Edwards v. Passarelli Bros. Automotive Service, Inc.
| Decision Date | 30 November 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 39941,39941 |
| Citation | 25 A.L.R.3d 1087,8 Ohio St.2d 6,221 N.E.2d 708,37 O.O.2d 298 |
| Parties | , 25 A.L.R.3d 1087, 37 O.O.2d 298 EDWARDS, Appellant, v. PASSARELLI BROS. AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE, INC., Appellee. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. A party who is entitled to an entry of an order of satisfaction of a judgment previously rendered against him may obtain an order for such entry on motion and proof of payment.
2. Where an advance payment is made to a possible tort-claimant upon condition that such payment is to be credited to the amount of any final settlement or judgment in favor of such tort-claimant, such sum shall be credited to any final judgment in a hearing upon a motion for an order for satisfaction of judgment.
This cause arose out of an automobile accident occurring in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 13, 1962, wherein the vehicle of Passarelli Bros. Automotive Service, Inc., hereinafter referred to as defendant, struck the vehicle of Allard L. Edwards, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, from the rear. Plaintiff suffered bodily injury and property damage. Thereafter, on November 27, 1962, and on January 17, 1963, sums totaling $1,574.25 were paid either directly to plaintiff or to South Side Hospital, Youngstown, Ohio, in payment of plaintiff's hospital bill. On each of the above occasions, payment was made by defendant's insurer on behalf of defendant pursuant to a written agreement (receipt) signed by plaintiff and acknowledged by two witnesses. A copy of the printed form used as the agreement follows:
'RECEIPT FOR ADVANCE PAYMENT
'(This is not a release)
'This is to acknowledge receipt of ..... paid on behalf of ..... to be credited to the total amount of any final settlement or judgment in my/our favor for alleged damages resulting from an accident on ....., 19.. at ..... I/We authorize that the above sum be distributed as follows: .....
Date ..........
..........
Witness
..........
Witness
..........
Claimant
..........
Spouse
The parties were later unable to agree on a settlement, and the case when to trial, which, on November 6, 1964, resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $10,000.
On December 5, 1964, after the judgment of November 6 had become final, defendant paid into the office of the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas the sum of $8,493.09 representing the amount of the judgment in full with interest and costs less the advance payments aggregating $1,547.25. On the same date, defendant filed a motion for the entry of an order of satisfaction of judgment.
The motion was heard by the court on December 10, 1964. At that time it was stipulated by all parties that all the information concerning the advance payments was known by all the parties and their attorneys before the time of the trial. Copies of the original drafts issued to plaintiff and the hospital and the receipts thereto were received in evidence.
Plaintiff was not present at this hearing. At the request of his counsel further hearing was continued to December 14, 1964. Plaintiff was again absent on December 14. A motion by plaintiff's counsel dismiss defendant's motion for satisfaction of judgment was overruled.
Thereupon, the court, on March 5, 1965, entered its order of satisfaction of judgment.
That judgment was unanimously affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
The cause is before this court on an appeal as of right and pursuant to the allowance of a motion to certify the record.
Leo Waldman, Youngstown, for appellant.
Pfau, Pfau & Comstock, Youngstown, Arter, Hadden, Wykoff & Van Duzer, Cleveland, William E. Pfau, Jr., Youngstown, Thomas V. Koykka and William A. Kyler, Cleveland, for appellee.
The instant case presents a problem that is novel to Ohio and, perhaps, as counsel for defendant suggests, to the entire country. In essence, plaintiff is attempting to recover $11,574.25 from a $10,000 judgment.
Here, plaintiff has received $1,574.25 from defendant's insurer and has signed a receipt therefor. The receipt is clear and unambiguous. It states that a certain sum has been paid on behalf of a named person for alleged damages resulting from a certain accident and that such sum is to be credited to any final...
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Northern Indiana Public Service Co. v. Otis
...The court also concluded that such agreement should not be disclosed to the jury. Recently, in Edwards v. Passarelli Bros. Automotive Service, Inc., 8 Ohio St.2d 6, 221 N.E.2d 708 (1966), the court held that evidence of advance payments was not admissible at trial. In Edwards v. Passarelli ......
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Doe v. Pak
...255 N.W.2d 135 (Iowa 1977) ; Russell v. Ashe Brick Co., 267 S.C. 640, 230 S.E.2d 814 (1976) ; Edwards v. Passarelli Bros. Auto. Serv. Inc., 8 Ohio St.2d 6, 221 N.E.2d 708 (1966). To date, there has been only one jurisdiction to deny a credit for an advanced payment. In Matthews v. Watkins M......
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Klier v. Siegel
...was proper method to obtain credit for settlement payments advanced to defendant before trial); Edwards v. Passarelli Brothers Automotive Service, Inc. (1966), 8 Ohio St.2d 6, 221 N.E.2d 708 (principle of res judicata did not prevent judgment debtor from obtaining credit for payments advanc......
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Douglas v. Adams Trucking Co.
...Inc., 428 So. 2d 624 (Ala. 1983); Russell v. Ashe Brick Co., 267 S.C. 640, 230 S.E.2d 814 (1976); Edwards v. Passarelli Bros. Auto. Serv., Inc., 8 Ohio St. 2d 6, 221 N.E.2d 708 (1966). See also State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Rose, 52 Ark. App. 175, 916 S.W.2d 764 (1996) (liability carrie......