Gaunt v. State Farm Mutual Ins.

• Decision Date: 18 April 2000
• Parties: (Mo.App. W.D. 2000) Gloria Gaunt and Stephen Gaunt, Appellants, v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant, Shannon S. McBroom and Norman L. Ernst, Respondents. WD57164 0
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

24 S.W.3d 130 (Mo.App. W.D. 2000)

Gloria Gaunt and Stephen Gaunt, Appellants, v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant, Shannon S. McBroom and Norman L. Ernst, Respondents.

WD57164

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

04/18/2000

Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jackson County, Hon. David W. Shinn

Counsel for Appellant: Kathleen M. Hagen and Patrick J. Berrigan

Counsel for Respondent: Russell C. Ashley and Daniel R. DeFoe

Opinion Summary: This appeal arises out of a jury verdict and judgment thereon for Gloria Gaunt, the appellant, and against Shannon McBroom and Norman Ernst, the respondents, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) on the appellant's claim for damages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The accident involved four vehicles: the appellant's; McBroom's; Ernst's; and a phantom vehicle, an uninsured motor vehicle covered under the appellant's policy of insurance with State Farm. The jury's verdict, by its express terms, apportioned fault among the parties below as follows: 20 percent to State Farm; 55 percent to McBroom; 25 percent to Ernst; and 0 percent to the appellant. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict as returned by the jury, which became final on February 19, 1999, and was not appealed. After judgment, the parties paid the following sums: State Farm, $5,000; McBroom, $13,750; and Ernst, $6,250, for a total of $25,000. Although requested by McBroom and Ernst, the appellant refused to acknowledge satisfaction of the judgment, claiming that the $5,000 payment from State Farm was a "collateral source" payment under the appellant's contract of insurance with State Farm, not a payment by a jointly and severally liable tort-feasor in satisfaction of the $25,000 judgment, such that McBroom and Ernst were still jointly and severally liable for $5,000 on the judgment. Thereafter, McBroom and Ernst each filed a Rule 74.11(c) motion for an order showing satisfaction of the judgment, which motions were sustained. The appellant appeals the orders of the trial court showing satisfaction of judgment.

In her sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in ordering satisfaction of her judgment because the $5,000 paid by State Farm was a "collateral source" payment, which, by law, could not be credited against the judgment owed by the joint tort-feasors McBroom and Ernst, in that State Farm made the payment as the contractually obligated insurer under the appellant's policy of insurance and not as a joint tort-feasor under the judgment.

Division Three holds: Under the collateral source rule, McBroom and Ernst, in an attempt to mitigate any award of damages against them for their alleged acts of negligence, would have been prohibited from introducing at trial evidence of any payments by State Farm to the appellant under the policy for uninsured motorist coverage for the negligent acts of the phantom driver. Although McBroom and Ernst have no quarrel with the law as to the collateral source rule, they dispute the attempt of the appellant to apply it here such that State Farm's $5,000 payment should not be credited against the judgment. In contending that the collateral source rule did not apply, McBroom and Ernst argue that, under the judgment sought to be satisfied by their Rule 74.11(c) motions, State Farm was treated, as were they, as a joint tort-feasor, rather than as an insurance carrier, whose liability was predicated on its contract of insurance with the appellant.

Under the judgment as rendered, the appellant was entitled to receipt of only one satisfaction of judgment and such receipt from any of the tort-feasors, solely or in combination, would bar any further recovery by her from the other tort-feasors for the same injuries claimed. As such, under joint and several liability, State Farm's $5,000 payment was required to be credited against the $25,000 judgment for the appellant, which, when coupled with the payments of McBroom and Ernst, sufficed to satisfy the appellant's judgment, supporting the trial court's Rule 74.11(c) orders, which are under attack in this appeal.

The judgment here was never appealed. As such, the contractual claim of the appellant against State Farm merged into the judgment entered, such that the attempt by the appellant to rely on it in the Rule 74.11(c) proceedings below to thwart the effect of the judgment as entered was a collateral attack on it in an attempt to impeach or annul it.

