McGinnis v. Cox

465 S.W.3d 157, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 710
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 31, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 465 S.W.3d 157 (McGinnis v. Cox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGinnis v. Cox, 465 S.W.3d 157, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 710 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

J. STEVEN STAFFORD, P.J., W.S.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which JOHN W. McCLARTY, J., and BRANDON O. GIBSON, J., joined.

Plaintiffs presented Defendants with an offer of judgment pursuant to Rule' 68 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Prior to Defendants’ acceptance, Plaintiffs attempted to rescind the offer. Defendants nevertheless accepted the offer within the time allowed by Rule 68 and attempted to enforce the offer of judgment. The trial court concluded that Plaintiffs were not entitled to revoke the offer of judgment and entered an order granting the motion to enforce the judgment. We affirm and remand.

Background

On December 7, 2012, Plaintiffs/Appellants Kaitlyn Alexis McGinnis, b/n/f Chad McGinnis, and Chad McGinnis, individually (together, “Appellants”) filed a complaint for damages against the. Defendants/Ap-pellees Aubie L. Cox, Rodney Cox, and Haley Cox (“Appellees”) regarding injuries sustained in an automobile accident. No answer to the complaint was ever filed. Thereafter, on or around March 8, 2013, Appellants extended an offer of judgment in the amount of $784,641.55 or the policy limits of the applicable insurance policy to Appellees. The offer of judgment specifically referenced that it was made pursuant to Rule 68 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, and there is no dispute that the offer constituted a valid offer of judgment governed by Rule 68.

The offer of judgment tracked the language of Rule 68 and was conditioned upon acceptance within ten days after service, providing that “at the expiration of which ten (10) days the Offer [would be] withdrawn.” Although the certificate of service indicated that it was served on March 8, 2018, the mailing envelope was not postmarked until March 12, 2013. Appellees’ counsel received the offer on March 13, 2013. There is no dispute that the parties’ counsel spoke on March 15, 2013, and agreed to forgo the deadline due to the mailing issues. That afternoon, however, Appellants’ counsel notified the Appellees’ counsel, via facsimile, that the offer of judgment was revoked. The Appellants also filed a “Notice of Withdrawal of Offer of Judgment” in the trial court on March [159]*15915, 2013. It is undisputed that the basis of the revocation was that Mr. McGinnis “changed his mind” and wished to proceed to trial.

After receiving the revocation, however, Appellees replied by facsimile that they accepted the offer of.judgment, in the amount of the policy limits of $100,000.00.1 The written notice to Appellants’ counsel purportedly accepting the offer of judgment also occurred on March 15, 2013, well-within ten days of both the date on the certificate of service and the date the offer was received by Appellees.

On March 18, 2013, Appellees filed a notice of acceptance of the offer in the trial court. On June 14, 2013, the Appellees filed a Motion to Enforce the Offer of Judgment, arguing that the Appellants were not entitled to revoke the offer of judgment. The Appellants objected to the offer of judgment’s enforcement. The trial court granted the motion to enforce the offer of judgment on December 5, 2013, finding that the Appellants were not entitled to revoke their offer of judgment prior to the expiration of the ten-day period, as to do so would “render the Rule largely meaningless and undermine its utility.” The Appellants filed a timely notice of appeal.

Issue Presented

This case involves only a single issue: Whether a Rule 68 offer of judgment may be revoked, by the offeror within the ten-day time period for acceptance on the basis that the offeror “changed his mind”?

This is an issue of first impression in our Court. However, because the clear weight of authority among our Sister States and in the federal courts supports the conelusion that a Rule 68 offer of acceptance generally may not be revoked within the time allowed for acceptance pursuant to the Rule, we likewise hold that the revocation in this case was not effective, and that the Appellees timely and properly accepted the offer of judgment within the time allowed by Rule 68.

Standard of Review

As previously discussed, there is no dispute that the offer in this case is governed by Rule 68 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Accordingly, the issue in this case requires us to interpret a rule of civil procedure. Our Supreme Court has indicated that when interpreting a rule of civil procedure, we must apply “the same principles of statutory construction and the same standard of review,” as required when interpreting a statute. In re Baby, 447 S.W.3d 807, 818 (Tenn.2014) (citing Lind v. Beaman Dodge, Inc., 356 S.W.3d 889, 895 (Tenn.2011)). Thus, we review the trial court’s conclusions de novo, with no presumption of correctness. State v. Edmondson, 231 S.W.3d 925, 927 (Tenn.2007). According to the Tennessee Supreme Court:

When interpreting statutes [and rules], our primary function is to carry out legislative intent without broadening the statute beyond its intended scope. Houghton v. Aramark Educ. Res., Inc., 90 S.W.3d 676, 678 (Tenn.2002). When a statute is clear, courts simply apply the plain meaning without complicating the task. Eastman Chem. Co. v. Johnson, 151 S.W.3d 503, 507 (Tenn.2004). “When a statute [or rule] is ambiguous, however, we may reference the broader statutory scheme, the history of the legislation, or other sources.” Colonial [160]*160Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827, 886 (Tenn.2008). We must presume that every word in a statute has meaning and purpose and should be given Ml effect so long as the obvious intention of the General Assembly is not violated by doing so. In re C.K.G., 173 S.W.3d 714, 722 (Tenn.2005) (quoting Marsh v. Henderson, 221 Tenn. 42, 424 S.W.2d 193, 196 (1968)). “[A] construction which places one statute in conflict with another is to be avoided, and we must endeavor to resolve any possible conflict between statutes in favor of each other in order to provide a harmonious operation of laws.” Lovlace v. Copley, 418 S.W.3d 1, 20 (Tenn.2013) (Graham v. Caples, 325 S.W.3d 578, 582 (Tenn.2010)).

In re Baby, 2014 WL 4815211, at ⅜6.

Analysis

We begin with the language of Rule 68 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure:

At any time more than 10 days before the trial begins, a party defending against a claim may serve upon the adverse party an offer to allow judgment to be taken against the defending party for the money or property, or to the effect specified in the offer, with costs then accrued. Likewise a party prosecuting a claim may serve upon the adverse party an offer to allow judgment to be taken against that adverse party for the money or property or to the effect specified in the offer with costs then accrued.

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465 S.W.3d 157, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcginnis-v-cox-tennctapp-2014.