Lodge of the Wabash, Ltd. v. Sullivan

654 N.E.2d 40, 1995 Ind. App. LEXIS 969, 1995 WL 469629
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided August 10, 1995·No. 49A02-9406-CV-332·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinions

OPINION

KIRSCH, Judge.

The trial court denied the appellants' (the Lodges) request for permission to file a belated praecipe so that they might challenge a summary judgment entered in the appellees' (the State) favor. We are asked to review that denial in light of the Lodges' claim that they did not receive notice of the court's ruling on the State's motion for summary judgment.

We affirm.

FACTS

The State of Indiana provides funding to the Room and Board Assistance (RBA) program which helps qualified individuals defray certain living and personal expenses. The Lodges operate residential care facilities that provide RBA program recipients with room, board and other services. The State reimburses the Lodges for their services at a rate predetermined by the Department of Public Welfare.

This appeal arises out of a class action for mandate in which the Lodges claim that the State failed to allocate all of the funds appropriated by the legislature for RBA services. The State moved to dismiss the Lodges' complaint. Upon accepting materials presented outside the pleadings, the trial court converted the State's motion into one for summary judgment. Ind.Trial Rule 12(B). In reply to the Lodges' opposition to the motion, the State filed the affidavit of Rachel McGeever.

On October 25, 1993, the Lodges filed a written motion and proposed order to strike the McGeever affidavit. On the same day, the trial court heard oral argument on the State's summary judgment motion and took it under advisement. The Lodges' counsel contends that the court then stated it would render a decision in about one month. Just ten days later, on November 4, 1998, the trial court granted the State's motion for summary judgment and denied the Lodges motion to strike the McGeever affidavit. The Lodges' counsel received the court's order denying the motion to strike the McGeever affidavit, but did not receive notice of the Court's granting of the State's summary judgment motion.

Beginning on November 29, 1993, a member of the Lodges' counsel's staff made weekly calls to the court to inquire whether a ruling on the summary judgment motion had been entered. The staff member called the court on seven different occasions. Each time, she was informed that no ruling had been made on the pending summary judgment motion. On January 18, 1994, one of the Lodges' counsel spoke directly to the trial court bailiff who informed him that the State's motion had been granted on November 4, 1998. Three weeks later, the Lodges filed an Ind.Trial Rule 60(B) motion captioned "Motion for Change of Date of Summary Judgment Entry and for Leave to File Belated Praecipe," together with affidavits, a proposed praccipe, and a supporting memorandum.

< By written order dated March 11, 1994, the trial court denied the Lodges' 60(B) motion. The Lodges timely perfected the present appeal.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Our supreme court has recently held that extensions of the time limits for filing an [42]*42appeal are governed by Ind.Trial Rule 72, not TR. 60(B). Collins v. Covenant Mut. Ins. Co. (1994), Ind., 644 N.E.2d 116.1 Trial Rule 72(D) sets forth the requirements of court clerks to provide notice of court rulings. It provides:

"(D) Notice of Orders or Judgments. Immediately upon the entry of a ruling upon a motion, an order or judgment, the clerk shall serve a copy of the entry by mail in the manner provided for in Rule 5 upon each party who is not in default for failure to appear and shall make a record of such mailing."

A notation in the Chronological Case Summary satisfies the recording requirement. Collins, 644 N.E.2d at 117. Trial Rule 72(E) governs a party's claim that it did not receive notice of a ruling. It provides:

"(E) Effect of Lack of Notice. Lack of notice, or the lack of the actual receipt of a copy of the entry from the Clerk shall not affect the time within which to contest the ruling, order or judgment, or authorize the Court to relieve a party of the failure to initiate proceedings to contest such ruling, order or judgment, except as provided in this section. When the mailing of a copy of the entry by the Clerk is not evidenced by a note made by the Clerk upon the Chronological Case Summary, the Court, upon application for good cause shown, may grant an extension of any time limitation within which to contest such ruling, order or judgment to any party who was without actual knowledge, or who relied upon incorrect representations by Court personnel. Such extension shall commence when the party first obtained actual
knowledge and not exceed the original time limitation."

In Collins, our supreme court considered the circumstances under which a party may challenge the receipt of notice and seek to file a belated praecipe. In that case, the trial court issued several rulings on January 31, 1991. Two of the rulings were issued in a written order. The remaining rulings, including a summary judgment granted in favor of Covenant Mutual, were issued in a separate written entry. As here, Collins' counsel acknowledged receiving the January 31 order, but claimed he did not receive the separate entry granting Covenant Mutual's summary judgment motion until four months after it was entered. During those four months, Collins' counsel telephoned the court on three separate occasions to inquire as to the status of the pending motions, and each time was misinformed by court personnel.

Based upon T.R. 72(E), the court held that "only if the CCS does not contain evidence that a copy of the court's entry was sent to each party may a party claiming not to have received such notice petition the trial court for an extension of time to initiate an appeal." Collins, 644 N.E.2d at 117-18. After examining the Chronological Case Summary (CCS), the court determined that the typewritten notation "1/31/91 Notice: Y" which preceded a description of both the order and the entry was sufficient to demonstrate mailing of the court's entry granting Covenant Mutual's motion for summary judgment. This being so, Collins was precluded from seeking an extension of time to initiate an appeal.

Here, the court's case activity report appears in the record as follows:

11/04/93 AA014 COURT DENIES MOTION TO STRIKE AFFIDAVIT OF . RYO25 RACHEL MCGEEVER.
11/04/93 99999 DEFENDANTS MOTION TO DISMISS TREATED AS SUM- RYO25 MARY JUDGMENT; SUMMARY JUDGMENT GRANTED.
11/04/93 AAOS1l FREE-FORM TEXT NOTICE WAS SENT TO SIDNEY MISHKIN [the Lodges' counsel].
11/04/93 FREE-FORM TEXT NOTICE WAS SENT TO GORDON EUGENE WHITE JR. [the State's counsel].

Record at 6. The Lodges contend that they are entitled to challenge the receipt of notice because an ambiguity exists on the face of the CCS, bringing the present case outside [43]*43the ambit of Collins. More specifically, they contend that the ambiguity arises from the fact that the rulings appear in separate paragraphs and the notation following those paragraphs does not specify whether notice of both rulings was sent.

According to the Lodges, the present case involves cireumstances more like those held by our supreme court to justify the filing of a belated pracecipe in Markle v.

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Lodge of the Wabash, Ltd. v. Sullivan, 654 N.E.2d 40, 1995 Ind. App. LEXIS 969, 1995 WL 469629 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995).

654 N.E.2d 40 (Lodge of the Wabash, Ltd. v. Sullivan) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Lodge of the Wabash, Ltd. v. Sullivan
654 N.E.2d 40 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1995)