Burns v. General Motors Corp.

950 F. Supp. 137, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19429, 1996 WL 751497
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedDecember 17, 1996
DocketCivil No. AW-96-1753
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 950 F. Supp. 137 (Burns v. General Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burns v. General Motors Corp., 950 F. Supp. 137, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19429, 1996 WL 751497 (D. Md. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILLIAMS, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant General Motors Corporation’s Motion for Summary Judgment — Releases. No hearing is deemed necessary. Local Rule 105.6 (D.Md.). For the reasons stated below, the Court will grant this motion.

Background

This case arises from a two-car accident that occurred in Temple Hills, Maryland on August 26, 1995. Plaintiffs were rear seat passengers in a 1990 Pontiac which collided with a car driven by Tanya Jefferson. The 1990 Pontiac was manufactured by General Motors Corporation, Defendant in the immediate proceeding. In this action, Plaintiffs allege that when the 1990 Pontiac was manufactured, the rear seat belt assembly was never actually bolted to the vehicle. Plaintiffs claim that because of this, they were not adequately protected in the accident. Plaintiffs also allege that General Motors knew or should have known that others had made similar complaints that such seat belts were detaching or unattached in situations like Plaintiffs’.

Defendant’s present Summary Judgment motion does not directly address the substance of this allegation, but rather it concerns a release executed by Plaintiffs on May 9, 1996, in conjunction with Plaintiffs’ settlement of their claims against Tanya Jefferson. These two identical releases were entitled “Release of All Claims,” and contained the following:

I do hereby release and forever discharge Tanya Jefferson and any other person, firm, or corporation charged or chargeable with responsibility or liability, their heirs, representatives and assigns, from any and all claims, demands, damages, costs, expenses, loss of services, actions and causes of action, arising from any act or occurrence up to the present time and particularly on account of all personal injury, disability, property damage, loss or damages of any kind already sustained or that I may hereafter sustain in consequence of an accident that occurred on or about the 26th day of August 1995, at or near Wheeler Road.

Defendant alleges that these releases bar Plaintiffs from bringing any claims against General Motors Corporation.

On November 9, 1996, Plaintiffs executed “amended” releases, which reserve plaintiffs claims against General Motors and which specifically state that they supersede all previous releases. Defendants argue that these amended releases, executed for no additional consideration, are not valid. Plaintiffs claim that these amended releases are controlling and, in the alternative, that the Court should deny this Summary Judgment motion based on the equitable doctrine of “unclean hands.” The Court will address these arguments in turn.

Summary Judgment Principles

Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and when the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). “Summary judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as an integral part of the Federal Rules as a whole, which are designed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2555, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citations omitted). See [139]*139also Bland, v. Norfolk and Southern Railroad Co., 406 F.2d 863, 866 (4th Cir.1969).

In determining whether genuine and material factual disputes exist, resolution of which requires trial, the Court has reviewed the parties’ respective memoranda and the exhibits attached thereto, construing all facts, and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the Defendant. Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Applying these principles to the record in this case, the Court concludes that summary judgment for the Defendant.

Discussion

Plaintiffs have not attempted to argue that the original releases did not bar their present claims against General Motors. Under Maryland law, which is controlling in this case, it is clear that the original releases as constructed bar Plaintiffs’ claims against General Motors. See Pemrock, Inc. v. Essco Co., Inc., 252 Md. 374, 380, 249 A.2d 711 (1969); Peters v. Butler, 253 Md. 7, 10, 251 A.2d 600 (1969); Stefan v. Chrysler Corp., 472 F.Supp. 262 (D.Md.1979) (Northrop, D.J.), affd 622 F.2d 587 (4th Cir.1980); White v. General Motors Corp., 541 F.Supp. 190 (D.Md.1982) (Kaufman, D.J.).

Consequently, the issue before the Court is whether Plaintiffs’ amended releases can negate the original releases’ provisions regarding claims against potential defendants other than Tanya Jefferson. In ruling on a case out Of the District of Maryland, the Fourth Circuit analyzed Maryland law in the similar case of Auer v. Kawasaki Motors Corp., 830 F.2d 535 (4th Cir.1987), cert. denied 485 U.S. 905, 108 S.Ct. 1076, 99 L.Ed.2d 236 (1988). The plaintiff in Auer sued Kawasaki after plaintiff’s Kawasaki motorcycle collided with a garbage truck. In settling with the owner of the triiek, the plaintiff had executed a general release which discharged “all other persons, firms and corporations.” Id. at 536-37. After Kawasaki moved for summary judgment pursuant to this release, the plaintiff executed an amended release preserving plaintiff’s claims against Kawasaki. Id. at 539. The Fourth Circuit rejected this attempt by plaintiff to change the effect of the original- release, holding that “While a releasee may consent to the recreation of a cause of action against it, two parties of a release may not recreate a discharged cause of action against a third party without the third party’s consent.” Id.

Plaintiffs argue that they were free to. amend the release absent additional consideration because Defendant is a third party beneficiary and as such is only protected from the effects of such amendment if it can prove that the parties intended for the contract to benefit Defendant. However, in the Auer case, the Fourth Circuit explicitly held to the contrary. The Auer release applied to “all ... corporations who might be liable” for Auer’s injuries, and the Fourth Circuit held that “under the unequivocal language of the original release, Kawasaki can only be considered an ‘intended beneficiary.’” Id. at 539.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
950 F. Supp. 137, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19429, 1996 WL 751497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burns-v-general-motors-corp-mdd-1996.