Baker v. Huff

747 S.E.2d 1, 323 Ga. App. 357
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 5, 2013
DocketA13A0255; A13A0256; A13A0257
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 747 S.E.2d 1 (Baker v. Huff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Huff, 747 S.E.2d 1, 323 Ga. App. 357 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

ANDREWS, Presiding Judge.

These consolidated appeals arise from assorted litigation spawned by a single-car accident in December 2002 in which Harlan Huff was killed when he lost control of his car and hit a tree, and his adult son, Joshua Huff (Joshua), a passenger in the car, was seriously injured. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company provided a liability insurance policy on the car with policy limits of $100,000 per person. In pursuit of a personal injury claim against the Estate of Harlan Huff (Harlan’s Estate), Joshua made time-limited offers to Liberty Mutual to settle the claim for the policy limits. Liberty Mutual eventually tendered the policy limits, but not within the time deadline, and Joshua rejected the tender. Joshua’s personal injury suit was tried in January 2006 resulting in a $278,806 judgment against Harlan’s Estate. Liberty Mutual paid the $ 100,000 policy limits to partially satisfy the judgment, leaving an unpaid judgment against Harlan’s Estate in excess of the policy limits in the amount of $178,806, and leaving Harlan’s Estate with a potential claim against Liberty Mutual for the unpaid judgment based on allegations that Liberty Mutual acted in [358]*358bad faith or negligently by failing to accept the time-limited offers to settle Joshua’s claim for the policy limits.

Patricia Huff,1 the executrix of Harlan’s Estate, refused Joshua’s request for assignment of the Estate’s claim against Liberty Mutual. As executrix, Patricia Huff hired an attorney, Bonnie Baker of the law firm of Meadows & Macie, PC. (where Patricia worked as a paralegal) to represent Harlan’s Estate. Baker negotiated with Liberty Mutual to attempt to settle the Estate’s claim, but Huff, as executrix, refused to sign a draft agreement purporting to settle the claim for $15,000. Liberty Mutual unsuccessfully sued to enforce the settlement, ultimately resulting in this Court’s decision in In re Estate of Huff, 287 Ga. App. 614 (652 SE2d 203) (2007), ruling that there was no settlement agreement. In the meantime, Patricia Huff, as executrix, eventually offered to assign the Estate’s claim against Liberty Mutual to Joshua, but Joshua refused the offer and filed a motion in the probate court seeking removal of Huff as executrix of Harlan’s Estate. In April 2007, the probate court granted the motion; removed Patricia Huff as executrix of Harlan’s Estate; and appointed Joshua as administrator (with the will annexed) of Harlan’s Estate.

This brings us to the litigation the subject of the present appeals. Harlan’s Estate (acting by its administrator, Joshua) filed a complaint in October 2008 alleging causes of action against the following defendants: (1) against Liberty Mutual — alleging bad faith, negligence, and breach of contractual obligations by failing to accept the time-limited offers to settle Joshua’s claim against Harlan’s Estate for the policy limits; (2) against Liberty Mutual, Baker, and the Estate of Patricia Huff (represented by Rhonda Jones, as executrix)2 — alleging violation of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA) (OCGA § 18-2-70 et seq.) by a conspiracy to settle the bad faith/negligence claim possessed by Harlan’s Estate for less than its true value; (3) against Baker and Meadows & Macie, P.C. — alleging legal malpractice, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty by failing to properly represent the interests of Harlan’s Estate, and (4) against the Estate of Patricia Huff — alleging breach of fiduciary duty owed to Harlan’s Estate by actions taken by Huff, as executrix of the Estate, authorizing or approving settlement of the Estate’s bad faith claim for less than its true value. The trial court denied motions for summary judgment filed by all the named defendants and granted certificates of immediate review. We granted applications for interlocutory appeals from the denial of summary judgment brought by: [359]*359Liberty Mutual in Case No. A13A0256; Meadows & Macie, P.C. and Bonnie Baker in Case No. A13A0255; and Rhonda Jones, as executrix of the Estate of Patricia Huff, in Case No. A13A0257.

Case No. A13A0256

1. Liberty Mutual moved for summary judgment on the causes of action for bad faith or negligent failure to settle within the policy limits; for breach of contract; and for violation of the UFTA.

(a) We first consider the claim by Harlan’s Estate that Liberty Mutual acted in bad faith or negligently when it failed to accept Joshua’s time-limited offers to settle his personal injury claim for the policy limits.

On March 18, 2003, Liberty Mutual received a medical authorization from Joshua (prior to being represented by an attorney) pursuant to which Liberty Mutual obtained (on or about May 22, 2003) medical records and bills relevant to the December 26, 2002 automobile accident showing that Joshua had suffered a fractured ulna (forearm) and a cerebral contusion in the accident and had medical bills of about $35,000. The medical records obtained as of that date showed that, as a result of the cerebral contusion, Joshua had initially suffered substantial hemiparesis (weakness) and numbness on his right side. The records showed that Joshua was discharged from a hospital in Atlanta three days after the accident “ambulating as tolerated with [a] cane” with directions to follow up in one to two weeks (when he returned to his Texas residence) with orthopedic and neurological consultations and to continue with physical therapy. The medical records subsequent to the hospital discharge showed that Joshua’s injuries had substantially improved since the accident. A January 23, 2003 progress note from a family health center in Texas states “hemiparesis showing great improvement.” Records from a Texas orthopedist showed that the fractured ulna had fully healed as of early May 2003. The medical records also showed evidence that Joshua had sustained a prior head injury in a 1995 automobile accident that required craniofacial surgery. Although Joshua’s family health center and orthopedic records showed that a neurological consultation was scheduled, there was nothing in the medical records obtained by Liberty Mutual on May 22 showing that Joshua had followed up with a neurological consultation to evaluate his right-side impairments as a result of the cerebral contusion, or that he had continued physical therapy as directed.

On May 23, 2003, Michael Neff sent a letter informing Liberty Mutual that he was representing Joshua as his attorney on a personal injury claim against Liberty Mutual’s insured (Harlan’s Estate) [360]*360arising out of the accident. The letter informed Liberty Mutual that “[o]ur office will prepare a complete closing brochure highlighting our clients’s injuries at the conclusion of our client’s medical treatment.” On May 27, 2003, Liberty Mutual’s representative responded by letter asking Neff to make Joshua available for a recorded statement to enable Liberty Mutual to investigate the accident and to “independently verify the extent of injuries and treatment.” Liberty Mutual did not question that its insured was liable for Joshua’s injuries resulting from the accident. On May 30, 2003, Neff responded by letter requesting that Liberty Mutual provide him with copies of all the medical records it had obtained and refusing to make Joshua available for a statement. On June 19, 2003, Neff sent a letter to Liberty Mutual stating that:

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747 S.E.2d 1, 323 Ga. App. 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-huff-gactapp-2013.