Desroches v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.
| Decision Date | 01 April 1983 |
| Citation | 429 So.2d 1010 |
| Parties | Hazel DESROCHES v. RYDER TRUCK RENTAL, INC., etc. 81-834. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Norman J. Gale, Jr. of Clay, Massey & Gale, Mobile, for appellant.
Mack B. Binion and Thomas O. Bear of Lyons, Pipes & Cook, Mobile, for appellee.
This is an appeal by the defendant, Hazel Desroches, from a summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. We affirm.
Resolution of the issue necessitates consideration of Rule 13(a), Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.
Hazel Desroches is the mother of two sons whose deaths were occasioned by an automobile collision. She executed two release agreements and covenants not to sue in exchange for a certain aggregate sum of money. Later Mrs. Desroches brought a civil action for the wrongful deaths of her sons against several defendants, based upon that collision. The defendants named in her action were Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.; Ryder System, Inc.; Complete Auto Transit, Inc.; and Eugene D. Martin, who was the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the accident. Complete Auto Transit was the operator of that vehicle and Ryder Truck Rental was the lessor.
The defendants in Mrs. Desroches's lawsuit relied upon the release agreements as a basis for their defense, and in addition counterclaimed against the plaintiff for her alleged breach of those agreements for the amount of their costs, fees and expenses in their defense to her claims. In that case the circuit court ordered separate trials on the issues of (a) liability and (b) the validity of the releases. Subsequently the trial court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the counterclaim "without prejudice," and granted summary judgment against Mrs. Desroches on the issue dealing with the validity of the releases. That order and judgment were affirmed on appeal to this Court. Desroches v. Complete Auto Transit, Inc., Ala., 409 So.2d 417 (1982).
Later, Ryder Truck Rental instituted the instant action against Mrs. Desroches, the gist of which claimed damages represented by attorneys' fees, expenses and costs in the amount of $12,818.47 incurred on account of the breach by Mrs. Desroches of her releases and covenants not to sue. The defendant, Mrs. Desroches, defended on the ground that, since the plaintiff's present claim was previously filed as a counterclaim, and was a compulsory counterclaim under Rule 13(a), A.R.Civ.P., its re-litigation in this present action was barred. 1 We disagree.
Rule 13(a), on compulsory counterclaims, in relevant part states:
"A pleading shall state as a counterclaim any claim which at the time of serving the pleading the pleader has against any opposing party, if it arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party's claim and does not require for its adjudication the presence of third parties of whom the court cannot acquire jurisdiction...."
Is a claim for attorneys' fees, costs and expenses arising out of the breach of a release agreement one which arose "out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party's claim?" To answer that question, it must be kept in mind that the occurrence in Mrs. Desroches's claim was the death of her children in the automobile collision, not her subsequent settlement, or the mechanics of her settlement, of her claim arising out of that transaction. Hence, the subjects of the counterclaim against her later legal action were not a compulsory counterclaim within the meaning of Rule 13(a). Indeed, those items alleged as counterclaims were not fixed in amount until the litigation in the first action was completed. This conclusion appears to accord with the tests suggested for similar issues arising under federal Rule 13(a), after which our rule is patterned:
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Ex parte Dill, Dill, Carr, Stonbraker & Hutchings, PC
...raised by the claims are largely the same and whether the same evidence will support or refute the claims. See Desroches v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 429 So.2d 1010 (Ala. 1983). For example, in Penick v. Cado Systems of Central Alabama, Inc., 628 So.2d 598, 600 (Ala.1993), this Court held t......
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Bunnett v. Smallwood
...and Gas Co., 717 F.Supp. 1211 (N.D.Tex.1989); Borbely v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 547 F.Supp. 959 (D.N.J.1981); Desroches v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 429 So.2d 1010 (Ala.1983); Colton v. New York Hospital, 53 A.D.2d 588, 385 N.Y.S.2d 65 (1976); Scott v. Reedy, 5 Ohio Dec. Reprint 388 (Ohi......
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Webb v. State of Ala., Dept. of Pensions and Sec.
...was predicated on the same evidence test--a test not met by this case. A logical relationship was not found in Desroches v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 429 So.2d 1010 (Ala.1983), because a claim for breach of a covenant not to sue was not a compulsory counterclaim in a wrongful death action. ......
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Gruver v. Midas Intern. Corp.
...fees. There are cases in a minority of jurisdictions supporting what the district court did here. See, e.g., Desroches v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 429 So.2d 1010 (Ala.1983); Colton v. New York Hosp., 53 A.D.2d 588, 385 N.Y.S.2d 65 (1976). There are no such decisions, however, from the Oreg......