Miller v. JACKSON HOSP. AND CLINIC

• Decision Date: 11 August 2000
• Citation: 776 So.2d 122
• Parties: Roy Lee MILLER and Charles Miller v. JACKSON HOSPITAL AND CLINIC et al.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

776 So.2d 122

Roy Lee MILLER and Charles Miller v. JACKSON HOSPITAL AND CLINIC et al.

1990403.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

August 11, 2000.

Michael A. Worel, J. Stephen Legg, and David G. Wirtes, Jr., of Cunningham, Bounds, Yance, Crowder & Brown, L.L.C., Mobile, for appellants.

Thomas H. Keene and Ben C. Wilson of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston & Garrett, P.A., Montgomery, for appellee Jackson Hospital and Clinic.

Walter W. Bates and Scott M. Salter of Starnes & Atchison, L.L.P., Birmingham, for appellee Raghu Mukkamala, M.D., Glenn Yates, M.D., and Primary Care Internists of Montgomery.

LYONS, Justice.

Roy Lee Miller ("Roy Lee"), on January 14, 1997, while hospitalized at Jackson Hospital, suffered severe burns over a large portion of his body. On February 19, 1997, Roy Lee executed a durable power of attorney in favor of Charles Miller ("Charles"), his uncle. The power of attorney gave Charles, among other things, the authority to "institute, prosecute, defend, compromise, arbitrate and dispose of legal, equitable, or administrative hearings, actions, suits, attachments, arrests, distresses, or other proceedings, or otherwise engage in litigation in connection with any legal or equitable matters." On January 11, 1999, just three days before the statutory limitations period would have run on Roy Lee's personal-injury claims arising from his burns, Charles filed a medical-malpractice action captioned "Charles Miller, on behalf of Roy Lee Miller v. Jackson Hospital and Clinic, Raghu Mukkamala, M.D., Glenn Yates, M.D., and Primary Care Internists of Montgomery." The complaint alleged that negligence on the part of the defendants had caused Roy Lee's injuries.

All defendants moved to dismiss or, in the alternative, for a summary judgment, on the basis that Charles, as named in the complaint, was not the real party in interest, as required by Rule 17, Ala.R.Civ.P. On August 16, 1999, after the expiration of the limitations period, Charles moved to amend the complaint by adding Roy Lee as a named plaintiff. On August 19, 1999, the trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of all defendants. The court denied Charles's motion to alter, amend, or vacate the summary judgment, ruling that Charles was not the real party in interest.

The trial court determined that Charles did not have the authority to sue on behalf of Roy Lee because the power of attorney did not specifically address Charles's bringing a personal-injury tort action on behalf of Roy Lee. The trial court also held that because Charles was not the real party in interest, he did not have standing to file the action on behalf of Roy Lee and, thus, that the court had never had jurisdiction over the case. Because the limitations period had run before the complaint was amended to add Roy Lee, the court held, there was no valid complaint to which the amendment could relate back pursuant to Rule 17(a).

First, we must determine whether the power of attorney executed by Roy Lee vested Charles with the authority to file a personal-injury action for the benefit of Roy Lee. Second, if it gave Charles that authority, we must decide whether Charles was a real party in interest, for purposes of Rule 17(a), Ala.R.Civ.P. Third, if Charles was not a real party in interest, then we must determine whether the complaint could be amended to name Roy Lee as the real party in interest or to substitute him for Charles, subject to the provisions of Rule 17(a) allowing relation back of such an amendment.

I. Standard of Review

This Court will review a summary judgment de novo, and it will apply the same standard the trial court applied. Bussey v. John Deere Co., 531 So.2d 860 (Ala.1988). A summary judgment is appropriate when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Rule 56(c)(3), Ala.R.Civ.P.

II. Effectiveness of the Durable Power of Attorney

A. Whether the Power of Attorney was Ineffective for Want of Specificity.

The trial court held that the power of attorney gave Charles no authority to sue on behalf of Roy Lee because, it found, the power to file a personal-injury action was not specifically stated within the powers described in the document. In support of this conclusion, the trial court cited Lamb v. Scott, 643 So.2d 972 (Ala.1994), for the proposition that the authority granted through a power of attorney is to be strictly construed and restricted to those powers expressly granted therein. Id. at 973. The trial court reasoned that, because of its want of specificity, the power of attorney gave Charles no power to bring a personal-injury action on behalf of Roy Lee.

