Whitaker Farms, LLC v. Fitzgerald Fruit Farms, LLC
| Citation | 347 Ga.App. 381,819 S.E.2d 666 |
| Decision Date | 26 September 2018 |
| Docket Number | A18A1420, A18A1421 |
| Parties | WHITAKER FARMS, LLC v. FITZGERALD FRUIT FARMS, LLC; and vice versa. |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Georgia) |
347 Ga.App. 381
819 S.E.2d 666
WHITAKER FARMS, LLC
v.
FITZGERALD FRUIT FARMS, LLC; and vice versa.
A18A1420, A18A1421
Court of Appeals of Georgia.
September 26, 2018
Nowell Donald Berreth, Max Paul Marks, Atlanta, for Appellee (Case No. A18A1420), Appellant (Case No. A18A1421).
John A. Christy, Atlanta, George C. Rosenzweig, for Appellant (Case No. A18A1420).
John A. Christy, Atlanta, Carrie B. Markham, Melissa Lois Darden Griffis, Newnan, George C. Rosenzweig, for Appellee (Case No. A18A1421)
Brown, Judge.
Whitaker Farms, LLC appeals following a jury verdict in favor of Fitzgerald Fruit Farms, LLC on Fitzgerald Farms' complaint seeking damages for trespass after Whitaker Farms' property manager locked the gates to the peach orchard where Fitzgerald Farms was harvesting peaches. In Case No. A18A1420, Whitaker Farms contends that the trial court erred in denying its motion for a directed verdict and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the trespass claim, and awarding Fitzgerald Farms attorney fees. Fitzgerald Farms cross-appeals in Case No. A18A1421, arguing that the trial court erred by not allowing the jury to consider an award of punitive damages. For reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court's denial of Whitaker Farms' motion for a directed verdict and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but reverse the trial court's refusal to allow the jury to consider an award of punitive damages.
Construed in favor of the verdict, Hagan v. Keyes , 329 Ga.App. 178, 764 S.E.2d 423 (2014), the evidence shows that Sean Lennon, the owner of Fitzgerald Farms, began working for Carroll Farms in high school. Carroll Farms was a peach and cattle farm in Meriwether County owned by Lennon's math teacher, Elizabeth "Kay" Carroll Barnes, and her son, Walter "Hynes" Barnes; Hynes ran the business and managed the family's farm properties. Throughout high school and college, Lennon worked at Carroll Farms during the summer months. After obtaining a master's degree in 2003, Lennon began working full-time farming peaches at Carroll Farms. Sometime around 2006, Hynes and Kay agreed to allow Lennon to grow Baby Gold peaches on a 20-acre tract of their farm after he was approached by a Canadian canning company looking for people to grow Baby Gold peaches for use in baby food. Lennon testified that the parties had an "oral handshake deal" for him to lease the 20-acre tract for the economic life of the peach trees (10-15 years), and that Lennon and Kay later signed a written lease agreement so that Lennon could obtain crop insurance.1 Lennon maintained his own packing facility, including
a commercial packing shed and a forced air cooler, which
cools the peaches rapidly because "they can't tolerate [the summer] heat for that long"; Fitzgerald Farms has the only forced air cooler in Meriwether County.
Unbeknownst to Lennon, in October 2015, Hynes and Curtis Whitaker, the owner of Whitaker Farms, agreed that Whitaker Farms would buy 290 acres of Carroll Farms, including the 20-acre orchard on which Fitzgerald Farms had been farming peaches for over a decade and a separate 95-acre tract, as well as the Carroll Farms "business."2 At closing, both Hynes and Kay signed an Owner's Affidavit swearing that the property was "subject to no leases, tenancies, adverse possession, occupancy rights, licenses, or similar claims by third parties." Hynes never advised Whitaker that Lennon "had planted a 20-acre peach orchard [on the property] and had farmed it every year for a decade" because he "didn't feel like it was necessary. The land was sold, and there was no lease."3 After the purchase, Hynes agreed to manage the property for Whitaker Farms and testified that he works as a contractor.
