Canyon Country Store v. Bracey
| Decision Date | 10 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 20194,20194 |
| Citation | 781 P.2d 414 |
| Parties | CANYON COUNTRY STORE, a Utah corporation, Plaintiff, Appellee, and Cross-Appellant, v. Norton Edward BRACEY, Excess Insurance Company Ltd., Slater Walker Insurance Company Ltd., and Bellefonte Reinsurance Company, Defendants, Appellants, and Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
David Nuffer, Terry L. Wade, Bernard Caesar, St. George, for defendants, appellants, and cross-appellees.
James A. McIntosh, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff, appellee, and cross-appellant.
Defendants Norton Edward Bracey, Excess Insurance Company, Slater Walker Insurance Company, and Bellefonte Reinsurance Company (the insurers) appeal from a jury verdict and damage award in favor of plaintiff Canyon Country Store (Canyon Country). Canyon Country has cross-appealed.
On appeal, the insurers assert the following: (1) Canyon Country did not bring suit against the insurers within the one-year limit prescribed by the insurance policy; (2) Canyon Country destroyed the insurers' subrogation rights; (3) Canyon Country committed fraud in its application for insurance from the insurers; (4) Canyon Country failed to submit the proper proof-of-loss forms following the accident; (5) the jury erred in its award of lost trucking and grocery business profits; (6) there was no legal basis for an award of attorney fees; (7) the amount of attorney fees awarded Canyon Country was unreasonable; and (8) the trial judge erred in refusing to submit special interrogatories to the jury and to direct it to return a special verdict. On cross-appeal, Canyon Country claims the following: (1) the trial judge erred in denying Canyon Country's motion for an award of post-trial attorney fees, prejudgment interest, and certain deposition costs; (2) the trial judge erred in denying Canyon Country both access to and the right to give testimony concerning the insurers' wealth; (3) the trial judge erred in allowing evidence of a separate suit and its subsequent settlement to be heard by the jury; and (4) the trial judge erred in the jury instructions he allowed to be given to the jury.
This case arises from a motor vehicle accident in which Lorin Vaughn Goodfellow, president of Canyon Country and one of its two shareholders, destroyed the refrigerated trailer and tractor he was driving. The accident occurred on February 18, 1977, as Goodfellow was returning to Canyon Country with a load of wheat and beans. At approximately 5:30 a.m., Goodfellow drove off the roadway while attempting to negotiate a turn on the highway between Monticello and Blanding, Utah. Both Goodfellow and his passenger, Harry Gabrielson, were seriously injured in the accident.
The tractor and trailer were insured by the defendants in this action. 1 In order to file claims for both the trailer and the tractor, Goodfellow contacted James C. Skaggs, from whom Goodfellow had obtained insurance for the vehicles. Proof-of-loss forms for the vehicles were furnished to Goodfellow; however, Goodfellow disagreed with the valuations given the vehicles by Ronald M. Tullgren, the insurance adjuster assigned by the insurers.
In July 1977, Goodfellow hired an attorney to pursue his insurance claims. A proof of loss for the trailer was submitted to the insurers in September 1977, but no proof of loss for the tractor was ever submitted. The insurers declined to pay the claims. In letters to Frank A. Allen, Canyon Country's original attorney, the insurers claimed that the tires on the vehicles were unroadworthy, as the tread was nearly nonexistent. There was testimony at trial that the tires were so badly worn that they did not have enough tread to legally operate in Utah and that, therefore, the insurers were not obligated to pay under the policies.
Following unsuccessful attempts to reach an agreement on payment amounts, Goodfellow and Canyon Country brought suit against the insurers three years after the accident. In an amended complaint filed on January 29, 1982, Goodfellow and Canyon Country sought $13,000 for damages to the tractor, $9,000 for damages to the trailer, $500,000 for lost business profits for a trucking operation, $2,000,000 for Canyon Country's lost grocery business profits, $1,000,000 for punitive damages, and all attorney fees and expenses incurred by Canyon Country and Goodfellow in pursuing the suit. On May 14, 1984, the trial court permitted Goodfellow and Canyon Country to amend the damages to $13,000 for the tractor, $9,000 for the trailer, $2,000,000 in lost grocery business profits for Canyon Country, $1,500,000 in lost business profits for the trucking operation, $15,000,000 in punitive damages, and attorney fees.