We disagree with this conclusion and, in so doing, distinguish Lamb. In Lamb, a mother gave a durable power of attorney to her oldest daughter, authorizing the daughter to manage her affairs. A year later, the mother executed a will leaving all her property, including a farm, to her two daughters and her stepson, in equal portions. The oldest daughter, purporting to act pursuant to the power of attorney, conveyed the farm to herself and her sister, to the exclusion of her stepbrother. This Court held: "One who accepts a power of attorney covenants to use the power for the sole benefit of the one conferring the power and to use it in a manner consistent with the purposes of the agency relationship created by the power of attorney." Lamb, 643 So.2d at 974. "The principal-agency relationship is fiduciary in nature and imposes upon the agent a duty of loyalty, good faith, and fair dealing." Sevigny v. New South Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 586 So.2d 884, 887 (Ala. 1991). In Myers v. Ellison, 249 Ala. 367, 369, 31 So.2d 353, 355 (1947), this Court stated:

"An agent sustains a position of trust toward his principal and in all transactions affecting the subject of his agency, the law dictates that he must act in the utmost good faith and must make known to his principal ... all material facts within his knowledge which in any way affect the transaction and subject matter of his agency.

"The law sedulously regards this principle and acts of an agent which tend to violate this fiduciary obligation are prima facie voidable, and are considered, in law, as `frauds upon confidence bestowed.'"

(Citations omitted.)

The situation presented by Lamb involved self-dealing. This Court held that in order to act against the intent of the donee as expressed in her will, the attorney-in-fact had to have the express authority to do so. 643 So.2d at 973. In other words, this present case is distinguishable from Lamb. The power of attorney in Lamb made no express grant of authority to engage in self-dealing, and the self-dealing appeared to go against the true intent of the donee. See, also, Hall v. Cosby, 288 Ala. 191, 258 So.2d 897 (1972), and Dillard v. Gill, 231 Ala. 662, 166 So. 430 (1936) (holding that authority to self-deal must be specifically granted).

Roy Lee vested Charles with the authority to "institute, prosecute, defend, compromise, arbitrate and dispose of legal, equitable, or administrative hearings, actions, suits, attachments, arrests, distresses, or other proceedings, or otherwise engage in litigation in connection with any legal or equitable matters." (Emphasis added.) Charles's exercise of the power by filing an action for the benefit of Roy Lee did not involve self-dealing. To force the donor to predict the future and to list every cause of action or legal proceeding that might become necessary in the months or years after the execution of the power of attorney, even in instances where there is no self-dealing, lest a court later hold the power of attorney ineffective, would frustrate the donor's purpose in executing the instrument. We decline the defendants' request to impose the requirement of specificity even in instances where there has been no self-dealing. To do so would unnecessarily inhibit the utility of a durable power of attorney.

B. Whether Proof of Incompetency of the Donor Was Required in Order to Make the Durable Power of Attorney Effective

The defendants also contend that § 26-1-2, Ala.Code 1975, gives the attorney-in-fact only the power to bring actions after the donor becomes incapacitated or incompetent, and they point to the absence of evidence of incompetence. While § 26-1-2 permits a durable power of attorney to survive incompetency of the donor, the statute provides no basis for a conclusion that all such powers of attorney are dormant until the donor becomes incompetent. Section 26-1-2(a) recites the operative language necessary and offers two choices. One option simply states that the power is unaffected by subsequent incompetence of the donor, while the other option provides that the power shall not become effective until the donor becomes incompetent. The language used by Roy Lee is of the former category, and that language suggests the power was to be effective immediately. The absence of evidence indicating Roy Lee is incompetent is inconsequential.

III. Effect of Charles's Commencement of the Action

A. Whether the Durable Power of Attorney Constitutes an Assignment of a Cause of Action

The trial court, in entering the summary judgment, held that "one cannot assign a personal injury action to another or appoint an agent or attorney-in-fact to bring a personal injury lawsuit on his behalf." To the extent that statement deals with an assignment of the right to recover for a purely personal tort, it correctly expresses the general rule. See Lowe v. Fulford, 442 So.2d 29, 32 (Ala.1983) ("`It is... well settled that, in the absence of statutory provision, rights of action for torts purely personal do not survive, and are not assignable.'") (quoting Holt v. Stollenwerck, 174 Ala. 213, 215, 56 So. 912 (1911)). However, Roy Lee did not attempt to transfer or assign his rights in this action to Charles. Charles, acting as attorney-in-fact, brought this action for the benefit of Roy Lee, and...