Draper v. DeFrenchi-Gordineer

282 P.3d 489, 2011 WL 3851738, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1435
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 1, 2011
DocketNo. 10CA1316
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 282 P.3d 489 (Draper v. DeFrenchi-Gordineer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Draper v. DeFrenchi-Gordineer, 282 P.3d 489, 2011 WL 3851738, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1435 (Colo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge BERNARD.

This appeal concerns an order granting summary judgment in a case in which a man's wife was seriously injured. The husband filed suit, raising several tort claims. The trial court granted summary judgment against husband on all of them. We reverse and remand.

To resolve the first part of this appeal, we must answer questions concerning the intersection of the concepts of derivative claims, separate claims, and settlement agreements. Are claims for loss of consortium and negligent infliction of emotional distress derivative claims or independent claims? If they are derivative claims, are they also separate claims? What effect does an agreement settling the claims of an injured person have on a spouse's separate, derivative claim, or on a spouse's independent claim?

We arrive at the following answers. A claim for loss of consortium is a derivative claim, but it is also a separate claim that creates a distinct cause of action. Therefore, an agreement settling an injured person's personal injury claims does not necessarily bar the spouse's loss of consortium claim.

The claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress is an independent claim, not a derivative claim. Thus, an agreement settling the claims of an injured person does not necessarily bar the spouse's claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

We must also decide two other issues. We conclude, under the cireumstances here, that

e the amendment of husband's complaint, after the statute of limitations had run, to include an additional allegation that defendants' negligence caused him bodily injury, related back to the original complaint; and
[493]*493® husband's claim of negligent entrustment of an automobile raises a question of material fact.

I. Background

On June 12, 2005, Gregory and Cynthia Nelson loaned their pickup truck to their nineteen-year-old son, John. John, in turn, allowed his friend, Christie DeFrenchi-Gor-dineer, to drive it. The friend was over eighteen years old.

The friend did not have a driver's license. The record is not entirely clear whether (1) she had been issued a learner's permit that allowed her to drive only while supervised by a parent, a guardian, or a designated person who was at least twenty-one years old; or (2) she previously had obtained a permit, but it had expired.

The friend drove the truck in downtown Colorado Springs. The son sat next to her in the truck's front seat.

At the same time, husband, Robert Draper, and his wife, Jean, were removing their children, an infant and a toddler, from opposite sides of their parked Jeep in downtown Colorado Springs. Husband testified at a deposition that he saw the truck approaching the Jeep in the lane closest to him. He decided to wait to remove the infant from the Jeep until the truck had passed.

The son and his friend looked for a place to park the truck. The son, apparently concerned that his friend was driving too fast, attempted to step on the brake pedal from his position next to the friend. He instead stepped on the accelerator.

According to husband's deposition, the truck angled toward the Jeep, its engine "roaring." He yanked the infant from the Jeep. As he did so, the truck struck the Jeep from behind, "shlooting] through the back of" it.

The truck struck wife. She was severely injured, and part of her leg had to be amputated.

Husband and wife signed a settlement agreement releasing wife's claims against the parents, the son, and the friend. Husband subsequently filed suit naming all four as defendants. The suit raised three tort claims: loss of consortium; negligent inflietion of emotional distress; and negligent en-trustment. With the trial court's permission, he later amended his complaint to include claims for bodily injury.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on all of husband's claims. The court concluded that

ethe claims for loss of consortium and negligent infliction of emotional distress were derivative of wife's personal injury claims, and, as result, husband had waived them by signing the settlement agreement;
@the claim that husband suffered bodily injury was barred by the statute of limitations; and
®ethere was no material question of fact whether the parents had negligently entrusted their car to their son.

II. Analysis

A. Standard of Review

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. Murry v. GuideOne Specialty Mut. Ins. Co., 194 P.3d 489, 491 (Colo.App.2008). Summary judgment is a drastic remedy that should be granted only if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." C.R.C.P. 56(c); Murry, 194 P.3d at 491.

"In determining whether summary judgment is proper, the nonmoving party is entitled to the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the undisputed facts, and all doubts must be resolved against the moving party." Casebolt v. Cowan, 829 P.2d 352, 354 (Colo.1992).

B. The Release

We interpret a settlement agreement using common law contract principles. Yaekle v. Andrews, 195 P.3d 1101, 1107 (Colo.2008). Contract interpretation is a question of law we review de novo. Ad Two, [494]*494Inc. v. City & County of Denver, 9 P.3d 373, 376 (Colo.2000). The primary goal of contract interpretation is to give effect to the intent of the parties, which is to be determined primarily from the language of the agreement itself. Id. We construe the language "in harmony with the plain and generally accepted meaning of the words employed." Id.

As relevant here, the settlement agreement states:

® "[Wife] has asserted claims against [defendants].... The parties desire to settle the claim{s]."
e "[ Wife] releases [defendants]. ..."
® "[ Wife] represents and warrants that she has made no assignment of the injury claims released herein and that she has the sole and exclusive right to compromise, settle, and release same."
® "[Wife] has represented to [defendants] and their insurers that no other person or entity has a lien upon or interest in the settlement proceeds."
® "[ Wife] admits that she may have incomplete or incorrect information and therefore may be wrong about [hJlow much she would recover from [defendants and whether shel now [has] or will have in the future other damages and other losses regarding her injury claims."
® "[Wife] is entering into this settlement because she is willing to assume entirely on her own the risk that she is wrong about the amount she might be able to recover for her injury claims."
e "This [rlelease completely sets forth the settlement of [wife's] injur[(y] claims. No other promises have been made to [wife] by [defendants]. [Wife] is not relying on any statement made by [defendants] or by anyone acting on their behalf.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
282 P.3d 489, 2011 WL 3851738, 2011 Colo. App. LEXIS 1435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/draper-v-defrenchi-gordineer-coloctapp-2011.