Minton v. Geico Casualty Co.

215 So. 3d 290, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 592, 2017 WL 910837, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 386
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 2017
Docket16-592; 16-917
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 215 So. 3d 290 (Minton v. Geico Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Minton v. Geico Casualty Co., 215 So. 3d 290, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 592, 2017 WL 910837, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 386 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

PICKETT, Judge.

h Three defendants appeal the trial court’s grant of a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), its significant increase in damages, and its denial of their claim for court costs because the plaintiffs did not accept their Offer of Judgment and the damages awarded exceeded the offer by more than 25%. These defendants also appeal the trial court’s denial of their cross-claim for costs and attorney fees against a co-defendant insurer for their failure to provide the tortfeasor defendant with a defense. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s grant of the JNOV and amend the damage awards.

FACTS

On June 13, 2012, Dwight Minton was in an accident when the vehicle in which he was a passenger was hit by another vehicle. He and his wife filed suit against Christopher Gutierrez, the driver of the other vehicle; GEICO Casualty Company (GEICO), the insurer of the vehicle; Mr. Gutierrez’s employer, Super Tech Automotive, LLC; Super Tech’s insurer, Colony Insurance Company; and State Farm Automobile Insurance Company, the Mintons’ underinsured/uninsured motorist carrier. In their petition, the Mintons asserted that the accident caused injury to Mr. Minton and that they sought to recover damages for those injuries.

GEICO answered the Mintons’ suit, denying coverage because the accident occurred while Mr. Gutierrez was test driving the insured’s vehicle in his capacity as an employee of Super Tech, which provides vehicle repair services. Citing a coverage exclusion contained within the policy issued to the insured, GEICO asserted that because Mr. Gutierrez was operating the vehicle in the course and scope of his employment for an automotive repair shop, the policy did not provide ^coverage for the accident. After filing its answer, GEI-CO provided no defense to Mr. Gutierrez and did not participate in his defense in the litigation.

Mr. Gutierrez filed a cross-claim against GEICO, asserting that it provided primary coverage for the accident and had a duty to defend Mr. Gutierrez in the litigation. Thereafter, Mr. Gutierrez filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of [293]*293whether GEICO had a duty to defend him. The Mintons joined in the motion for summary judgment. GEICO filed a cross motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted Mr. Gutierrez’s motion and denied GEICO’s, motion. GEICO ultimately tendered its policy limits of $25,000.00 to the Mintons, who dismissed their claims against GEICO, Mr. Gutierrez, and Super Tech. The Mintons also reached an agreement with State Farm that it would pay its $25,000.00 UM policy limits if the Mintons settled or obtained a judgment on their claims totaling the $325,000.00 combined limits of the GEICO and Colony policies and dismissed it from the litigation.

The Mintons filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability, asserting that Mr. Gutierrez was 100% at fault in causing the accident because he ran a red light controlling the intersection where the accident occurred. Mr. Gutierrez, Super Tech, and Colony (the defendants) opposed the motion, arguing that Mr. Mintons’ son, who was driving the Mintons’ automobile when the accident occurred, was partially at fault, citing the high standard applicable to motorists making left turns and the son’s testimony that he did not see Mr. Gutierrez before the accident occurred. The trial court granted the motion; the judgment granting the motion was not appealed.

In late 2015, a jury trial was held on the Mintons’ claims against the defendants. Central to the defendants’ case was whether Mr. Minton’s right knee Rinjury was caused by the June 13, 2012 accident or an accident that Mr. Minton was involved in on May 11, 2012, when a vehicle turned in front of the motorcycle he was riding.

The Mintons presented the testimony of Dr. William Axelrad, an orthopedic surgeon who treated him for a hip injury he sustained in the May 2012 accident and thereafter. Dr. Axelrad testified that Mr. Minton suffered a knee injury in the June accident that ultimately required a knee replacement and would require Mr. Min-ton to undergo another knee replacement during his lifetime. The defendants presented the testimony of two orthopedic surgeons: Dr. James Perry, who had treated Mr. Minton for an ankle injury he sustained in the May accident, and Dr. Thomas Montgomery, who performed an independent medical examination of Mr. Minton. Both of these physicians attributed the condition of Mr. Minton’s knee to the pre-existing condition of his knee or the May accident. Dr. Montgomery was asked and agreed that even if Mr. Min-ton’s knee condition pre-existed the June accident, the June accident aggravated it. Dr. Axelrad and Dr. Montgomery both testified that with regard to a patient who has a knee condition such as Mr. Minton’s, the patient’s pain, not the condition of his knee, is the determining factor regarding the need for surgery.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Mintons and awarded damages totaling $58,500.00. Thereafter, the Mintons filed a motion for JNOV. After a hearing on the motion, the trial court granted the JNOV and awarded the Mintons damages totaling $543,188.79. GEICO’s $25,000.00 policy limits were subtracted from the total amount awarded. Colony’s policy limits are $300,000.00; therefore, the judgment was limited to that amount.

|4Prior to trial, the defendants submitted an Offer of Judgment to the Mintons as provided by La.Code Civ.P. art. 970. The Offer of Judgment offered to allow the Mintons to take a judgment against the defendants “in the amount of ... $50,000.00 ..., inclusive of legal interest.” The Mintons did not accept the offer. After the trial, the defendants filed a motion seeking a judgment ordering the Mintons to pay the costs, exclusive of attorney fees, [294]*294it incurred after the Offer of Judgment was made, as provided in Article 970. The Mintons opposed the motion, arguing that the trial court’s grant of the JNOV rendered the Offer of Judgment moot and that the offer was ambiguous. The trial court denied the motion.

The defendants appealed and filed separate appeals for the trial court’s grant of the Mintons’ motion for JNOV and its denial of the motion for costs due to GEI-CO’s failure to defend Mr. Gutierrez. The appeals were consolidated.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The defendants assign four errors with the trial court proceeding:

1. The trial judge erred in failing to grant the motion for entry of judgment, assessing certain costs against the plaintiff[s] because the offer of judgment made by the defendants was more than 25% higher than the judgment resulting from the jury verdict.
2. The trial judge erred in failing to apply the proper legal standard and test for the entry of a [JNOV]. Instead of addressing whether the facts and inferences were overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiffs such that reasonable jurors could not arrive at a contrary verdict, the trial judge instead concluded the verdict was very, very wrong, which is not the correct legal standard.
3. The trial judge erred in granting plaintiffs’ motion for [JNOV] multiplying the damages awarded by the jury by almost ten when the evidence relating to causation and damages was controverted and the great majority of the evidence was on the side of the defendants to establish that plaintiffs knee surgeries were not ... a result of the accident giving rise to this lawsuit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
215 So. 3d 290, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 592, 2017 WL 910837, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minton-v-geico-casualty-co-lactapp-2017.