Foxworth ex rel. Estate of Durden v. Kia Motors
| Decision Date | 30 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 5:04cv122/MCR.,No. 5:04cv90/MCR.,5:04cv90/MCR.,5:04cv122/MCR. |
| Citation | 377 F.Supp.2d 1196 |
| Parties | Patricia FOXWORTH, as Administratrix of the ESTATE OF Christopher Allen DURDEN, deceased, Plaintiff, v. KIA MOTORS CORPORATION; Emerald Auto Sales, Inc.; and Kia Motors America, Inc., Defendants. Debra Woodward, as Administratrix of the Estate of Justin Vallieres, deceased, Plaintiff, v. Kia Motors Corporation; Emerald Auto Sales, Inc.; and Kia Motors America, Inc., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida |
Gerald B. Taylor, Jr., Benjamin E. Baker, Jr., Beasley Allen Crow, etc., Montgomery, AL, for Plaintiffs.
Larry Martin Roth, Martin Jerome Jaffe, Roth Powell & Pearson PA., Winter Park, FL, for Defendants.
These consolidated cases come before the Court upon the motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment filed or joined in by Defendants Kia Motors Corporation ("Kia Corporation"), Kia Motors America, Inc., ("Kia America"), and Emerald Auto Sales, Inc., ("Emerald Auto") (together, "Defendants"),1 to which motions Plaintiff Patricia Foxworth ("Foxworth") and Plaintiff Debra Woodward ("Woodward") (together, "Plaintiffs") have responded in opposition.2 For the reasons given below, the Court grants Defendants' motions for summary judgment and denies their motions to dismiss as moot.
The following facts relevant to Defendants' motions for summary judgment are undisputed. . The events giving rise to the instant actions occurred October 16, 1999. On that date Christopher Allen Durden and Justin Vallieres were killed in Jackson County, Florida, when the 1998 Kia Sephia automobile in which they were riding collided with another vehicle and caught fire. Foxworth and Woodward, the administratrixes of the respective decedents' estates, filed separate actions against Defendants in the Circuit Court of Houston County, Alabama,3 on September 7, 2001. After consolidating the cases, the trial court denied Defendants' motions seeking dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 6-5-430.4 Defendants then filed a petition for writ of mandamus in the Alabama Supreme Court, including a notice of waiver of defenses based upon the statute of limitations. The Alabama Supreme Court granted Defendants' petition and ordered the lower court to dismiss the actions so that they could be refiled in Jackson County, Florida. See Ex parte Kia Motors America, Inc., 881 So.2d 396 (Ala.2003). On remand, the trial court on November 17, 2003, entered an order dismissing Plaintiffs' cases with prejudice. Plaintiffs immediately filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment to reflect that dismissal was without prejudice, which motion the court granted on December 12, 2003. Foxworth filed her instant complaint in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Florida, on February 17, 2004, and Woodward filed her complaint on March 19, 2004. Kia America and Emerald Auto removed Plaintiffs' cases to federal court on April 9, 2004, and May 18, 2004, respectively, asserting diversity jurisdiction. This Court, finding that diversity jurisdiction was proper, denied Foxworth's motion to remand on May 19, 2004. (Case No. 5:04cv90/MCR doc. 44). On June 10, 2004, the Court granted Foxworth's motion to consolidate her case with Woodward's; the Court also stayed the consolidated cases pending disposition of the motions to dismiss and for summary judgment. (Id., doc. 48).
A motion for summary judgment should be granted when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED.R.CIV.P. 56; Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). A factual dispute is "`genuine' if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A fact is "material" if it "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing [substantive] law." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Tipton v. Bergrohr GMBH-Siegen, 965 F.2d 994, 998 (11th Cir.1992).
