HORACE MANN COMPANIES v. Pinaire

511 N.W.2d 540, 511 N.W.2d 541, 1 Neb. Ct. App. 907, 1993 Neb. App. LEXIS 293
CourtNebraska Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 22, 1993
DocketA-92-1027, A-93-029
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 511 N.W.2d 540 (HORACE MANN COMPANIES v. Pinaire) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HORACE MANN COMPANIES v. Pinaire, 511 N.W.2d 540, 511 N.W.2d 541, 1 Neb. Ct. App. 907, 1993 Neb. App. LEXIS 293 (Neb. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Sievers, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the court on the motion of *908 intervenor-appellee, The Horace Mann Companies, for summary dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, pursuant to Neb. Ct. R. of Prac. 7B(1) (rev. 1992). We ordinarily would not issue an opinion on such motions. However, there is something to be said about the perfection of appeals and appellate jurisdiction.

Underlying these appeals is an interpleader action filed by Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. to resolve conflicting claims to the proceeds of an underinsured motorist provision of an automobile policy issued to Omaha Public Schools (OPS). The claimants, Janet Pinaire, Vivian Roper, James Wilson, and Diane Zipay, are employees of OPS and were injured while riding in an automobile owned by OPS. Zipay was driving the OPS automobile at the time of the accident and was individually insured by Horace Mann. The accident occurred when a vehicle being driven by Floyd Sherburne rear-ended the OPS vehicle driven by Zipay. Sherburne was insured by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., with a liability limit of $50,000.

The district court for Douglas County granted summary judgment in favor of the intervenor-appellee, Horace Mann, which spawned the two appeals which we have consolidated for opinion. The appellants are Zipay and Pinaire. Appellants appear individually and have filed separate notices of appeal in each case. Horace Mann is the intervenor-appellee in both appeals. None of the other parties to the underlying action are involved in the proceedings before this court. Case No. A-92-1027 is an appeal from an order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Horace Mann. Case No. A-93-029 is an appeal from an order of the district court which denied appellant Pinaire’s motion for reconsideration.

FACTS

The district court found in its order for summary judgment that the four defendants in the interpleader action were employees of OPS on February 10, 1988, and were injured when the OPS automobile in which they were riding was struck from the rear by a vehicle being driven by Sherburne.

The vehicle owned by OPS was insured by Aetna. That policy provided underinsured motorist coverage in a single *909 liability limit of $100,000. Sherburne was insured by State Farm, with a policy which limited liability to $50,000. Horace Mann was the insurer for Zipay. Zipay’s policy included underinsured motorist coverage with a single liability limit of $300,000.

The district court found that State Farm, on behalf of Sherburne, entered into settlements with all of the passengers, including Zipay and Pinaire, which settlements totaled $50,000, the limit of its liability under the policy issued to Sherburne. The court found that these settlements were made without the knowledge and consent of Horace Mann.

Thereafter, Aetna, on behalf of OPS, paid $5,000 to Roper, one of the passengers, under its underinsured motorist coverage. Aetna asserted that this settlement, after reducing its coverage of $100,000 by State Farm’s payment of $50,000 pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-578 (Reissue 1988), left $45,000 of coverage for Pinaire, Zipay, and Wilson. Thus, Aetna filed its interpleader action to determine the division of the $45,000, and the four passengers were named as defendants.

Horace Mann intervened in the action to determine what portion of its $300,000 underinsured motorist coverage, if any, was available for payment to any of the defendants for their injury claims. The intervenor-appellee’s motion for summary judgment as to all defendants was based on an argument that the early settlements with State Farm barred any claims against it by any passenger because these settlements were entered into without its knowledge and consent. The district court found that the settlements and releases entered into by the passengers were in violation of the provisions of the policy issued by the intervenor-appellee and concluded that such violation barred any claims by Pinaire, Zipay, and Wilson.

THE APPEALS

The order granting summary judgment was entered on October 13, 1992. The defendants had 30 days in which to appeal, see Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1912 (Cum. Supp. 1992), or 10 days in which to file motions for a new trial, see Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1143 (Reissue 1989), which would terminate the running *910 of the 30 days for filing the notice of appeal, see § 25-1912(2).

The following table is of assistance in detailing the filings and district court actions since the district court granted Horace Mann’s motion for summary judgment on October 13,1992.

10/13/92 (T65)

Decision on Summary Judgment

PINAIRE ZIPAY

10/26/92 Motion for Reconsideration (T75) 10/19/92 Motion for Reconsideration (T73)

11/12/92 Notice of Intent to Appeal Decision onS.J. 11/13/92 Motion for Leave to Amend Answer and Cross Petition (T78) [No. A-92-1027]

12/08/92 Motion for Reconsideration Overruled (T3, Doc. A-93-0029) 11/13/92 Notice of Intent to Appeal Decision onS.J.

01/06/93 Notice of Intent to Appeal Order of 12/08/92 [No. A-93-029] 01 /06/93 Notice of Intent to Appeal [Overruling of] Pinaire’s [Motion for Reconsideration] of 12/08/92 [No. A-93-029]

Brief for intervenor-appellee in support of motion for summary dismissal at 2.

Case No. A-92-1027 is an appeal docketed from Zipay’s notice of appeal of November 13,1992, and Pinaire’s notice of appeal of November 12, both appealing the order of October 13 granting Horace Mann summary judgment. Case No. A-93-029 is an appeal docketed from separate notices of appeal of Zipay *911 and Pinaire, both filed January 6, 1993, from the order of December 8, 1992, which denied Pinaire’s motion for reconsideration filed October 26.

Although the postsummary judgment motions were labeled “Motion for Reconsideration,” we conclude from their contents that they are, in fact, motions for new trial, as they are based on an allegation that the decision of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law. As motions for new trial, they must have been filed within 10 days of the district court’s order granting summary judgment. See, Lewis v. Gallemore, 173 Neb. 441, 113 N.W.2d 595 (1962) (motion to reconsider which attacks the validity of an otherwise final order is a motion for new trial and must be timely filed as such); Ruwe v. Farmers Mut. United Ins. Co., 238 Neb. 67, 469 N.W.2d 129 (1991) (motion for reconsideration or, in the alternative, for new trial viewed as a motion for new trial and, it is held, must be filed within 10 days).

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511 N.W.2d 540, 511 N.W.2d 541, 1 Neb. Ct. App. 907, 1993 Neb. App. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horace-mann-companies-v-pinaire-nebctapp-1993.