McCumber v. Petroleum Servs. Grp., LLC
| Citation | 333 Ga.App. 459,773 S.E.2d 802 |
| Decision Date | 14 July 2015 |
| Docket Number | A15A0056.,Nos. A15A0055,s. A15A0055 |
| Parties | McCUMBER et al. v. PETROLEUM SERVICES GROUP, LLC. McCumber et al. v. K.C. Petroleum, Inc. |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Georgia) |
Kathryn Hughes Pinckney, Savage & Turner, Brent J. Savage, Savannah, for Appellants.
Rouse & Copeland, Christopher Lane Rouse, Savannah, for Appellee (case no. A15A0055).
Hunter, Maclean, Exley & Dunn, Christopher W. Phillips, Nicholas J. Laybourn, for appellee (case no. A15A0056).
These cases arise out of leakage of fuel from underground storage tanks on the property of Coastal Retail Management, LLC—which is owned by appellants Andrew McCumber and Rajendra Patel. Coastal's claims arising out of that occurrence have been resolved in earlier litigation. In these cases, McCumber and Patel now seek personal damages arising out of the same occurrence. The trial court granted summary judgment against McCumber and Patel on the basis of collateral estoppel, and they appeal.
As to the claims resolved in the earlier litigation against Coastal, we agree with the trial court that McCumber's and Patel's claims are barred by collateral estoppel. As to the negligence claim resolved in favor of Coastal, we pretermit the issue of collateral estoppel and hold that McCumber and Patel have shown no duty owed to them as individuals. We therefore affirm.
Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9–11–56(c). On appeal from a grant of summary judgment, we apply a de novo standard of review and view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Matjoulis v. Integon Gen. Ins. Corp., 226 Ga.App. 459(1), 486 S.E.2d 684 (1997).
So viewed, the record shows that Coastal filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Screven County, Georgia, against K.C. Petroleum, Inc. and Petroleum Services Group, LLC, seeking damages arising from the leakage of fuel from underground storage tanks on Coastal's property. The suit asserted claims of negligence and fraud against K.C. Petroleum, which had installed the tanks, and negligence against Petroleum Services, which had monitored the tanks. The case proceeded to a non-jury trial, after which the trial court entered judgment finding that Petroleum Services was not liable for negligence, that K.C. Petroleum was not liable for fraud, but that K.C. Petroleum was liable for negligence in the amount of $425,170. Coastal appealed, and this court affirmed the judgment in an unpublished opinion. Coastal Retail Mgmt. v. K.C. Petroleum, 326 Ga.App. XXV (2014) (Case No. A13A1664).
In the meantime, McCumber and Patel, the owners of Coastal, filed a separate lawsuit in Liberty County, Georgia against K.C. Petroleum, its employee Loy Sanders, and Petroleum Services, seeking personal damages arising from the leaking fuel tanks. The complaint set forth claims of negligence and fraud against K.C. Petroleum, fraud against Sanders and negligence against Petroleum Services. K.C. Petroleum, Sanders and Petroleum Services moved for summary judgment on the grounds of res judicata and collateral estoppel based on the final judgment from the Screven County lawsuit. The trial court granted the motions, issuing one order granting summary judgment to Petroleum Services and another order granting summary judgment to K.C. Petroleum and Sanders. These appeals followed: in Case No. A15A0055, McCumber and Patel challenge the summary judgment order in favor of Petroleum Services; and in Case No. A15A0056, they challenge the summary judgment in favor of K.C. Petroleum and Sanders.
Coffee Iron Works v. QORE, Inc., 322 Ga.App. 137, 139(1), 744 S.E.2d 114 (2013) (citation and emphasis omitted).
Here, the issue of Petroleum Services' liability for negligence was previously litigated and adjudicated in the Screven County action, with the trial court finding that Petroleum Services was not liable and this court affirming that finding on appeal. Although McCumber and Patel were not parties to the Screven County action, they are the sole owners and privies of Coastal, the plaintiff in that prior suit who litigated the same legal claim of negligence now asserted by McCumber and Patel in this suit. Consequently they are in privity with Coastal.
A privy is generally defined as one who is represented at trial and who is in law so connected with a party to the judgment as to have such an identity of interest that the party to the judgment represented the same legal right. ... There is no definition of “privity” which can be automatically applied to all cases involving the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel, since privity depends upon the circumstances. Privity may be established if the party to the first suit represented the interests of the party to the second suit.
Id. at 141(3), 744 S.E.2d 114 (citation omitted).
McCumber and Patel contend that they are not privies of their corporation because the Screven County trial court issued an order noting their separate lawsuit in Liberty County and prohibiting Coastal from seeking damages pertaining to them individually in the Screven County action. That order was appropriate because McCumber and Patel were not parties to the Screven County suit; it is irrelevant for purposes of collateral estoppel analysis. The fact remains that Coastal asserted and litigated the same claim of negligence against Petroleum Services that McCumber and Patel alleged in their separate action. Thus, McCumber and Patel are so connected in law and have such an identity of interest with their corporation that they are in privity with Coastal. Because the issue of Petroleum Services' liability for negligence was...
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