The movant carries the initial burden and must show that there is "an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548. "Only when that burden has been met does the burden shift to the nonmoving party to demonstrate that there is indeed a material issue of fact that precludes summary judgment." Clark v. Coats & Clark, Inc., 929 F.2d 604, 608 (11th Cir.1991). The nonmovant is then required "to go beyond the pleadings" and present competent evidence in the form of affidavits, depositions, admissions, and the like, designating "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Evidence presented in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, and all factual inferences arising from it, must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970); Jones v. Cannon, 174 F.3d 1271, 1281 (11th Cir.1999). Nevertheless, the existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the nonmovant's position is insufficient; the test is "whether there is [evidence] upon which a jury could properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it, upon whom the onus of proof is imposed." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505.
In their memoranda Defendants acknowledge that in connection with their petition for writ of mandamus to the Alabama Supreme Court they consented to waive any defense based upon the statute of limitations. . Defendants maintain, however, that consistent with the language set forth in § 6-5-430, they explicitly limited this consent to an action commenced in Florida within sixty days of entry of an order of dismissal by the Circuit Court of Houston County, Alabama.5 According to Defendants, the sixty days consented-to waiver period commenced November 17, 2003, when the trial court issued its initial order dismissing the actions with prejudice, and terminated January 16, 2004; alternatively, Defendants contend that the period commenced on December 12, 2003, when the trial court granted the motion to amend the judgment to reflect dismissal without prejudice, and terminated on February 10, 2004. Defendants point out that, even assuming Plaintiffs had until February 10, 2004, in which to file their complaints in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Florida, neither Plaintiff in fact did so by that date. According to Defendants, because Plaintiffs failed to file their complaints within the sixty days period provided by § 6-5-430 and Defendants' express waiver, the two years limitations period set forth in Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(d) for wrongful death actions should apply to bar Plaintiffs' claims.
Plaintiffs respond that Defendants have waived the right to assert the statute of limitations as a defense or, alternatively, that Defendants are barred from raising this defense by the doctrine of equitable estoppel. . According to Plaintiffs, in Ex parte Kia the Alabama Supreme Court interpreted § 6-5-430 as requiring the waiver of "`any defense based upon the statute of limitations,'" then specifically found that Defendants in fact had waived "any" such defense. (See, e.g., Case No. 5:04cv122/MCR doc. 12 at 2). Plaintiffs assert that they are entitled to rely on this interpretation and finding in the Alabama Supreme Court's opinion as well as on the trial court's order of dismissal, neither of which imposed any deadlines or restrictions on Plaintiffs for filing their cases in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Florida. Moreover, Plaintiffs contend, Defendants failed to ask either court to clarify or amend its order to impose any filing deadline. Plaintiffs also maintain that they filed their actions in Alabama within Florida's applicable limitations period, thus giving Defendants proper and timely notice, but that Defendants' own actions in seeking dismissal caused an extensive delay which ultimately resulted in Plaintiffs being forced to refile their claims in Florida. Plaintiffs complain that Defendants should not be permitted to profit from their own silence or the very conduct which caused the protraction of this litigation. Plaintiffs also submit that Defendants have suffered no unfair surprise and have not been required to defend stale claims as a result of any late-filing of the complaints.
As an initial matter, the Court notes that in this diversity case it is required to apply the laws of Florida, the forum state in which it sits. See Gasperini v. Center for Humanities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415, 427, 116 S.Ct. 2211, 2219, 135 L.Ed.2d 659 (1996); LaTorre v. Conn. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 38 F.3d 538, 540 (11th Cir.1994). In particular, in this case the Court applies Florida's statute of limitations for wrongful death actions, which provides that such actions accrue two years from the date of death. See Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(d); Fulton County Adm'r v. Sullivan, 753 So.2d 549, 552 (Fla.1999). Therefore, pursuant to the two years limitations period provided by § 95.11(4)(d), absent tolling or some other delay, Plaintiffs in this matter would have had until October 16, 2001, in which to file their wrongful death actions.6
The Court is satisfied that Defendants have met their initial summary judgment burden of demonstrating that Plaintiffs' instant actions are time-barred....
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