City of Eldridge v. Caterpillar Tractor Co.

• Decision Date: 18 October 1978
• Docket Number: No. 60917,60917
• Citation: 270 N.W.2d 637
• Parties: CITY OF ELDRIDGE, Appellant, v. CATERPILLAR TRACTOR COMPANY and City of Davenport, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 637

270 N.W.2d 637

CITY OF ELDRIDGE, Appellant, v. CATERPILLAR TRACTOR COMPANY and City of Davenport, Appellees.

No. 60917.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 18, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 17, 1978.

McDonald, McDonald & Stonebraker and Heninger & Heninger, Davenport, for appellant.

Betty, Neuman, McMahon, Hellstrom & Bittner, Davenport, and Van Der Kamp, Crampton & Snyder, P. C., Rock Island, Ill., for appellee Caterpillar Tractor Co.

William B. Waterman, City of Davenport Legal Dept., Davenport, for appellee City of Davenport.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and LeGRAND, REES, UHLENHOPP and HARRIS, JJ.

REES, Justice.

This is an appeal by the City of Eldridge (Eldridge) from orders of the trial court sustaining motions for summary judgment of defendants Caterpillar Tractor Company (Caterpillar) and City of Davenport (Davenport), and overruling plaintiff's motion to enlarge or amend findings and conclusions in accordance with rule 179, Rules of Civil Procedure. We dismiss the appeal.

On February 10, 1976 Eldridge filed its petition at law alleging: that Davenport and Caterpillar conspired to deprive Eldridge of its exclusive jurisdiction to proceed with the annexation of certain real property located between Eldridge and Davenport, part of which was owned by Caterpillar; that Caterpillar had made material misrepresentations to Eldridge in December, 1965, inducing Eldridge to enter into a ten-year moratorium agreement with Davenport regarding annexation of such property; that Eldridge relied on such representations and entered into the moratorium agreement on May 23, 1966, thus depriving Eldridge of tax revenues it would have realized had it annexed the land as it had started to do in April, 1965; and that on January 14, 1976 Caterpillar filed a voluntary annexation application with Davenport to avail itself of substantial monetary inducements contained in an agreement executed between the defendants in March of 1966 for the rendition of municipal services. The petition did not allege the existence of a fiduciary or confidential relationship between Eldridge and Caterpillar.

Attached to plaintiff's petition was a copy of the "Agreement for Municipal Services" entered into between the defendants on March 21, 1966. That agreement provided that Caterpillar would advance all costs of construction of extending sewer lines between Caterpillar's property and the City of Davenport, provided that when Caterpillar became annexed to Davenport, part of the construction costs would be repaid to Caterpillar. The agreement also contemplated the removal of the 25 percent surcharge on the costs of rental of the sewer line upon the completion of proceedings for the annexation of the land to Davenport.

There was also attached to the petition a copy of the moratorium agreement entered into between Eldridge and Davenport on May 23, 1966, by which the parties agreed that neither municipality would commence proceedings to annex the property in question for a period of ten years.

On March 1, 1976, Caterpillar filed a motion to dismiss Eldridge's petition. Eldridge amended its petition on March 22, 1976 alleging defendants had fraudulently concealed and affirmatively misrepresented the provisions and effect of the municipal services agreement, as well as alleging the elements of conspiracy between the defendants. The amendment did not allege a confidential relationship between Eldridge and Caterpillar. On May 3, 1976 the trial court overruled Caterpillar's motion to dismiss.

Following the filing of answers by both defendants in which they denied all material allegations of the plaintiff's petition except the existence of the agreement for municipal services and the moratorium agreement, discovery proceedings were undertaken. The several depositions and affidavits which resulted from the discovery processes disclosed that newspaper accounts of the municipal services agreement were read by at least three of the members of the 1966 City Council of Eldridge, but that the council members never read the specific terms of the services agreement, although it was concededly a public document. The discovery processes further disclosed that Caterpillar's attorney told the mayor of Eldridge in 1966 that there were no strings attached to the municipal services agreement and that Eldridge had an equal chance with Davenport to annex Caterpillar's land. The Davenport director of public works stated in his deposition that the specific terms of the services agreement were "fair, reasonable and consistent with accepted practice", and attached to his affidavit copies of service agreements between other cities and industries which were essentially similar to the agreement between Davenport and Caterpillar. Depositions of individuals identified by Eldridge in interrogatories as having knowledge of, or information concerning, the inducement of Eldridge to enter into the moratorium agreement or as having knowledge of a conspiracy between defendants, were also taken. All of such individuals indicated they had no such information or knowledge. An affidavit of the plant controller of Caterpillar indicates that the company would have enjoyed tax advantages by electing to annex to Eldridge rather than to Davenport at the end of the moratorium term.