Several months after the sale, Lennon and his workers began to prepare for the 2016 harvest, which included regularly spraying the Baby Gold peach trees in the "Jones Chapel Baby Gold Tract" from December 2015 through July 2016. Lennon testified that he never observed Whitaker in the orchard during that time, but that Hynes drove by the packing shed at least a dozen times every day, never stopping to say a word. On August 3, 2016, "the day before harvest," Lennon and his workers moved their equipment to the orchard so
they would be ready to begin picking the following morning. The following morning, a crew of approximately 25-28 workers gathered at the orchard to begin harvesting the peaches. Levi Jackson, a Fitzgerald Farms employee, testified that while he was working that morning, he observed Hynes driving "down the road that cuts through the orchard." Jackson left the orchard with the first load of peaches, dropped them at Fitzgerald Farms' packing shed and then returned to the orchard to pick up a second load; at that time, all of the gates to the orchard were unlocked. When Jackson tried to leave the property with the second load, he found that all three gates to the orchard had been locked and he observed Hynes driving away from one of the gates. According to Jackson, "our lock was took off of [the gate], and it had a combination lock on it." For his part, Hynes testified that he never saw anyone picking peaches on August 4, 2016, and that he changed the lock to a combination lock because "[e]very lock on the farm ha[d] been changed to a combination lock."
When Jackson realized he and the workers were locked in the orchard, he called Lennon. Lennon immediately texted Hynes asking if he could unlock the gate and Hynes texted back: " ‘You will need to talk to Curtis Whitaker that now owns it. I will send you his
number.’ " Lennon left a voice mail for Whitaker4 and also called the sheriff's office. The record reflects that Hynes immediately called Whitaker to advise that he had given Whitaker's phone number to Lennon and that Lennon "would like to get in the gate at the blackberries." Whitaker testified that he and Hynes spoke for ten minutes about Hynes "going to the market to buy more produce" and that Hynes mentioned something about the locked gate, "but [Whitaker] didn't pay any attention to it." According to Hynes, Whitaker said "he would get with [Lennon]." Whitaker acknowledged that he never called Lennon back and "never instructed Mr. Lennon to go complete the harvest on my property." Whitaker testified that he did not "think [Lennon] had any right to be out there picking peaches" on Whitaker Farms property and when asked why he did not return Lennon's call, he stated "[w]ell, ... I was going from one place, I think, to another, and I don't know that I would pick up the phone and call
someone that had bulldozed my peaches. I thought that issue was behind me, and it had been three or four months."
After receiving permission from a superior court judge, the sheriff cut the lock. The next morning, Hynes returned to the property and re-locked the gates; both Hynes and Whitaker acknowledged that they spoke at least eight times that day, but could not recall the details of any of those calls though Whitaker testified, "[w]hen someone steals your peaches you, you know, are going to have a lot of conversation about that."
On August 5, 2016, Fitzgerald Farms filed a verified complaint for temporary restraining order against Hynes asking the court for authorization to complete the peach harvest and advising that the matter required immediate attention because any delay could result in the crop being ruined. Fitzgerald Farms' attorney emailed a copy of the complaint to Hynes on the same day and Hynes immediately forwarded that email to Whitaker. On August 9, 2016, Whitaker executed an application for criminal arrest warrant seeking to keep Lennon off the property. Three days later, a judge granted Fitzgerald Farms' motion for temporary restraining order and Hynes unlocked the gates at the direction of Whitaker's attorney, Virgil Brown. By that time, the peaches were "overripe," "decay[ed]" and damaged by insects; the crop was ruined.
Fitzgerald Farms' verified complaint included a claim for trespass, and was later amended to include claims for unjust enrichment and attorney fees under OCGA § 13-6-11, and sought "actual damages" in the amount of not less than $90,000 and punitive damages. On September 6, 2016, Whitaker Farms moved to intervene in the action and filed an answer and counterclaim. The court granted the motion to intervene and, shortly thereafter, Hynes was dismissed without prejudice by consent of the parties, and Fitzgerald Farms withdrew its claim for unjust enrichment. The trial court ruled that Fitzgerald Farms could not seek punitive damages, reasoning that Whitaker
didn't lock the workers in the field. ... [W]hile it may very well be that Mr. Whitaker ratified [Hynes'] conduct, that ratification in my mind certainly wouldn't allow the jury to extrapolate from that a claim for punitive damages. If [Hynes] was in the case, I would let a claim against him for punitive damages go to the jury, but not...
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