Beecher v. Stratton Corp.

• Decision Date: 19 November 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-382.,98-382.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Parties: Wade BEECHER v. STRATTON CORPORATION d/b/a Stratton Mountain Ski Resort.

743 A.2d 1093

Wade BEECHER v. STRATTON CORPORATION d/b/a Stratton Mountain Ski Resort.

No. 98-382.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

November 19, 1999.

Theodore A. Parisi, Jr., Castleton, and Martha M. Smyrski of Paterson & Walke, P.C., Montpelier, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

John A. Serafino of Ryan Smith & Carbine, Ltd., Rutland, for Defendant-Appellee.

Present AMESTOY, C.J., DOOLEY, MORSE, JOHNSON and SKOGLUND, JJ.

AMESTOY, C.J.

Plaintiff, who sued defendant Stratton Mountain Corporation after being injured while skiing at its resort, appeals the superior court's summary judgment ruling barring his suit under the applicable one-year statute of limitations. See 12 V.S.A. § 513 (action to recover for injuries sustained while participating in sport of skiing shall be commenced within one year after cause of action accrues). In granting summary judgment to defendant, the court rejected plaintiff's contention that statements made by defendant's insurance adjuster precluded defendant from invoking the statute of limitations. We find no error in the court's refusal to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel or equitable tolling, and thus affirm its judgment.

Plaintiff, a Connecticut resident, was injured while skiing at Stratton Mountain on January 20, 1996. He retained a Connecticut lawyer, who began negotiations with defendant's insurance adjuster shortly after the accident. In October 1996, a Vermont attorney took over plaintiff's case and resumed settlement negotiations with the adjuster. According to plaintiff, at some point before the limitations period expired, the adjuster asked plaintiff's attorney to refrain from filing suit until the conclusion of settlement negotiations. Later, in a January 14, 1997 telephone conversation with plaintiff's attorney, the adjuster insisted on plaintiff submitting to an independent medical examination before negotiations could be concluded. Plaintiff agreed. On March 4, 1997, the adjuster informed plaintiff's attorney that he had found two doctors in Connecticut who could perform an independent examination. On March 10, 1997, plaintiff's attorney informed the adjuster that the statute of limitations had run and asked him to agree to an extension until May 1, 1997. The adjuster refused and closed the case.

On March 11, 1997 plaintiff filed his negligence suit in superior court. Defendant moved for summary judgment based on plaintiff's failure to file his suit within the one-year limitations period. The superior court held an evidentiary hearing on March 4, 1998 to consider plaintiff's claim that defendant should be estopped from asserting the statute of limitations. Plaintiff's attorney and the adjuster testified at the hearing. The court viewed the evidence most favorably to plaintiff and accepted as true the testimony of plaintiff's attorney that the adjuster asked him to refrain from filing suit until negotiations were concluded, and that, when asked if there would be any statute-of-limitations problem, the adjuster indicated that he was unaware of any such problem. Nevertheless, the court rejected plaintiff's claims of equitable estoppel and equitable tolling, concluding that plaintiff's attorney was at least as aware of the one-year limitations period as the adjuster, and that the attorney had not acted reasonably in failing to file suit without obtaining a promise from the adjuster that defendant would waive or extend the statute of limitations. On appeal, plaintiff argues that the superior court erred by resolving issues of material fact and by refusing to apply either the doctrine of equitable estoppel or the doctrine of equitable tolling.

I.

We address the latter two issues first to facilitate our discussion. Plaintiff contends that the doctrine of equitable estoppel precludes defendant from invoking the applicable statute of limitations under the circumstances of this case. The doctrine of equitable estoppel seeks to promote fair dealing and good faith by preventing "one party from asserting rights which may have existed against another party who in good faith has changed his or her position in reliance upon earlier representations." Fisher v. Poole, 142 Vt. 162, 168, 453 A.2d 408, 411 (1982). While the representations relied upon need not be fraudulent in a strict legal sense, see id., generally a defendant is not estopped from raising a statute-of-limitations defense absent either a promise or some sort of misrepresentation or concealment of a fraudulent character. See Caledonia Sand & Gravel Co. v. Campbell, 128 Vt. 182, 185, 260 A.2d 221, 223 (1969); see, e.g., Welch v. H.P. Hood & Sons, Inc., 138 Vt. 4, 7, 409 A.2d 603, 604 (1979) (refusing to apply equitable estoppel because there was neither express nor implied agreement not to assert statute of limitations).