On January 26, 1977 Caterpillar filed its motion for summary judgment which was later, on February 2, 1977, joined in by Davenport. The motion for summary judgment, although resisted by Eldridge, was sustained on May 23, 1977 upon the following grounds:

(1) the municipal services agreement afforded Caterpillar no special considerations;

(2) there was no evidence of fraud, misrepresentation or conspiracy perpetrated upon the plaintiff by the defendants; and

(3) the alleged misrepresentations of Caterpillar were not material to or relied on by Eldridge in entering into the moratorium agreement.

In its resistance to the motion for summary judgment, Eldridge asserted that a confidential relationship existed between it and Caterpillar.

On June 2, 1977 Eldridge filed its motion pursuant to rule 179, R.C.P., for the court to enlarge or amend its findings and conclusions and for the court to find specifically whether in 1965 and 1966 a confidential, trust or fiduciary relationship existed between Eldridge and Caterpillar. The motion to enlarge was overruled on June 24, 1977, the trial court noting that the finding sought by plaintiff's motion "has been by implication decided against plaintiff" in the previous order sustaining the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

On July 21, Eldridge filed its notice of appeal, appealing both from the court's order sustaining defendants' summary judgment and the order overruling plaintiff's motion to enlarge or amend findings and conclusions under rule 179(b), R.C.P. Notably the notice of appeal was filed within 30 days of the order overruling the motion for enlargement and amendment of findings and conclusions under rule 179(b), but more than 30 days after the order of the trial court sustaining defendants' motion for summary judgment. Caterpillar filed its motion to dismiss the appeal as untimely, and on August 31, by order of this court, such issue was ordered submitted with this appeal.

The following issues are presented for review:

(1) Is a motion under rule 179(b), R.C.P., to enlarge findings and conclusions permissible following a ruling on a motion for summary judgment?

(2) Was there sufficient information before the trial court to generate a genuine issue of material fact on the existence of a fiduciary or confidential relationship between Eldridge and Caterpillar?

(3) Do the pleadings, depositions and answers to interrogatories support a genuine issue of material fact on each of the elements of fraud or conspiracy against Eldridge by the defendants regarding the moratorium agreement?

I. The first issue for review involves the preliminary question as to the timeliness of plaintiff's appeal from the order of the trial court sustaining defendants' motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff's motion under rule 179(b), R.C.P., was filed in a timely manner and, if proper, would have served to toll the running of the 30-day period for appeal as provided for in rule 5 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure. If plaintiff's 179(b) motion was not proper, then the appeal was not taken within the 30-day period following the order of the trial court sustaining the motion for summary judgment and the appeal must be dismissed.

Rule 179 provides:

"(a) The court trying an issue of fact without a jury, whether by equitable or ordinary proceedings, shall find the facts in writing, separately stating its conclusions of law; and direct an appropriate judgment. No request for findings is necessary for purposes of review. * * *

"(b) On motion joined with or filed within the time allowed for a motion for new trial, the findings and conclusions may be enlarged or amended and the judgment or decree modified accordingly or a different judgment or decree substituted. * * *"

Thus it would appear from the first portion of the foregoing rule that it is applicable only when the court is "trying an issue of fact without a jury". We therefore proceed to a consideration as to whether a summary judgment proceeding constitutes the trying of "an issue of fact without a jury".

The basis essential to a summary judgment proceeding is set forth in rule 237(c), R.C.P.:

"* * * The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith 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. * * *"

It is evident a summary judgment proceeding involves a determination that the moving party, not upon a factual resolution of an issue, but as a matter of law, is entitled to judgment. The trial court, in passing on...