Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 20 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2004-CA-01249-SCT.
• Citation: Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Williams, 936 So.2d 888 (Miss. 2006)
• Parties: HARTFORD UNDERWRITERS INSURANCE COMPANY v. Shirley B. WILLIAMS.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 888

936 So.2d 888

HARTFORD UNDERWRITERS INSURANCE COMPANY v. Shirley B. WILLIAMS.

No. 2004-CA-01249-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 20, 2006.

Justin L. Matheny, John P. Sneed, Jackson, Neil Lloyd, Erika L. Csicsila, Marci A. Eisenstein, Catherine M. Masters, Chicago, IL, attorneys for appellant.

R. Brittain Virden, Greenville, attorney for appellee.

Before SMITH, C.J., CARLSON and DICKINSON, JJ.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. This case comes before us on appeal from a jury verdict of $150,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages rendered in favor of Shirley B. Williams and against her auto insurance carrier, Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company. A final judgment was entered by the Circuit Court of Washington County on May 13, 2004; however, the trial court subsequently vacated this judgment and re-entered judgment on June 9, 2004, due to a grant of Hartford's Miss. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from judgment. Because the order to vacate allowed Hartford's otherwise untimely filed motions for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for a new trial and for remittitur to be considered as timely filed and thus appropriately considered on their merits, Williams filed a motion requesting the circuit court to reconsider, and thus requested the court to strike Hartford's three post-trial motions due to untimely filing. Ultimately, Judge W. Ashley Hines (1) denied Williams's motions to reconsider and to strike; and, (2) denied Hartford's post-trial motions for JNOV, new trial and remittitur. Aggrieved by these orders, Hartford has appealed, and Williams has cross-appealed. We reverse and remand as to Hartford's appeal, and affirm as to Williams's cross-appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN THE TRIAL COURT

¶ 2. The facts of this bad faith insurance case stem from an accident which occurred on the night of June 13, 2001, when Shirley Williams's truck collided with Kenneth Amos's tractor. Williams was traveling northbound on Tate Road, a rural road located in Washington County in her Ford Ranger pick-up truck, as Amos was exiting a field in his tractor and preparing to travel southbound on Tate Road. The testimony of Amos and Williams varies as to the following events, except that it is clear that the accident happened in close proximity to a narrow bridge as night was falling.¹ Thus, Williams had her headlights on, and Amos had his tractor's lights fully illuminated.²

¶ 3. Amos's testimony at trial revealed that after disking a field, Amos turned onto Tate Road and stopped his tractor just shy of the bridge in order to shift his tractor into road gear.³ Amos claimed that his tractor was parked as far over to his southbound side of the road as it could be with his front wheels just inside the center line of the road and with the disk he was hauling just over the center line. According to Amos, he first saw Williams coming down Tate Road traveling at an estimated forty to forty-five miles per hour. Amos maintained that as Williams entered the bridge, she locked her brakes and skidded into the front of Amos's tractor. Amos stated that the left front part of Williams's truck hit the left front bracket of a chemical tank located on the front of his tractor. Amos also testified that based on the manner of contact of Williams's truck and his tractor, Williams would have had to have been in his lane of travel. Amos refuted testimony presented by Williams that she hit the disk he was towing, and Amos opined that Williams would have had to have been past his tractor or driven through his rear wheel in order to hit the disk.

¶ 4. Williams painted a different description of the scene at the bridge on Tate Road. Williams testified that as she was crossing the bridge a "blue" vehicle, which Amos never acknowledged existed, traveling south, moved into her northbound lane in order to pass Amos's tractor and then darted back into the southbound lane just in time to get by her. Williams asserted that she was blinded by the bright lights of this unknown vehicle and thus, could not see that Amos had moved into her northbound lane of traffic.⁴ In direct contrast to Amos's testimony, Williams testified that the collision was between the front left portion of her truck and the disk that was attached to Amos's tractor, and that she was traveling at a speed of twenty-five or thirty miles per hour.⁵ According to Williams, the accident happened in a split second, and when she saw Amos's tractor in her lane she applied her brakes, slowed her vehicle, but still skidded into Amos's tractor.

¶ 5. Officer Kevin McCoy responded to the accident and arrived on the scene at 9:34 p.m. Upon arrival, Officer McCoy interviewed Amos and Williams, and completed an accident report. However, Officer McCoy did not determine fault; he issued no citations; and, he reported only the divergent views of the accident participants. Of note, the accident report contained a diagram of the post-accident scene which roughly portrayed a head-on collision with Amos's tractor impeding on Williams's lane of travel. Despite this diagram, Officer McCoy did not mark the "drove on the wrong side of the road" code provided on the accident report. Interestingly, the accident report did not reveal that either party was blinded by headlights.