The party invoking the doctrine of equitable estoppel has the burden of establishing four essential elements:

first, the party to be estopped must know the facts; second, the party being estopped must intend that his conduct shall be acted upon or the acts must be such that the party asserting the estoppel has a right to believe it is so intended; third, the latter must be ignorant of the true facts; and finally, the party asserting the estoppel must rely on the conduct of the party to be estopped to his detriment.

Fisher, 142 Vt. at 168, 453 A.2d at 412. All of the circumstances of the case must be evaluated in determining whether the doctrine applies, but generally it "will not be invoked in favor of one whose own omissions or inadvertences contributed to the problem." Id. at 169, 453 A.2d at 412.

In light of this law, we agree with the trial court's determination that estoppel is unavailable here. Plaintiff's estoppel argument rests largely on the allegation that defendant's adjuster asked plaintiff's attorney to refrain from filing suit until settlement negotiations were completed. This remark was insufficient to estop defendant from invoking the statute of limitations. Plaintiff's attorney never asked the adjuster, either orally or in writing, to waive or extend the statute of limitations. The parties continued negotiations, apparently without regard to the limitations period, until plaintiff's attorney informed the adjuster that the period had expired and that he would like it extended. The evidence was disputed as to whether the statute of limitations was ever even mentioned between the adjuster and plaintiff's attorney before it expired, but the most that can be said from plaintiff's perspective is that the adjuster indicated only that he was unaware of any statute-of-limitations problem. Certainly, there was no express or implied agreement to waive the limitations period. Given the adversarial nature of the relationship between plaintiff's attorney and the adjuster, the superior court properly concluded that the attorney acted unreasonably in allowing the limitations period to expire without confirming that defendant was willing to waive or extend the period while the parties continued settlement negotiations.

The evidence in this case does not suggest that the adjuster had superior knowledge of the applicable limitations period and took advantage of the ignorance of plaintiff's attorney to lull him into inaction. To the contrary, the actions and testimony of the adjuster indicate that he was not aware of the limitations period. But even assuming that the adjuster knew of the one-year statute of limitations, so did plaintiff's attorney according to his own testimony. Further, even if plaintiff's attorney was not actually aware of the limitations period, he must be charged with that knowledge. See Kunstman v. Mirizzi, 234 Cal.App.2d 753, 44 Cal.Rptr. 707, 710 (1965). It was the responsibility of plaintiff's attorney, not defendant's adjuster, to be aware of the applicable limitations period and to ensure that his client's claims did not expire.

Rather than focus on these unfavorable facts, plaintiff argues that the four essential elements of estoppel enunciated in Fisher do not apply here because Fisher concerned a boundary dispute rather than a limitations period. We find no merit to this argument. The elements of equitable estoppel noted in Fisher were not intended to apply only in the context of that case; indeed, we have examined those elements in a variety of contexts since Fisher was issued. See, e.g., Agency of Natural Resources v. Godnick, 162 Vt. 588, 592-93, 652 A.2d 988, 991 (1994) (government not estopped from issuing administrative order penalizing defendant for noncompliance with Act 250); Ragosta v. Wilder, 156 Vt. 390, 395, 592 A.2d 367, 370 (1991) (defendant not estopped from withdrawing offer to sell real property); Greenmoss Builders, Inc. v. King, 155 Vt. 1, 7, 580 A.2d 971, 975 (1990) (lawyers who hired client to build addition on their home estopped from recovering overpayments to builder). Further, Fisher cites and is consistent with McLaughlin v. Blake, 120 Vt. 174, 136 A.2d 492 (1957), the case upon which plaintiff heavily relies. See 142 Vt. at 168,453 A.2d at 411. McLaughlin, in turn, relies heavily upon Howard v. W. Jersey & S.S. R.R., 102 N.J. Eq. 517, 141 A. 755, 757 (Ch.1928), which, based on its consideration of the same factors later set forth in Fisher, determined that the conduct of a claims investigator precluded the defendant in that case from invoking the limitations period. See McLaughlin, 120 Vt. at 179,136 A.2d at 495-96.

McLaughlin involved a tort suit stemming from an automobile accident that occurred in Quebec, Canada. Following the accident, the plaintiff's attorney entered into settlement negotiations with the insurance adjuster, who stated that (1) there was no question about the liability of the defendant; (2) the real question was how much money should be paid to compensate the plaintiff for injuries caused by the defendant's gross negligence; (3) the insurance company was going to make a compromise settlement of the claim, but...