Edwin H. Smith, Judge

This appeal arises out of a jury verdict and judgment thereon for Gloria Gaunt, the appellant, and against Shannon McBroom and Norman Ernst, the respondents, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) on the appellant's claim for damages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident.¹ The accident involved four vehicles: the appellant's; McBroom's; Ernst's; and a phantom vehicle, an uninsured motor vehicle covered under the appellant's policy of insurance with State Farm. The jury's verdict, by its express terms, apportioned fault among the parties below as follows: 20 percent to State Farm; 55 percent to McBroom; 25 percent to Ernst; and 0 percent to the appellant. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict as returned by the jury, which became final on February 19, 1999, and was not appealed. After judgment, the parties paid the following sums: State Farm, $5,000; McBroom, $13,750; and Ernst, $6,250, for a total of $25,000. Although requested by McBroom and Ernst, the appellant refused to acknowledge satisfaction of the judgment, claiming that the $5,000 payment from State Farm was a "collateral source" payment under the appellant's contract of insurance with State Farm, not a payment by a jointly and severally liable tort-feasor in satisfaction of the $25,000 judgment, such that McBroom and Ernst were still jointly and severally liable for $5,000 on the judgment. Thereafter, McBroom and Ernst each filed a Rule 74.11(c)² motion for an order showing satisfaction of the judgment, which motions were sustained. The appellant appeals the orders of the trial court showing satisfaction of judgment.

In her sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in ordering satisfaction of her judgment because the $5,000 paid by State Farm was a "collateral source" payment, which, by law, could not be credited against the judgment owed by the joint tort-feasors McBroom and Ernst, in that State Farm made the payment as the contractually obligated insurer under the appellant's policy of insurance and not as a joint tort-feasor under the judgment.

We affirm.

Facts

On October 18, 1996, the appellant was driving north on Interstate 35 in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. As she approached the Paseo Bridge, a vehicle ahead of her, the phantom vehicle, slowed or came to a stop on the highway, causing her to slow. As she did, the vehicles being driven by McBroom and Ernst collided with her vehicle, causing her injuries.

On July 14, 1997, the appellant and her husband, Steven Gaunt, filed a two-count petition for damages in the Circuit Court of Jackson County against McBroom, Ernst, and State Farm. In Count I, the appellant alleged that she sustained personal injuries as a direct result of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by McBroom, Ernst, and the phantom driver. In Count II, the appellant's husband alleged a claim for loss of consortium as a result of the injuries to the appellant. Each of the defendants filed an answer denying any liability.

The case proceeded to a jury trial and, on January 14, 1999, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellant on her claim, finding that she had sustained damages in the total amount of $25,000 and assessing percentages of fault to the named defendants as follows: State Farm, 20 percent; McBroom, 55 percent; and Ernst, 25 percent. On Mr. Gaunt's loss of consortium claim, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. On January 20, 1999, the trial court entered judgment for $25,000 for the appellant and against State Farm, McBroom, and Ernst. No appeal was taken from this judgment, which became final thirty days later, on February 19, 1999.After the judgment was entered, the defendants made the following payments, totaling $25,000: State Farm, $5,000; McBroom, $13,750; and Ernst, $6,250. However, the appellant refused to acknowledge that the judgment had been satisfied, demanding that McBroom and Ernst pay an additional $5,000, contending that State Farm's payment was a collateral source payment which could not be credited against the judgment. As a result, on March 16, 1999, McBroom filed a motion for an order showing satisfaction of judgment, pursuant to Rule 74.11(c). Ernst did likewise, filing his motion on March 22, 1999. On April 20, 1999, the trial court sustained the motions and ordered the Circuit Clerk to enter satisfaction of the judgment.

Pursuant to section 512.020,³ the appellant appeals from the special orders of the trial court.

Standard of Review

The appellant appeals from the Rule 74.11(c) special orders of the trial court, Helton Constr. Co. v. High Point Shopping Ctr., Inc., 838 S.W.2d 87, 91-92 (Mo. App. 1992), which are to be reviewed the same as any other judge-tried case, under the standard set forth in Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). Vanderford v. Cameron Mut. Ins. Co., 915 S.W.2d 391, 392 (Mo. App. 1996). As such, we will affirm the orders of the trial court unless there is no substantial evidence to support them, they are against the weight of the evidence, or they erroneously declare or apply the law. Martin v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co., 996 S.W.2d 506, 508 (Mo. banc 1999).

I.

In her sole point on appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court erred in ordering satisfaction of the judgment because the $5,000 paid by State Farm was a "collateral source" payment, which, by law,...