¶ 6. The collision crumpled the front left fender of Williams's vehicle; however, no injuries were recorded, and no emergency vehicles were called. Amos testified that as Williams emerged from her vehicle, she did not complain of injuries, but instead, she expressed gratitude that the accident was not any worse than it was. However, Williams was subsequently taken to the Delta Regional Medical Center by her cousin and her daughter's boyfriend, and she was treated at the Medical Center for soreness in her neck, shoulder, back and legs. Williams later received therapy at the Metro Physical Clinic for persistent pain associated with the accident. Her medical bills totaled $8,779.71.

¶ 7. Following the accident, Williams filed multiple claims with Hartford for medical expenses, collision damage to her truck, rental car expenses, and ultimately, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage because Amos had no liability insurance coverage on his tractor. Hartford asserted that it immediately began adjusting Williams's claims and cited the $5,000 maximum medical payment it made to Williams, the total loss value paid to her for the value of her truck, and the $439.32 of the $600.00 maximum it paid to her for rental car expenses.⁶ Hartford maintained that on November 6, 2001, Williams informed Hartford of Amos's alleged role in the accident, and the existence of the accident report. Further, Hartford made note of a default judgment Williams received against Amos, and asserted that in contravention of her insurance policy, Williams improperly withheld information from Hartford concerning her lawsuit against Amos and his lack of insurance coverage.

¶ 8. On April 30, 2002, Hartford denied Williams's UM claim. On May 14, 2002, Williams submitted to Hartford evidence of the default judgment rendered against Amos and urged Hartford to reconsider its decision to deny her claim. Shortly thereafter, Hartford again denied Williams's UM claim. On June 27, 2002, Williams filed her suit against Hartford.

¶ 9. At trial, Williams asserted two claims. First, she alleged Hartford breached its contract with her regarding her uninsured motorist coverage and, second, that her uninsured motorist claim was denied in bad faith. Williams sought $104,198 in compensatory damages, and $1,000,000 in punitive damages. Before submitting the case to the jury for consideration, the trial judge made a determination that, as a matter of law, there was a disputed question of fact concerning the issue of punitive damages. The jury ultimately returned a verdict in Williams's favor, awarding her both compensatory damages in the amount of $150,000, and punitive damages in the amount of $1.5 million.

¶ 10. On May 13, 2004, the trial judge entered final judgment consistent with the jury verdict in favor of Williams. On May 28, 2004, Hartford, who missed its deadline to file post-trial motions, filed a Rule 60(b) motion to have the final judgment vacated due to exceptional circumstances. See Miss. R. Civ. P. 60(b). On June 13, 2004, Hartford's motion was granted, and Hartford subsequently filed its post-trial motions, which were denied on their merits on October 5, 2004. On October 8, 2004, Hartford appealed the three orders of the circuit court by filing a notice of appeal which was supplemental to the "protective" notice of appeal filed on June 11, 2004. Seven days later, Williams filed a cross-appeal concerning the circuit court's decision to vacate its original judgment and to deny her motion to reconsider that decision. We now address the issues raised in the respective appeals.

DISCUSSION

¶ 11. A trial judge's decision to grant relief under Rule 60(b) is subject to review under an abuse of discretion standard. M.A.S. v. Mississippi Dept. of Human Services, 842 So.2d 527, 530 (Miss. 2003) (citing Telephone Man, Inc. v. Hinds County, 791 So.2d 208, 210 (Miss.2001); Moore v. Jacobs, 752 So.2d 1013, 1015 (Miss.1999)). Thus, we must defer to the trial judge's discretion, but note that consideration of a Rule 60(b) motion requires that an important balance be struck between granting a litigant a hearing on the merits with the need and desire to achieve finality. Lose v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R.R., 584 So.2d 1284, 1286 (Miss.1991) (quoting Stringfellow v. Stringfellow, 451 So.2d 219, 221 (Miss.1984)).

¶ 12. We will reverse a trial judge's denial of a motion for a new trial only when such denial amounts to an abuse of that judge's discretion. Whitten v. Cox, 799 So.2d 1, 7 (Miss.2000); Sentinel Indus. Contracting Corp. v. Kimmins Indus. Serv. Corp., 743 So.2d 954, 960-61 (Miss. 1999) (citations omitted). These standards of review, however, are...