90 Hawai'i 143, Dorrance v. Lee
| Decision Date | 27 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 21882,21882 |
| Citation | 976 P.2d 904,90 Hawaii 143 |
| Parties | 90 Hawai'i 143 Islebia DORRANCE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Kendrick LEE, Defendant-Appellee, and Doe Defendants 1-10, Defendants. |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
David C. Schutter and Mitchell S. Wong (of David C. Schutter & Associates), on the briefs, Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellant.
Gary W.B. Chang (of Matsui Chung Sumida & Chang), Honolulu, for defendant-appellee.
Plaintiff-appellant Islebia Dorrance appeals from the circuit court order granting the motion for summary judgment brought by defendant-appellee Kendrick Lee. The central issue on appeal is whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars relitigation of an issue previously litigated and determined in a prior action. Here, the prior action was submitted to the Court Annexed Arbitration Program (CAAP), 1 resulting in the Arbitration Award being entered as a final judgment.
On appeal, Dorrance asserts that the circuit court erroneously granted summary judgment. For the reasons discussed infra, we affirm the circuit court's order granting Lee's motion for summary judgment.
On April 9, 1996, Dorrance was driving her motor vehicle along Wai'alae Avenue, in Honolulu. Accompanying Dorrance was her mother, Usulina Cintron. As she was negotiating a left turn onto 6th Avenue, Lee's automobile struck Dorrance's automobile [hereinafter, the 1996 accident]. Both Dorrance and Cintron suffered various injuries as a result of the accident.
On March 18, 1997, Cintron filed a complaint against Dorrance and Lee, alleging that both were negligent in causing her injuries [hereinafter, the Cintron Action]. Both Dorrance and Lee filed answers to Cintron's complaint, in which they denied all liability. Additionally, Dorrance and Lee filed cross-claims against each other, asserting the other's negligence and requesting contribution. The Cintron Action was submitted into the CAAP. On December 12, 1997, a hearing was held before an arbitrator, wherein Cintron, Dorrance, and Lee testified. Thereafter, Dorrance and Lee submitted written post-hearing argument on the issue of the other driver's negligence. On March 10, 1998, the arbitrator issued an "Arbitration Award," stating in pertinent part:
1. Liability--The Arbitrator determines that Comparative Negligence is in issue and finds as follows:
% of Negligence of Plaintiff [Cintron] 0%
% of Negligence of Defendant Dorrance 70%
% of Negligence of Defendant Lee 30%
Total 100%
The Arbitration Award was served on the parties on March 12, 1998. Thereafter, each party had twenty days to appeal the award and request a "trial de novo " in the circuit court. See Rule 21 of the Hawai'i Arbitration Rules (HAR) (1998), discussed infra. The Arbitration Award was not appealed, and, accordingly, the circuit court entered final judgment on the award on April 7, 1998.
Prior to the issuance of the Arbitration Award, Dorrance initiated the present case on February 17, 1998, alleging that Lee was negligent in the operation of his motor vehicle, thereby causing her injuries arising from the 1996 accident. On May 14, 1998, Lee filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that, because the arbitrator in the Cintron Action had determined Dorrance's negligence to be larger than Lee's negligence, HRS § 663-31 (governing contributory negligence), see infra, barred Dorrance from bringing suit against him. On August 10, 1998, the circuit court entered an order granting Lee's motion for summary judgment, which stated, inter alia, that "Dorrance's claims [were] barred by the doctrine of res judicata and Section 663-31(a) and (c) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes." On the same day, the circuit court entered final judgment in favor of Lee and against Dorrance, and Dorrance timely appealed.
Under the Hawai'i Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP), summary judgment should be entered "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." HRCP Rule 56 (1993). The evidence should be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Maguire v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 79 Hawai'i 110, 112, 899 P.2d 393, 395 (1995). On appeal, an order of summary judgment is reviewed de novo under the same standard. Harris v. DeSoto, 80 Hawai'i 425, 431, 911 P.2d 60, 66 (1996).
Budget Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc. v. Ricardo, 85 Hawai'i 243, 244, 942 P.2d 507, 508 (1997).