Goodfellow also filed suit against the state of Utah, alleging that the highway design and markings on U.S. Highway 163 were inadequate and that their inadequacy was responsible for the accident. Goodfellow's suit against the state claimed personal injuries only. That suit was subsequently settled, and Goodfellow signed a release for all property damage, personal injury, and lost profit claims against the state.
Before trial in the instant case, the complaint was amended to remove Goodfellow as a plaintiff and show Canyon Country as the sole plaintiff. Canyon Country also moved for reformation of the insurance contract before trial began. The insurance policies had originally been issued in the name of Vaughn Goodfellow, d/b/a Canyon Country Store, but were changed to show Canyon Country Store, a Utah corporation, as the insured. The insurers did not object to the reformation.
The jury verdict totaled $227,636.67, as follows: $12,750 for the tractor, $13,600 for the trailer, $28,199 in lost profits for Canyon Country, $72,065 for lost trucking profits, $1,600 in attorney fees for Allen, and $99,422.67 in attorney fees for James A. McIntosh.
This Court will reverse a judgment based on a jury verdict "only if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, there is no substantial evidence to support it." In re Estate of Kesler, 702 P.2d 86, 88 (Utah 1985) (citation omitted). Where conflicting evidence was introduced at trial, "we assume that the jury believed those facts that support its verdict ..., and we view the facts and the reasonable inferences that arise from those facts in a light most supportive of the jury's verdict." Bennion v. LeGrand Johnson Constr. Co., 701 P.2d 1078, 1082 (Utah 1985) (citations omitted).
First, although the insurers claim that Canyon Country should not be allowed to recover under the insurance policies because it did not bring suit within one year of the accident, conflicting evidence was introduced at trial about this issue. Goodfellow claimed that he never received insurance policies which contained the one-year statute of limitations provision and thus never had the necessary notice to file a timely suit. At trial, both parties attempted to show that Skaggs, the insurance broker from whom Goodfellow purchased the insurance, was an agent of the other party. The insurers claimed that because Skaggs had received a complete copy of the policy which included the one-year provision, his knowledge of the limitation was attributable to Goodfellow and Canyon Country through the doctrine of agency. Canyon Country disputed the insurers' claim that Skaggs had received the full policy and, in any event, claimed that Skaggs was the insurers' servicing agent. The jury's verdict demonstrates that it believed Canyon Country's evidence on this point and that the suit was permissible in spite of the fact that it was filed after the one-year statute of limitations had run. There is ample evidence in the record to support the jury's decision, and therefore we will not disturb it on appeal.
Next, the insurers claim that their subrogation rights were destroyed when Goodfellow executed a release with the state upon settlement of his suit. Conflicting evidence was introduced, and the jury's decision was supported by evidence. At trial, the insurers contended that the release was for property damage as well as for personal injury. Canyon Country attempted to demonstrate that the release was a personal one, releasing the state from any claims Goodfellow personally may have had against the state, instead of a corporate one affecting Canyon Country's rights. It appears that the jury believed the evidence introduced at trial by Canyon Country. Because there was substantial evidence on which to base the verdict, we will not reverse on appeal.
Third, the insurers assert that Goodfellow committed fraud when he applied for the insurance policies. The insurers claim that Goodfellow made factual misrepresentations by stating on the insurance applications that he owned the trailer free and clear, when in fact General Electric Credit Corporation had a lien on it. The insurers also claim that Goodfellow's statement that the combined fair market value of the trailer and the tractor totaled $22,000 was a misrepresentation, since the trailer and tractor were actually worth only $14,000.
Evidence was presented at trial in support of both the insurers' and Canyon Country's positions. The issue of misrepresentation was a question for the jury; it had to determine whether Goodfellow had an intent to deceive the insurers in his application for insurance.
The question on appeal from a judgment based on a jury verdict is not whether there is substantial evidence which would have supported a contrary verdict, or even whether this Court, had it been trier of fact, would have reached the same verdict as that reached by the jury. Rather, the issue is whether the jury's findings are supported by substantial competent evidence.
In re Estate of Kesler, 702 P.2d 86, 95 (Utah 1985). There was evidence to support the jury's determination that Goodfellow did not commit fraud, and therefore, we...
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