Crail Creek Associates, LLC v. Olson

2008 MT 209, 187 P.3d 667, 344 Mont. 321, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 313
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 25, 2008
Docket05-536
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2008 MT 209 (Crail Creek Associates, LLC v. Olson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crail Creek Associates, LLC v. Olson, 2008 MT 209, 187 P.3d 667, 344 Mont. 321, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 313 (Mo. 2008).

Opinions

CHIEF JUSTICE GRAY

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Robert W. Olson (Olson) appeals from the judgment entered by the Eighteenth Judicial District Court, Gallatin County, on a jury verdict in favor of Crail Creek Associates, LLC (Crail Creek), and from a later order denying Olson’s motion to quash a writ of execution. We reverse and remand.

¶2 The restated issues are:

¶3 1. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by denying Olson’s challenges for cause against two prospective jurors?

¶4 2. Did the District Court err by submitting a second supplemental verdict form to the jury, after the jury returned its special verdict form and first supplemental verdict form and was polled?

¶5 3. Did the District Court err by denying Olson’s, and granting Crail Creek’s, motion for judgment as a matter of law on Crail Creek’s construction lien claim?

[323]*323¶6 4. Did the District Court err by determining Crail Creek was entitled to attorney fees, costs, and prejudgment interest?

¶7 5. May Crail Creek retain in a lawyer trust account the funds it obtained from the title company via a writ of execution on the judgment?

BACKGROUND

¶8 In 1997 and 1998, Crail Creek contracted with Westfork Development Company, Inc. (Westfork) to construct condominiums on Crail Creek’s property near Big Sky, Montana. In 1998, Crail Creek entered into a buy-sell agreement with Olson for a condominium unit. Closing occurred in March of 1999, before construction of the unit was complete, and the parties signed documents providing that the title company would hold back $69,000 of the purchase price in an account. A dispute arose, and Crail Creek ultimately sued Olson, asserting claims for breach of contract and foreclosure of a construction lien, among other things. Olson counterclaimed, asserting several different causes of action.

¶9 The case proceeded to trial in 2004. Shortly before jury voir dire, the District Court orally denied the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment. During voir dire, the District Court denied Olson’s challenges for cause of two prospective jurors. Before submission of the case to the jury, the court orally granted Crail Creek’s, and denied Olson’s, motion for judgment as a matter of law on Crail Creek’s construction lien claim. Notwithstanding that ruling, the special verdict form included a question regarding Crail Creek’s entitlement to the construction lien. During deliberations, the jury submitted a question regarding the holdback funds, and the District Court sent a supplemental verdict form to the jury.

¶10 The jury returned the special verdict form and first supplemental verdict form (together, the “initial verdict”) and was polled. After hearing arguments outside the presence of the jury regarding the total amount the jury intended to award, the District Court submitted a second supplemental verdict form to the jury. The jury completed the second supplemental verdict form, indicating its intent to award a total of $77,409.99 to Crail Creek. The District Court subsequently entered judgment on the verdict, awarding $77,409.99, together with costs totaling $2,870.40, prejudgment interest in the amount of $24,768.32, and attorney fees totaling $94,072.17. The judgment also specified that the $69,000 of held back funds in the title company account be disbursed to Crail Creek and applied to the judgment and, pursuant [324]*324to the parties’ stipulation, any interest “accruing” on those funds be disbursed to Crail Creek for application to the prejudgment interest.

¶ 11 Crail Creek obtained a writ of execution, a levying officer collected from the title company account the funds and interest accrued up to that time, and Crail Creek placed the funds and accrued interest in a lawyer trust account. Olson disputed the legality of these actions and, after filing his notice of appeal, moved to quash the writ of execution. The District Court determined it lacked jurisdiction to rule on Olson’s motion due to the pending appeal. We set forth additional facts as necessary below.

DISCUSSION

¶12 1. Did the District Court abuse its discretion by denying Olson’s challenges for cause of two prospective jurors?

¶13 Section 25-7-223, MCA, sets forth the bases for a challenge for cause in a civil case. We review a trial court’s denial of a challenge for cause for abuse of discretion. Henricksen v. State, 2004 MT 20, ¶ 87, 319 Mont. 307, ¶ 87, 84 P.3d 38, ¶ 87 (citing Reff-Conlin’s, Inc. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 2002 MT 60, ¶ 16, 309 Mont. 142, ¶ 16, 45 P.3d 863, ¶ 16). Olson contends that the District Court abused its discretion by denying his challenges for cause of prospective jurors Rita Foster and Paige Weirich.

¶14 Regarding Foster, Olson asserts her voir dire responses showed she “ha[d] an unqualified opinion or belief as to the merits of the action” and a “state of mind... evincing enmity against or bias in favor of either party,” which are bases for removing a prospective juror for cause under §§ 25-7-223(6) and (7), MCA. The following exchange occurred during voir dire between one of Crail Creek’s attorneys and Foster:

MR. ANDRIOLO: Mrs. Foster, is there anything here that would create any problems for you?
MS. FOSTER: A couple things. I’m an office manager for a plumbing company and I’m the only person who does that job. You know, eight days is a lot to be away from the company. On top of that, I work in construction and always have, and I’m not really fond of contractors and owners doing the whole court thing. Also, Ms. Refling [co-counsel for Crail Creek] represented me with a matter when my mother was in the county rest home.
MR. ANDRIOLO: Is she representing you at the present time?
MS. FOSTER: No.
[325]*325MR. ANDRIOLO: And is there anything in that that would cause you to be more favorable or more inclined to her than the rest of the—
MS. FOSTER: Probably.
MR. ANDRIOLO: Probably? And do you feel you could be fair and impartial in the case?
MS. FOSTER: Probably not.
MR. ANDRIOLO: And I think I ask this question sometimes because you get more of an answer than-but why don’t you feel you could be fair and impartial?
MS. FOSTER: I kind of feel like I already made up my mind about it.
MR. ANDRIOLO: Well, what are the facts of this case do you know [sic]?
MS. FOSTER: Just I’m more prone to contractors than owner, I think.
MR. ANDRIOLO: So, it’s just a general bias you have as a whole. And you think that would take evidence to remove that particular bias from your-you couldn’t just listen to the evidence here and based on that evidence, make a fair assessment?
MS. FOSTER: I really don’t know if I could.
MR. ANDRIOLO: Would you be willing to try to do that?
MS. FOSTER: I could try but I’m also, like I say, thinking about my job, but I don’t know if I could.
MR. ANDRIOLO: I take it from-you’re not sure you could but you’re not sure you can’t.

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Crail Creek Associates, LLC v. Olson
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 MT 209, 187 P.3d 667, 344 Mont. 321, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crail-creek-associates-llc-v-olson-mont-2008.