"The interpretation of a rule promulgated by the courts involves principles of statutory construction." Cresencia v. Kim, 85 Hawai'i 334, 335, 944 P.2d 1277, 1278 (1997) (citation omitted). Thus, like statutes, we interpret the Hawai'i Arbitration Rules de novo. See Keliipuleole v. Wilson, 85 Hawai'i 217, 221, 941 P.2d 300, 304 (1997) . "Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, our sole duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning." Cresencia, 85 Hawai'i at 335-36, 944 P.2d at 1277-78.
On appeal, Dorrance essentially maintains that the circuit court improperly relied upon the Arbitration Award as a basis for applying collateral estoppel. Lee, on the other hand, asserts that Dorrance is collaterally estopped from relitigating the apportionment of liability as set forth in the Arbitration Award, which was subsequently reduced to a final judgment.
Before we consider whether collateral estoppel acts as a bar to relitigating the arbitrator's apportionment of liability, we first examine whether an arbitration award that has been reduced to judgment is a final judgment for purposes of collateral estoppel. We answer in the affirmative.
HAR Rule 21 states:
If, after twenty (20) days after the award is served upon the parties, no party has filed a written Notice of Appeal and Request for Trial De Novo, the clerk of the court shall, upon notification by the Arbitration Administrator, enter the arbitration award as a final judgment of the court. This period may be extended by written stipulation, filed within twenty (20) days after service of the award upon the parties, to a period no more than forty (40) days after the award is served upon the parties. Said award shall have the same force and effect as a final judgment of the court in the civil action, but may not be appealed.
(Emphases added). Thus, based on its plain and unambiguous terms, HAR Rule 21 clearly contemplates that after an arbitration award has matured into a final judgment--and is entered accordingly by a circuit court--that judgment is entitled to be treated in all respects as any other judgment. In the present case, the parties in the Cintron Action did not appeal Arbitration Award, and, accordingly, on April 7, 998, the circuit court entered final judgment on the award.
The California Court of Appeals has interpreted a statute virtually identical to HAR Rule 21 in the context of an arbitration program substantially similar to the CAAP. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Superior Court, 211 Cal.App.3d 5, 259 Cal.Rptr. 50 (1989), the California Court of Appeals held that an arbitration award, once final, is a judicial determination that can have collateral estoppel effect. The court reasoned:
In order to hold that a judgment entered upon an arbitration award did not judicially conclude those issues necessarily resolved by the arbitrator's decision, we would have to ignore the express language of Code of Civil Procedure section 1141.23. [ 2] Had State Farm desired that the award given to plaintiffs by the judicial arbitrator not ripen into a formal civil judgment, with all of its attendant consequences, it needed only to cause its insureds, to whom it was providing a defense, to make a timely request for a trial de novo (Code Civ. Proc., § 1141.20). This, State Farm did not do. It should not now be heard, in the face of an express statutory declaration to the contrary, to argue that the resulting judgment is somehow entitled to less "force and effect" than the one which would have obtained had State Farm's insureds timely sought such relief and proceeded to trial before a jury.
State Farm, 259 Cal.Rptr. at 53 (emphasis added). Based on the plain language of HAR Rule 21 and the reasoning in State Farm, we hold that a judgment based upon an arbitration proceeding is a final judgment for collateral estoppel purposes. Cf. Sartor v. Superior Court, 136 Cal.App.3d 322, 187 Cal.Rptr. 247, 250 (1982) (); Dale v. Guaranty Nat'l Ins. Co., 948 P.2d 545, 549 (Colo.1997) (); Western Indus. and Envtl. Servs., Inc. v. Kaldveer Assoc., Inc., 126 Idaho 541, 887 P.2d 1048, 1051 (1994) (); Taylor v. Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co., 275 Ill.App.3d 655, 211 Ill.Dec. 942, 656 N.E.2d 134, 139 (1995) (), appeal denied, 165 Ill.2d 566, 214 Ill.Dec. 866, 662 N.E.2d 432 (1996); Bojrab v. John Carr Agency, 597 N.E.2d 376, 378 (Ind.Ct.App.1992) (...
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