Kay v. Danbar, Inc.

132 P.3d 262, 2006 Alas. LEXIS 41, 2006 WL 830122
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 31, 2006
DocketS-11008, S-11017
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 132 P.3d 262 (Kay v. Danbar, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kay v. Danbar, Inc., 132 P.3d 262, 2006 Alas. LEXIS 41, 2006 WL 830122 (Ala. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

BRYNER, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Steven Kay sued RE/MAX of Wasilla for personal injuries suffered from a fall in a [264]*264duplex that he rented through RE/MAX. Kay initially limited his claim to damages of less than $100,000, thereby securing the advantage of limited discovery under Civil Rule 26(g). But he later attempted to claim additional damages and unsuccessfully moved to withdraw his election to proceed under Rule 26(g). The jury returned a verdict for Kay exceeding $400,000, but the court reduced the judgment to conform to Rule 26(g)’s $100,000 damages cap. Kay appeals, challenging the court’s refusal to lift the damages cap. RE/MAX cross-appeals, asserting that the case should have been dismissed on summary judgment or by directed verdict because it owed no duty to protect Kay from physical injury. We reverse the superior court’s order declining to lift the damages cap, finding no just reason to preclude Kay from increasing his claim to include new damages. But we affirm its orders denying RE/MAX’s motions for summary judgment and directed verdict. We thus remand for a new trial on Kay’s full damages claim.

II. FACTS

In 1999, when Steven Kay first began looking for a place to rent, he contacted his mother, Jean Kay, a real estate agent at RE/MAX of Wasilla (RE/MAX). She was involved in sales, not rentals, so she referred her son to Kristan Cole (frk/a Tanner), an agent in RE/MAX’s property management division. Kristan Cole’s stepsons, Aaron and Jesse Tanner (the Tanner brothers), owned a Wasilla duplex, which Kristan Cole, for a time, may have helped manage. Kay’s mother showed Kay the duplex, which he agreed to lease from the Tanner brothers. The lease agreement designated RE/MAX as the “agent” for the Tanner Brothers. It instructed tenants, in the event of emergency, to immediately notify “management”; it also listed “Kristan Tanner at RE/MAX of Wasil-la” as the only emergency contact.

Within a month after moving into the duplex, Kay slipped and fell on a loose carpet remnant on the landing of the stairs leading to the garage, badly fracturing his ankle. He sued the Tanner brothers and RE/MAX in February 2001, twenty-two months after he was injured. Kay’s complaint alleged that the defendants were negligent for failing to fasten or remove the carpet remnant and that the height of the stairs, the threshold, and the swing of the door to the garage did not satisfy code requirements. The defendants answered through their attorneys. In May 2001 the superior court set the trial to begin on April 29, 2002, and ordered discovery to close forty-five days before trial, March 15, 2002.

About one week after the superior court calendared the trial, Kay responded to multiple interrogatories and requests for production from RE/MAX and the Tanner brothers. Kay objected to these requests on the ground that discovery should be limited as specified under Alaska Civil Rule 26(g) because the case involved less than $100,000 in damages.

The parties cross-moved for summary judgment in January 2002. RE/MAX’s motion asserted that the rental agreement did not give rise to a duty by RE/MAX to ensure the premises’ safe condition. Kay sought partial summary judgment against both defendants on all issues except the nature and extent of damages. The superior court denied these motions, finding that genuine issues of material fact remained.

On March 5, 2002, fifty-five days before trial was scheduled to begin, Kay returned to his treating physician, Dr. Bret Mason. Later that same day, Kay filed a pleading withdrawing his opposition to the Tanner brothers’ pending motion to compel discovery, and stated that he “also withdraws” his election to invoke the $100,000 Rule 26(g) damages cap. According to Kay, he took these steps because Dr. Mason had told him that he needed further medical care, including possible surgery, for his ankle to heal properly. Kay asserted that he hoped to know by the end of March whether surgery would be necessary. He also stated that he was “not opposed to a continuance” and that he would respond to the outstanding interrogatories and production requests “on or before March 22,” seven days after discovery was to close.

Although Kay’s Rule 26(g) withdrawal was not phrased as a motion and did not seek any expedited consideration, the defendants treated it as a motion and promptly opposed [265]*265it. Kay then filed a reply, indicating that he had produced the discovery information previously requested by the defendants and was in the process of re.sponding to their interrogatories, but that he would nonetheless be “willing[] to postpone trial if necessary so the parties could obtain the relevant discovery desired and not be disadvantaged.”

On April 22, seven days before the day set for trial, the superior court issued an order denying Kay’s request to drop the Rule 26(g) cap. The order noted the tardiness of Kay’s motion in light of other dates set by the pretrial order. The following day, Kay filed expedited motions asking the court to continue the trial and reconsider its order denying his attempt to withdraw the damages cap. The superior court denied both motions, and the case proceeded to trial.

Before submitting the case to the jury, the superior court denied RE/MAX’s motions for a directed verdict. The jury found $425,000 in total damages; determined that RE/MAX, the Tanner brothers, and Kay had all acted negligently; and assigned seventy-five percent of the fault to RE/MAX, fifteen percent to Kay, and five percent to each of the Tanner brothers — who had settled with Kay on the eve of trial.

Kay then renewed his motion for reconsideration of the court’s refusal to allow him to drop the Rule 26(g) cap. The superior court denied this motion and ultimately entered a judgment limiting Kay’s award to $75,000, exclusive of attorney’s fees, costs, and interest. Kay later moved to amend the judgment under Rule 60(b)(1) and (6), again arguing that the Rule 26(g) cap should not have applied. The court issued a notice of intent to deny Kay’s motion. While the court later did enter an amended judgment, the only changes consisted of awarding attorney’s fees and costs and altering the amount of prejudgment interest; the $75,000 principal did not change.

Kay appeals, challenging the trial court’s rulings on the Rule 26(g) cap and its denial of his motion for a continuance.1 RE/ MAX cross-appeals, challenging the superior court’s denial of its motions for summary judgment and a directed verdict.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Kay’s Motion To Withdraw the Rule 26(g) Cap on Damages

Alaska Civil Rule 26(g) provides for limited discovery and expedited calendaring in eases advancing claims for damages totaling less than $100,000:

In a civil action for personal injury or property damage involving less than $100,000 in claims, the parties shall limit discovery to that allowed under District Court Civil Rule 1(a)(1) and shall avail themselves of the expedited calendaring procedures allowed under District Court Civil Rule 4.[2]

Kay first invoked Rulé 26(g) in May 2001, one week after the superior court set his trial date, when his attorney objected to the Tanner brothers’ extensive initial discovery requests; Kay’s attorney asserted that discovery should be limited because the damages Kay claimed were less than $100,000.

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Kay v. Danbar, Inc.
132 P.3d 262 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 P.3d 262, 2006 Alas. LEXIS 41, 2006 WL 830122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kay-v-danbar-inc-alaska-2006.