Bolton v. Farmers Insurance Co.

156 So. 3d 1179, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1563, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2575, 2014 WL 5439790
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 27, 2014
DocketNos. 2013 CW 1563, 2013 CA 2212
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 156 So. 3d 1179 (Bolton v. Farmers Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bolton v. Farmers Insurance Co., 156 So. 3d 1179, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1563, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2575, 2014 WL 5439790 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

McDonald, J.

12Tliis is an appeal of a district court’s granting of a motion for partial summary judgment. The matter is before us as an appeal and also as a supervisory writ. For the following reasons, we dismiss the appeal, grant the writ, reverse the judgment, and remand the matter.

An automobile accident occurring on October 22, 2008, precipitated this law suit. Dana Annette Bolton’s vehicle collided with Kenneth James Mackenzie’s vehicle on St. Louis Street in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At the time of the accident, Mr. Mackenzie was insured by defendant, Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Company and Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers).1' Ms. Bolton filed suit against Farmers and Mr. Mackenzie on October 19, 2009, alleging that Mr. Mackenzie failed to yield the right-of-way to Ms. Bolton’s vehicle and negligently entered her lane of travel. She alleged that she suffered injuries, damages, and losses as a result of the collision. As the matter proceeded, Farmers filed a motion to have Mr. Mackenzie dismissed, which the court granted.

Ón August 5, 2013, Ms. Bolton filed a motion for partial summary judgment alleging that, based on the depositions of Ms. Bolton, Mr. Mackenzie, and Corporal Mark Weber, the police officer who investigated the accident, she was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the issues of duty and breach of duty? According to Ms. Bolton, she was in the left lane of a one-way street comprised of two lanes. Construction was in progress, requiring traffic in the right lane to merge into the left lane. Mr. Mackenzie was in the right lane and in attempting to merge, he hit Ms. Bolton’s car. He acknowledged hearing Ms. Bolton honk her horn but “didn’t think anything of it.”

laMs. Bolton’s motion for partial summary judgment came for hearing on September 3, 2013. After hearing arguments, the trial court granted the motion in open court. Farmers notified the trial court of its intent to seek supervisory review of the judgment and requested a continuance of the September 16, 2013 trial date on this basis. After initially denying the request for a continuance, the trial court granted a joint motion for continuance that was filed on September 5, 2013. The writ application was filed on September 10, 2013, the same day the trial court signed the judgment granting Ms. Bolton’s motion for partial summary judgment and designating the judgment as a final judgment pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1915B. A panel of this court reviewed the writ application and ordered that the “writ be referred to the same panel that is assigned the yet to be lodged appeal.” Dana Annette Bolton v. Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Company and Farmers Insurance Exchange, 2013 CW 1563 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/18/13) (unpublished writ action). The motion for appeal was made on October 8, 2013, and the record was lodged with this court on December 20, 2013.

THE APPEAL

The judgment by the trial court reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment be and it is hereby GRANTED on the issues of duty and breach of duty.
The Court expressly finds, pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. article 1915B ... that there is no just reason for delay, and [1181]*1181hereby designates this matter as a final judgment. (R669)

When the trial court gives explicit reasons for designating a judgment as final and, thus, immediately appealable, the proper standard of review by the appellate court is whether the trial court abused its discretion. Code v. Department of Public Safety and Corrections, 11-1282 (La.App. 1 Cir. 10/24/12), 103 So.3d 1118, 1123, writ denied, 12-2516 (La.1/23/13), 105 So.3d 59. When the trial court does not give reasons for certifying the judgment as final, the court of appeal is 14required to conduct a de novo review. Gold Dust Graphics, Inc. v. Diez, 06-0323 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/28/06), 951 So.2d 270, 273. In this case, the trial court gave no such reasons for designating the judgment as final; we, therefore, will conduct a de novo review.

Regarding this court’s review of a finality designation, the court in Code, 103 So.3d at 1123-1124, noted:

Historically, our courts have had a policy against multiple appeals and piecemeal litigation. Article 1915 attempts to strike a balance between the undesirability of piecemeal appeals and the need for making review available at a time that best serves the needs of the parties. Thus, in considering whether a judgment is properly designated as final pursuant to Article 1915, a court must take into account judicial administrative interests as well as the equities involved. Factors to be considered by a trial court, although not exclusive, when determining whether a partial judgment should be certified as appealable, include: (1) the relationship between the adjudicated and unadjudicated claims; (2) the possibility that the need for review might or might not be mooted by future developments in the trial court; (3) the possibility that the reviewing court might be obliged to consider the same issue a second time; and (4) miscellaneous factors such as delay, economic and solvency considerations, shortening the time of trial, frivolity of competing claims, expense, and the like. Nevertheless, the overriding inquiry for the trial court is whether there is no just reason for the delay.
Further, LSA-C.C.P. article 1915 provides, in pertinent part:
A. A final judgment may be rendered and signed by the court, even though it may not grant the successful party or parties all of the relief prayed for, or may not adjudicate all of the issues in the case, when the court:
[[Image here]]
(5) Signs a judgment on the issue of liability when that issue has been tried separately by the court, or when, in a jury trial, the issue of liability has been tried before a jury and the issue of damages is to be tried before a different jury.

In this case, the issue of liability was not tried separately by a jury or by the trial court. In fact, the issue of liability was not determined at all. The trial court found that Mr. Mackenzie had a duty to Ms. Bolton, the motorist in the left lane, and that Mr. Mackenzie breached this duty. There was no finding of liability and no consideration of any comparative fault. The motion for partial summary | judgment was limited to a request for a finding of a duty that was owed and a finding that the duty was breached. In looking at the four factors to be considered in determining whether the judgment is final, as set forth in Code, we find that the adjudicated and unadjudicated issues are so inextricably intertwined that it is almost impossible to separate them. Whether there was any liability on the part of Mr. Mackenzie is still to be decided. Whether [1182]*1182there is any comparative fault on Ms. Bolton’s part, or anyone else, must also be determined. To decide these issues piecemeal is not judicially expedient, and the final determination of these issues could moot the issues before us in this appeal. Once the issues of liability and comparative fault are finally determined, it is not only possible, but highly probable, that this court will be obliged to consider these same issues a second time.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hickman v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
255 So. 3d 1097 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 So. 3d 1179, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 1563, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2575, 2014 WL 5439790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bolton-v-farmers-insurance-co-lactapp-2014.