Turner v. BOARD OF AVIATION COM'RS

• Decision Date: 14 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. 34A02-0004-CV-236.,34A02-0004-CV-236.
• Citation: 743 N.E.2d 1153
• Parties: Hilton A. TURNER, Jr., Appellant-Defendant, v. BOARD OF AVIATION COMMISSIONERS, and City of Kokomo, Indiana, Appellees-Plaintiffs.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

743 N.E.2d 1153

Hilton A. TURNER, Jr., Appellant-Defendant, v. BOARD OF AVIATION COMMISSIONERS, and City of Kokomo, Indiana, Appellees-Plaintiffs.

No. 34A02-0004-CV-236.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

February 14, 2001.

Hilton A. Turner, Jr., Pro Se, Kokomo, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Thomas J. Trauring, McGarvey Trauring & Wilson, Kokomo, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Chief Judge.

Hilton A. Turner, Jr., appeals the trial court's denial of his motion for summary judgment, the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss, the trial court's grant of the Kokomo Board of Aviation Commissioners ("the Board") and the City of Kokomo's ("the City") motion to correct errors, and the trial court's award of attorney's fees to the Board.¹ He raises seven issues, which we consolidate and restate as:

1) whether the trial court erred when it denied Turner's motion for summary judgment;

2) whether the trial court abused its discretion in the course of ruling upon Turner's motion to compel joinder of third party plaintiffs;

3) whether the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to allow two of Turner's witnesses to testify at trial;

4) whether the trial court's denial of Turner's motion to dismiss is clearly erroneous; and

5) whether the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded attorney's fees to the Board.

In addition, the Board raises one issue, which we construe as a cross-appeal and restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion when it granted Turner's motion to accept a belated filing of materials designated in support of Turner's motion for summary judgment. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

The relevant facts follow. The Kokomo Board of Aviation Commissioners owns and operates the Kokomo Municipal Airport. In 1993, the Board leased hangar space at the airport to Turner. On April 10, 1995, the Board adopted rewritten Airport Rules and Regulations ("rules") and rewritten Minimum Standards and Requirements for the Aeronautical Use of the Kokomo Municipal Airport ("standards") (collectively, "rules and standards") to govern the airport.²

Sometime prior to June 1995, Ronald Gilbert, the airport manager, sent all hangar tenants a letter that designated an area of the airport for renters to "self-fuel" their aircraft.³ The letter stated that as of June 1, 1995, self-fuelers could only use the designated area and would be fined for self-fueling their aircrafts elsewhere at the airport.

On May 11, 1996, Turner self-fueled his airplane outside of the designated self-fueling area. On May 13, 1996, Gilbert sent a letter to Turner warning him that he had violated airport regulations by self-fueling his aircraft outside of the designated area and informing him that this would be his only warning. In response, Turner sent a letter to the president of the Board in which he asserted that he believed he had acted in compliance with the rules and standards.

On June 1, 1996, Gilbert again saw Turner self-fuel his airplane outside of the designated area. Consequently, Gilbert issued a citation to Turner and fined him $100.00. On July 22, 1996, Frank Cade, a supervisor at the airport, saw Turner self-fuel his airplane outside of the designated area. Cade issued a citation to Turner and fined him $200.00.

After Turner did not pay the fines, the Board filed suit against Turner in small claims court on October 17, 1996, seeking payment of the $300.00 in fines. On December 19, 1996, the case was transferred to the plenary civil docket at Turner's request. On August 3, 1998, Turner filed a motion for summary judgment. After a hearing, the trial court denied Turner's motion. Subsequently, pursuant to a motion by Turner, the trial court certified its summary judgment ruling for interlocutory appeal. Turner filed a petition for interlocutory appeal with this court, but this court denied the petition.

On February 11, 2000, the Board filed a motion for sanctions against Turner, alleging that Turner had unnecessarily prolonged the litigation by engaging in obdurate behavior and litigating in bad faith. While that motion was pending, a bench trial was held on February 15, 2000. After the Board ended its presentation of evidence, Turner moved to dismiss the suit, but the trial court denied the motion. After the trial, on March 28, 2000, the trial court entered a final judgment in which it found that the Board was entitled to judgment on both of the fines and ordered Turner to pay the Board $300.00.

On April 26, 2000, the trial court held a hearing upon the Board's motion for sanctions. Subsequently, the trial court granted the Board's motion and ordered Turner to pay $3,422.20 in attorney's fees to the Board.

