Luna v. Luna
| Decision Date | 11 April 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 20170994-CA,20170994-CA |
| Citation | 442 P.3d 1155 |
| Parties | Luis LUNA, Appellant, v. Maria LUNA, Appellee. |
| Court | Utah Court of Appeals |
Daniel F. Bertch, Salt Lake City, Attorney for Appellant
Joel D. Taylor and Matthew D. Church, Salt Lake City, Attorneys for Appellee
Opinion
¶ 1 While giving her brother Luis Luna (Luna) a ride to work, Maria Luna (Sister) was involved in an automobile accident in which Luna was injured. Luna sued Sister for negligence, yet during depositions testified unequivocally that the traffic light was green in Sister’s favor. Sister contends—and we agree—that this testimony constitutes a binding judicial admission that Luna cannot contest at trial, and we therefore conclude that the district court properly entered partial summary judgment against Luna on the issue of whether the light was green. While this fact alone does not entitle Sister to complete summary judgment, the court’s entry of judgment in Sister’s favor was appropriate on the facts of this case, where Luna produced no evidence of negligence other than potential testimony about the color of the traffic light. We therefore affirm the district court’s summary judgment order, as well as a challenged discovery order.
¶ 2 Sister was giving Luna a ride to work one morning when their vehicle was struck by another driver (Driver) at an intersection controlled by a traffic light. Because Driver and Sister each entered the intersection perpendicular to one another, the light could not have been green for both of them. Luna sustained injuries from the accident, and eventually brought suit against both Driver and Sister for negligence and other related claims. In his complaint, Luna alleged that Driver had caused the accident by running a red light or, in the alternative, that Sister had caused the accident by running a red light. Luna also alleged that both drivers had failed to maintain a proper lookout and failed to yield to the other vehicle.
¶ 3 All parties to the suit were deposed, and Sister and Driver each testified that they had the green light when they entered the intersection. Luna was deposed twice and, during each deposition, his testimony was given through a Spanish-language interpreter. Each time, he testified—repeatedly—that the light was green for Sister when she entered the intersection. At his first deposition, he testified as follows:
¶ 4 Three weeks later, Luna was again deposed. Though he stated that he did not give the road the same attention as he would have had he been the one behind the wheel, he again emphasized that the light was green when Sister entered the intersection:
¶ 5 During the second deposition, defense counsel asked Luna about his opinion of Sister’s driving on the day in question:
Luna offered no other evidence to show negligence, attaching only two pages of Driver’s deposition testimony in which Driver testified that his light was green. Specifically, Luna offered no evidence that Sister was driving improperly by, for instance, failing to keep a proper lookout, speeding, or driving while distracted.
¶ 7 The district court held a hearing, after which it requested supplemental briefing from the parties on whether some of the statements Luna made in his deposition should be considered binding admissions. Sister argued that Luna’s statements were "judicial admissions" that Luna should be precluded from contradicting. Luna acknowledged that he had consistently testified that the light was green, but argued that his testimony was ordinary testimony that a jury should be able to disregard in favor of Driver’s account of the relevant events. After oral argument, the district court determined that Luna’s deposition testimony—including both his statements about the color of the light as well as his statements about how Sister was driving her vehicle—contained judicial admissions that he was not free to contradict, and that therefore summary judgment was appropriate in favor of Sister.
¶ 8 During the course of the litigation, Luna designated his treating physicians as non-retained expert witnesses who may testify at trial in support of his claims. After some litigation about the propriety of those disclosures, Sister’s counsel noticed and took the depositions of two of Luna’s treating physicians. The parties were unable to agree on which party, if any, should pay the fees charged by the treating physicians for their time spent in deposition and, after the depositions were taken, Luna filed a statement of discovery issues asking the court to compel Sister to pay those fees. Luna argued that rule 26(a)(4)(B) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure required Sister to do so, because she had requested the depositions. Sister objected to the statement, arguing that the rule required a party to pay an expert’s professional fee for attending a deposition only if the expert was a retained expert. The court issued an order denying Luna’s statement of discovery issues on the same day it issued its grant of summary judgment in favor of Sister.
¶ 9 Luna appeals the district court’s orders, and asks us to consider three issues. First, Luna argues that the district court erred in treating his deposition statements as non-rebuttable judicial admissions. "We review the legal questions underlying the admissibility of evidence for correctness and the district court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence for an abuse of discretion." Rocky Mountain Power Inc. v. Marriott , 2018 UT App 221, ¶ 18, 437 P.3d 653 (quotation simplified); see also Caponi v. Larry’s 66 , 236 Ill.App.3d 660, 176 Ill.Dec. 649, 601 N.E.2d 1347, 1355 (1992) ().
¶ 10 Next, Luna argues that the district court erred in dismissing the entire action, because even if the traffic light is conclusively considered to be green, this fact did not necessarily establish that Sister was not negligent. "[W]e review a district court’s grant of summary judgment for correctness, affording no deference to the court’s legal conclusions." Poulsen v. Farmers Ins. Exch. , 2016 UT App 170, ¶ 8, 382 P.3d 1058.
¶ 11 Lastly, Luna argues that the district court abused its discretion when it did not require Sister to pay the hourly professional fee charged by Luna’s treating physicians for appearing at depositions taken by Sister. "We review discovery rulings for an abuse of discretion." Dahl v. Harrison , 2011 UT App 389, ¶ 11, 265 P.3d 139, abrogated on other...
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Luna v. Luna
...it. We reverse and remand.BACKGROUND1 ¶4 We appreciate the court of appeals’ recitation of the facts in its opinion. See Luna v. Luna , 2019 UT App 57, 442 P.3d 1155. We adopt many of those facts.¶5 Maria was driving her brother, Luis, to work, when both she and Antonio entered an intersect......