Jones v. Sanger
| Decision Date | 26 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 32048.,32048. |
| Citation | 618 S.E.2d 573 |
| Parties | William E. JONES, Plaintiff Below, Appellant, v. Steven L. SANGER and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendants Below, Appellees. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Ralph C. Young, Hamilton Burgess Young Pollard Hewitt & Salvatore, P.L.L.C., Fayetteville, for Appellant.
Gary E. Pullin, Woody A. Trent, Pullin, Fowler & Flanagan, P.L.L.C., Charleston, for Appellees.
This matter is before the Court on appeal from the March 5, 2004, Order of the Circuit Court of Fayette County denying Plaintiff's Motion for Award of Attorney Fees and Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend the Complaint. This Court has before it the petition for appeal, the response to the petition for appeal, the briefs of the parties, and all matters of record. Following the arguments of the parties and a review of the record herein, this Court finds that existing case law supports the position of the Appellee over that of the Appellant. Accordingly we affirm the March 5, 2004, Order of the circuit court denying Plaintiff's Motion for Award of Attorney Fees and Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend the Complaint.
On January 21, 1992, Appellant William E. Jones was a guest passenger in the back seat of a vehicle owned and operated by his father, Woodrow W. Jones. William's mother, Edith Jones, was a passenger in the front seat of the vehicle. The Jones vehicle was proceeding in an easterly direction on West Virginia Route 612 in Fayette County while a vehicle driven by Appellee Steven L. Sanger was proceeding in a westerly direction on the same road. Sanger crossed the center line and struck the Jones vehicle head-on after losing control of his vehicle.
Edith Jones died while trapped in the vehicle. William and Woodrow Jones were also trapped in the vehicle, and each suffered injuries. Specifically, William Jones' knee caps were shattered. William Jones, who was 39 years old at the time of the accident, has suffered from cerebral palsy all of his life and lived with his parents, who cared for him. Up until the time of the accident, William's legs were atrophied such that his knees were locked in a semi-flexed position. After his knee caps were shattered in the accident, William's legs were locked in an even more flexed position. He required extensive care and was confined to his home for a period of months. His medical bills and attendant care expenses were $4415.80.
Sanger, who was insured by Aetna, had a $50,000 single limit liability policy. A settlement was reached, and that money was apportioned between William Jones, Woodrow Jones, Woodrow Jones as the administrator of the estate of Edith Jones, and a guest passenger in Sanger's car. Each party received $12,500. State Farm, the Joneses' insurer and carrier of their underinsured motorist coverage policy, waived subrogation.
The Joneses and State Farm engaged in settlement talks beginning in December of 1992 when the Joneses made a demand for the policy limits of $850,000. State Farm asserts that it understood the demand to include all claims by the Jones family, including those of William Jones for his personal injuries. State Farm eventually made an offer of $287,500 to settle the wrongful death case and $62,500 to settle both the personal injury claims of Woodrow and William Jones. The Joneses rejected the offer.
Woodrow Jones eventually settled his individual claim and his claim on behalf of the estate of Edith Jones for underinsured motorist benefits with State Farm. William Jones (hereinafter "Jones") was not able to reach a settlement agreement with State Farm, however, and he filed suit in the Circuit Court of Fayette County on January 18, 1994, naming Sanger and State Farm as defendants. He sought $250,000 in damages.
In August of 1994, State Farm offered $12,500 to settle all claims with Jones, including any bad faith or unfair settlement practices claims. On December 19, 1994, counsel for Jones inquired by letter as to whether the offer for $12,500 was to settle Jones' personal injury claims or his personal injury claims and any claims for bad faith and unfair settlement practices. State Farm replied that the offer was made to settle all claims. Jones countered that he wished to entertain an offer to settle his personal injury claim only. On January 5, 1995, State Farm offered $12,500 to settle Jones' personal injury claim. The offer was not accepted. State Farm was eventually dismissed as a defendant to the suit.
The case against Sanger proceeded to trial on May 7, 1996, following which a verdict was entered in favor of Sanger. Jones thereafter filed a motion for a new trial, but the motion was denied. Jones then appealed, and on December 15, 1998, this Court reversed and remanded the case for a new trial, finding multiple errors which included the dismissal of State Farm as a defendant.1 The case was not tried a second time, however, because the parties embarked upon extensive settlement talks.
On November 9, 1999, Jones and State Farm entered into their first mediation, which failed. On February 19, 2002, State Farm issued a check in the amount of $25,000 made payable to Jones. The note accompanying the check made it clear that the payment was to be applied to any future settlement of the underinsured motorist claim.
A second mediation began on June 2, 2003. Jones initially demanded $150,000 in addition to the $25,000 previously paid to him by State Farm. State Farm offered $64,000, which Jones and the mediator believed to be "new money" in addition to the previously paid $25,000, but which State Farm intended to include the previously paid $25,000. Jones accepted what he believed to be the offer of $64,000 in addition to the $25,000 previously paid. He indicated that he intended for the settlement only to resolve his personal injury claims. The mediation broke down, however, when State Farm asserted that it had not intended to offer the $64,000 as new money after all. Jones filed a Motion to Compel Settlement on June 16, 2003. Jones asserts that the trial court rejected the motion finding that there had been no meeting of the minds.2 The mediator thereafter submitted a letter to the circuit court suggesting that a settlement conference with the court might be helpful to resolve the matter, but no such conference ever took place. Nonetheless, Jones and State Farm eventually settled Jones' personal injury claim for a total of $76,500, which represented the $25,000 previously paid by State Farm to Jones plus $51,500 in new money.
Thereafter, on September 2, 2003, Jones filed Plaintiff's Motion for Award of Attorney Fees and Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend the Complaint. Jones asserted in his motion that he had substantially prevailed in the matter, thereby entitling him to attorney fees in the presumptive amount of one-third of the amount paid under the policy, plus costs. He further asked that he be allowed to amend his complaint to include claims for consequential damages, such as annoyance, aggravation, and inconvenience; unfair claims settlement practices; and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.
State Farm argued that given the totality of negotiations dating back to 1992, Jones did not substantially prevail. State Farm made no objection in its response to the Motion for Leave to Amend the Complaint.
A hearing regarding the motions was conducted on September 29, 2003. During that hearing, State Farm stated that, under the standard that leave to amend should be freely given, it had no objection to Jones amending the complaint. The court then expressly stated,
An order addressing the motions was not issued until March 5, 2004. In that order, the court concluded that under Jordan v. National Grange Mutual Ins. Co., 183 W.Va. 9, 393 S.E.2d 647 (1990) and Miller v. Fluharty, 201 W.Va. 685, 500 S.E.2d 310 (1997), Jones had not substantially prevailed in the case and, therefore, was not entitled to recover attorney fees. The court then found that because Jones had not substantially prevailed in the case, the claims which he sought to assert in an amended complaint were moot. Accordingly, the court denied Plaintiff's Motion for Award of Attorney Fees and Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend the Complaint.
Jones now appeals the court's ruling, arguing that the court erred in finding that he did not substantially prevail such as would entitle him to recover his attorney fees and that the court erred by denying the motion to amend the complaint after initially granting the motion.
This Court has indicated that it will review a trial court's determination of whether a plaintiff has "substantially prevailed" in an insurance claim, such as the one presently before the Court, under an abuse of discretion standard. See generally, Syl. Pt. 4, Burgess v. Porterfield, 196 W.Va. 178, 469 S.E.2d 114 (1996). This Court has also held that "' .' ." Boggs v. Camden-Clark Memorial Hosp. Corp., 216 W.Va. 656, 609 S.E.2d 917 (2004). Accordingly, we will review this case...
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