I.

We choose to address the Board's cross-appeal issue before discussing Turner's summary judgment arguments because the cross-appeal issue, if meritorious, would be dispositive of Turner's summary judgment claims. The cross-appeal issue raised by the Board is whether the trial court abused its discretion when it granted Turner's motion to accept a belated filing of materials designated in support of Turner's motion for summary judgment. Indiana Trial Rule 56, the rule that governs summary judgment, provides that when a party files a motion for summary judgment, ["a]t the time of filing the motion ... a party shall designate to the court all parts of pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, matters of judicial notice, and any other matters on which it relies for purposes of the motion." Ind. Trial Rule 56(C) (emphasis added). If a trial court finds good cause, it may alter any time limit set forth in Trial Rule 56. See Ind. T.R. 56(I). When the trial court permits materials relied upon in a summary judgment motion to be filed belatedly, we review the trial court's decision for an abuse of discretion. See Indiana Univ. Med. Ctr. v. Logan, 728 N.E.2d 855, 858 (Ind.2000)

. An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's decision is against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before it. Id. at 859.

In the instant case, Turner filed a motion for summary judgment and a brief in support of the motion on August 3, 1998. On December 31, 1998, less than a week before the hearing on Turner's motion for summary judgment, Turner filed a designation of materials relied upon in support of his motion for summary judgment. A motion to accept the designation as a belated filing accompanied the designation, and in the motion Turner's counsel alleged that he had not timely filed the designation because he "injured his back approximately two weeks prior to Thanksgiving." Record, p. 676. The trial court granted Turner's motion to accept the belated filing. At the summary judgment hearing, the Board stated that "the sole purpose for [its] objection" to the belated filing was that it wanted an opportunity to address issues raised in Turner's designation. Record, p. 12. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court gave the Board two weeks to file a post-hearing brief in which it could address the issues raised by the designation of evidence.

Under Trial Rule 56(I), the trial court had the authority to extend the filing deadline for good cause shown. See Ind. T.R. 56(I). Furthermore, the trial court gave the Board ample opportunity to respond to the belated designation, which was the Board's only objection to Turner's belated filing. Therefore, the late filing did not prejudice the Board. Under these circumstances, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion when it granted Turner's motion to accept the belated filing. See Pekin Ins. Co. v. Charlie Rowe Chevrolet, Inc., 556 N.E.2d 1367, 1369-1370 (Ind.Ct.App.1990)

(determining that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it considered belated affidavits in support of a motion for summary judgment because the trial court gave the nonmovant extra time to respond to the affidavits).

II.

The first issue raised by Turner is whether the trial court erred when it denied Turner's motion for summary judgment. Turner raises a number of challenges to the validity of the Board's rewritten rules and standards. We will address each in turn.

When we review a trial court's ruling on a motion for summary judgment, we are bound by the same standard as the trial court. Ayres v. Indian Heights Volunteer Fire Dep't, Inc., 493 N.E.2d 1229, 1234 (Ind.1986); see Ind. T.R. 56. The appellant bears the burden of proving that the trial court erred in determining that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rosi v. Business Furniture Corp., 615 N.E.2d 431, 434 (Ind.1993). Any doubt as to the existence of an issue of material fact, or an inference to be drawn from the facts, must be resolved in favor of the nonmovant. Cowe v. Forum Group, Inc., 575 N.E.2d 630, 633 (Ind.1991). A genuine issue of material fact exists where facts concerning an issue that would dispose of the litigation are in dispute or where the undisputed facts are capable of supporting conflicting inferences on such an issue. Scott v. Bodor, Inc., 571 N.E.2d 313, 318 (Ind.Ct.App. 1991). The party moving for summary judgment must shoulder the burden of establishing the lack of a material factual issue. Estate of Taylor v. Muncie Med. Investors, L.P., 727 N.E.2d 466, 469 (Ind. Ct.App.2000). Once the movant has met this burden, the opposing party is obliged to present sufficient evidence to show the existence of a genuine triable issue. Id. The opposing party's obligation does not arise until after the movant has shown that he or she is entitled to summary judgment. Id.

A.

Turner's first argument in regard to his summary judgment motion is that the Board lacked the authority to hire the attorney that rewrote the rules and standards in 1995, and because the hiring was illegal, the rules and standards are unenforceable....