 1986
    ...successfully make out a case for estoppel. Humble Oil & Ref. Co. v. Lane, 152 W.Va. 578, 165 S.E.2d 379 (1969); see also Beverage v. Harvey, 602 F.2d 657 (4th Cir.1976). Of greater significance is the Plaintiffs' invocation of the discovery rule. They argue that the statute of limitations d......
  • Beeck v. S.R. Smith Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • December 19, 1984
    ...to minors does not apply in statutory wrongful death actions even though minor children are the ultimate beneficiaries. Beverage v. Harvey, 602 F.2d 657 (4th Cir.1979); Hemingway, Adr. v. Shull, 286 F.Supp. 243 (D.S.C.1968); Gomez v. Leverton, 19 Ariz.App. 604, 509 P.2d 735 (1973); Group He......
  • Atchison v. Great Western Malting Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Washington
    • August 30, 2007
    ...she is not entitled to bring the action, and therefore the child's minority cannot toll the statute of limitations. Beverage v. Harvey, 602 F.2d 657, 658-59 (4th Cir.1979); Engle Bros., Inc. v. Superior Court, 23 Ariz.App. 406, 533 P.2d 714, 716 (1975); Gomez v. Leverton, 19 Ariz. App. 604,......
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