Chase v. DaimlerChrysler Corp.

• Decision Date: 31 October 2003
• Docket Number: Record No. 022575.
• Citation: 587 S.E.2d 521,266 Va. 544
• Parties: Kristy L. CHASE, v. DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

587 S.E.2d 521

266 Va. 544

Kristy L. CHASE, v. DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION.

Record No. 022575.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

October 31, 2003.

David R. Robertson (Stephen L. Swann, on brief), Arlington, for appellant.

Perry W. Miles, IV (McGuireWoods, on brief), Richmond, for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

OPINION BY Justice DONALD W. LEMONS.

On appeal, we consider whether, under the Virginia Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act, Code §§ 59.1-207.9 to—207.16.1, a consumer who settles with a defendant is entitled to attorney's fees as a "successful" party.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

On June 9, 1999, Kristy L. Chase ("Chase") purchased a new Chrysler Cirrus. The car had a number of mechanical problems. On August 16, 2001, Chase filed a motion for judgment against DaimlerChrysler Corporation ("DaimlerChrysler"), the car's manufacturer, for breach of warranty, violation of the Virginia Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act (the "Act"), and violation of the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. She sought total damages of $40,951.59.

Chase and DaimlerChrysler eventually reached a settlement agreement that was memorialized in a "Repurchase Release Agreement." In the agreement, Chase received $13,242.04 from DaimlerChrysler. DaimlerChrysler also agreed to assume loan payments remaining on the car. In return, Chase released DaimlerChrysler from all further claims except attorney's fees and court costs.

With respect to attorney's fees and court costs, the agreement provided that if the parties failed to make a suitable compromise at a June 25th settlement conference, attorney's fees and court costs would be litigated. The parties failed to reach an agreement on attorney's fees and costs. At trial, Daimler-Chrysler argued that Chase had not prevailed in her action by receiving a favorable judgment in court and was not entitled to attorney's fees under the Virginia statute because she was not a "successful" party as the term was used in Code § 59.1-207.14. The trial court entered judgment in favor of DaimlerChrysler.

Chase appeals the judgment of the trial court that she is not entitled to attorney's fees. She maintains that in achieving a repurchase agreement with DaimlerChrysler, she accomplished the remedies provided in the Act and was a "successful" party entitled to attorney's fees.

II. Analysis

The issue before us concerns only the attorney's fees and costs provisions of Code § 59.1-207.14¹ which provides:

Any consumer who suffers loss by reason of a violation of any provision of this chapter may bring a civil action to enforce such provision. Any consumer who is successful in such an action or any defendant in any frivolous action brought by a consumer shall recover reasonable attorney's fees, expert witness fees and court costs incurred by bringing such actions.

The so-called "Virginia Lemon Law" provides for a consumer to receive a replacement motor vehicle or a full refund for a purchase of a motor vehicle that cannot be brought into conformity with the manufacturer's express warranty. Code § 59.1-207.13. Although the terms of the settlement agreement clearly compromised the amount of damages claimed, Chase maintains that her settlement with DaimlerChrysler included return and refund. Accordingly, Chase argues that she is a "successful" claimant under the Act and that the trial court erred in denying her fees and costs. DaimlerChrysler argues that it denied liability but compromised the claim in a settlement agreement; consequently, neither party can claim to be a "successful" party under the statute. Further, DaimlerChrysler emphasizes that the final order in this civil action awards judgment to the defendant.

The question before us is simply stated: what is "successful" for the purposes of an award of fees and costs under the Virginia Lemon Law? Our analysis begins, as it should, with the text of the statute itself. As we have stated:

While in the construction of statutes the constant endeavor of the courts is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature, that intention must be gathered from the words used, unless a literal construction would involve a manifest absurdity. Where the legislature has used words of a plain and definite import the courts cannot put upon them a construction which amounts to holding the legislature did not mean what it has actually expressed.

Signal Corp. v. Keane Federal Systems, 265 Va. 38, 46-47, 574 S.E.2d 253, 257 (2003); Halifax Corp. v. First Union Nat'l Bank, 262 Va. 91, 99-100, 546 S.E.2d 696, 702 (2001); Watkins v. Hall, 161 Va. 924, 930, 172 S.E. 445, 447 (1934). Code § 59.1-207.14 refers to a "civil action to enforce" the provisions of the Act. Furthermore, the award of fees and costs is expressly reserved to any "consumer who is successful in such an action." As the Code of Virginia provides, "`Action' and `suit' may be used interchangeably and shall include all civil proceedings whether at law, in equity, or statutory in nature and whether in circuit courts or district courts." Code § 8.01-2(1). Consequently, being "successful" in this statutory "civil action," by definition, means that the action terminates in favor of the claimant. Under the terms of the Act, we look to the order terminating the action to determine whether the plaintiff was "successful." The final judgment order in this...