Lindquist v. Moran

662 P.2d 281, 203 Mont. 268
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1983
Docket82-179
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 662 P.2d 281 (Lindquist v. Moran) 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
Lindquist v. Moran, 662 P.2d 281, 203 Mont. 268 (Mo. 1983).

Opinions

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HASWELL

delivered the opinion of the Court.

A Jefferson County jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants McFadden and Jefferson County in a personal injury case arising out of a traffic accident. The District Court granted plaintiff’s motion for a new trial. McFadden and Jefferson County now appeal.

In the early morning hours of June 25, 1976, Jefferson County deputy sheriff McFadden stopped a vehicle being driven toward Whitehall from the Boulder area by a Wendell Gary Schloss after observing erratic driving patterns. McFadden administered a coordination test which Schloss failed. Schloss was then arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicating beverage. Schloss’s passengers were plaintiff’s decedent (Daniel Lindquist), Keith Moran, and Mark Yochim. McFadden had a legal intern, Mark Murphy, riding with him.

Since McFadden did not have a breathalyzer test available, he called Whitehall Chief of Police McGuire and asked McGuire to deliver one to the scene of the arrest. After administering the breathalyzer, McFadden asked Schloss how he wanted the vehicle transported, since it could not be left on the shoulderless frontage road. He offered to have Murphy drive it to Boulder or to have it towed to either Whitehall or Boulder. Schloss requested that his friend, Moran, be allowed to drive the car to Boulder. McFadden asked McGuire to check Moran out to see if he was ail right to drive. McGuire and Murphy each talked to Moran for three to five minutes, determined that he was “okay to drive,” and McGuire reported that fact to McFadden.

The Schloss vehicle preceded the county unit toward Boulder with Moran driving and Yochim and Lindquist as passengers. About twenty to thirty minutes after leaving the scene of Schloss’s arrest, approximately twenty miles [271]*271from Whitehall, the county unit stopped to let Schloss relieve himself. Upon proceeding, it came upon Schloss’s vehicle, which had been driven off the road. Lindquist received severe head injuries in the accident and died nine days later.

Plaintiffs filed suit against Moran and then entered into settlement agreements with his insurance carrier and Schloss’s carrier. The agreements provided that the settlements were loans and that the carriers would recover up to 25 percent of any net award recovered by plaintiffs from Jefferson County and/or McFadden. McFadden and Jefferson County were then added to the action. The agreements were secret and were discovered only after McFadden and Jefferson County served interrogatories upon plaintiffs asking about any releases or payments. The interrogatories were objected to by plaintiffs and Moran, and appellants were required to file motions to compel answers to the interrogatories and to compel production of documents. A motion in limine was made by plaintiffs to keep any mention of the settlement agreements from the jury. The District Court granted that motion.

The matter was tried before a Jefferson County jury. A verdict was returned on December 14, 1981, in favor of McFadden and Jefferson County. It assessed 75 percent negligence to Moran and 25 percent to plaintiffs’ decedent and awarded total damages of $25,692.60 for medical expenses, funeral expenses, and loss of comfort, protection, affection, and society. No damages were awarded for pain and suffering, for loss of established course of life, or for loss of future earnings. Plaintiffs moved for a new trial, which was granted by the District Court.

Appellants and respondents present the following four issues on appeal:

1. Whether the District Court erred in granting the motion for new trial;

2. Whether the District Court erred in giving Instruction No. 32, which included discount tables, but no directions on [272]*272their use;

3. Whether the jury verdict was inconsistent; and,

4. Whether the secret indemnification agreements between plaintiffs and the insurance carriers (“Mary Carter” agreements) are proper subjects for inquiry upon any retrial involving McFadden and Jefferson County.

We will address only the first issue, which is dispositive of this case.

Plaintiffs, on January 28, 1982, moved for a new trial for the following reasons, which they alleged materially affected their substantial rights:

1. Irregularity in the proceedings of the court, jury, or adverse parties or any order of the court or abuse of discretion by which the plaintiffs were prevented from having a fair trial.

2. Insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict or other decision and that it is against law.

3. Error in law occurring at the trial and excepted to by the plaintiffs.

Pursuant to section 25-11-104, MCA, plaintiffs’ counsel filed an affidavit in support of the motion. It alleged: McFadden’s negligence as a matter of law for allowing Moran to drive and for not checking the registration of the Schloss vehicle to establish its ownership; an inconsistent verdict that improperly found plaintiffs’ decedent 25 percent negligent when he had no control over the operation of the vehicle; that the District Court improperly allowed the jury to use discount tables provided by defendants which had no instructions attached; and that the low damages award reflected bias and prejudice on the part of the jury and its refusal to “follow the evidence” presented.

The District Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial “upon good cause shown.” In its opinion in support of the order, the District Court held that McFadden, an agent of Jefferson County, was negligent as a matter of law for allowing Moran to drive Schloss’s automobile into Boulder while drunk, and that the court should have directed a ver[273]*273diet in favor of plaintiffs and against MeFadden and Jefferson County. It also ruled that plaintiffs’ decedent had no control over the car in which he was riding and could not, therefore, be contributorily negligent. It finally held that the amount of the verdict was “inadequate, shocking and could only have been arrived at through bias, prejudice and passion against the plaintiffs.” We disagree and vacate the District Court’s order granting a new trial.

Plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial was based on the above three grounds as provided in section 25-11-102(1), (6) and (7), MCA. In granting a motion for new trial, the District Court must set forth the grounds with particularity. Halsey v. Uithof (1975), 166 Mont. 319, 326, 532 P.2d 686, 689-690. The first ground was irregularity in the proceedings of the court, jury or adverse party, or any order of the court or abuse of discretion by which the plaintiffs were prevented from having a fair trial. No facts were set forth supporting this allegation in plaintiffs’ affidavit. This ground was not mentioned in the District Court’s order and opinion. Plaintiffs’ motion with regard to this ground was inadequate. Montana Williams Double Diamond Corp. v. Hill (1978), 175 Mont. 248, 256, 573 P.2d 649, 654.

Nor was reference made in the order and opinion to plaintiffs’ third ground: error in law occurring at the trial and excepted to by the plaintiffs. It appears from plaintiffs’ affidavit that this basis was founded upon plaintiffs’ objection to the discount tables.

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Bluebook (online)
662 P.2d 281, 203 Mont. 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindquist-v-moran-mont-1983.