Morris v. Valley Forge Insurance

805 S.W.2d 948, 305 Ark. 25, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 162
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 18, 1991
Docket90-185
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 805 S.W.2d 948 (Morris v. Valley Forge Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris v. Valley Forge Insurance, 805 S.W.2d 948, 305 Ark. 25, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 162 (Ark. 1991).

Opinion

Jack Holt, Jr., Chief Justice.

This case concerns legal malpractice insurance coverage wherein the appellants, Jeffrey Morris and James Mays, appeal from a grant of summary judgment in favor of Mays’ insurance carrier, the appellee, Valley Forge Insurance Company (Valley Forge). The trial court held that Mays’ policy with Valley Forge afforded no coverage for a legal malpractice judgment obtained against him by Morris. Since we find remaining issues of material fact, we reverse the trial court’s decision and remand the case for trial.

Mays was an attorney practicing in Little Rock who represented Morris in a divorce action. The two were also friends and business associates in various investment ventures. Mays sold a motel, owned by his company, the Mays-Connealy Corporation, to JWM Investment Enterprises, Inc. (JWM), a company owned by Morris. Mays did not inform Morris that the property was already encumbered by a substantial lien, nor did he provide clear title upon Morris’ completion of purchase payments, as he had promised. The bank foreclosed on the motel, and Morris lost both the property and his investment.

Morris brought suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Mays, individually and as a principal of the Mays-Connealy Corporation, alleging legal malpractice, fraud, and breach of contract. The claims against the corporation and all allegations of fraud and breach of contract were dropped during trial, however, and the case was submitted to the jury on the single issue of negligent malpractice against Mays. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Morris for the amount of his investment in the motel. Valley Forge provided a defense for Mays in that action, under a reservation of rights.

Following judgment, Valley Forge filed an action for declaratory relief in Jefferson County Circuit Court, contending that the policy issued to Mays did not provide coverage for the judgment. Valley Forge then filed a motion for summary judgment, specifically alleging: 1) that Mays’ acts and omissions resulting in the loss to Morris were not done in the performance of legal services, as required by the policy; 2) that even if legal services were rendered, coverage was excluded under the exception for “any dishonest, fraudulent, criminal or malicious act or omission of the insured;” 3) that Mays’ acts fell within the exclusion for professional services rendered for a business owned by the insured; and 4) that Mays’ acts fell within the exclusion for performance of professional services as an attorney and an officer, director, employee or trustee of a business.

After consideration of the pleadings, to which portions of the testimony at the previous trial were attached, depositions, briefs, and oral arguments of counsel, the trial court granted the motion, holding that Mays’ conduct “did not constitute performance of professional services as a lawyer” and that such conduct “fell within policy exclusions.”

We agree with the appellants that the exclusions and policy provisions relied on by Valley Forge, and presumably upon which the trial court based its decision, involved questions of fact and summary judgment was improper.

PERFORMANCE OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

The trial court first erred in finding, as a matter of law, that the motel transaction did not amount to professional services rendered by Mays as Morris’ attorney.

The policy provided that Valley Forge agreed:

To pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages:
1. arising from the performance of professional services for others in the insured’s capacity as a lawyer, real estate title insurance agent or notary public because of an act or omission of the insured or of any other person or firm for whose act or omission the insured is legally responsible ....

Morris contended throughout the trial that the motel transaction came about as the result of Mays’ representation and advice during his divorce. Morris, who was living in Pine Bluff when the divorce proceedings first began, testified that Mays recommended he move to Little Rock so that Mays could better represent him. Also at Mays’ suggestion, Morris formed a corporation, JWM, in an attempt to shield assets from his wife. The purchase of the motel was further recommended by Mays as a way to generate income and conserve assets.

Mays denied that the discussion concerning the sale of the motel occurred in any context other than between friends mutually interested in a business investment. Valley Forge further points to Morris’ testimony where he conceded that he wasn’t “relying on Mays as his attorney” when Mays drew up the papers for the sale. Valley Forge argues that a distinct line may be drawn between Mays’ representation and advice in the context of Morris’ divorce, and Mays’ conduct in the actual property transaction. The line is a dubious one and, at best, presents a question of fact.

Summary judgment, like a mistrial, is an extreme remedy and should only be granted if there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ark. R. Civ. P. 5(c); Guthrie v. Kemp, 303 Ark. 74, 793 S.W.2d 782 (1990). The burden of proving that there is no genuine issue of material fact is upon the movant, and all proof submitted must be viewed in a light most favorable to the party resisting the motion. Any doubts and inferences must be resolved against the moving party. Guthrie v. Kemp, supra.

Morris repeatedly testified that he entered into the purchase on the direct advice of Mays in connection with his divorce. Such a relationship would impose a fiduciary duty on Mays to disclose the existence of the lien and to recommend to Morris that he seek independent counsel. See Model Rules of Professional Conduct 8.1 (1985). (The jury, at the trial on this matter, received instructions on negligent legal malpractice and obviously recognized the existence of the attorney-client relationship, and Mays’ corresponding duties, since it rendered a verdict against him.)

We note that the trial court, in its order, stated that the facts concerning Mays’ conduct were “well known as there [had] already been a full trial with regard to Mays’ liability to Morris,” and that the only remaining issues were whether those facts fell within policy coverage or exclusion. This finding is erroneous, however, since the established facts before the court were in dispute. Although our decision here may result in a retrial of essentially the same facts, the specific issues of policy coverage must be determined by a jury or trier of fact as the facts deciding those issues remain in conflict.

DISHONEST OR FRAUDULENT ACTS EXCLUSION

Summary judgment on the basis of the policy’s exclusion for “dishonest, fraudulent, criminal, or malicious” acts or omissions was also improper.

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Bluebook (online)
805 S.W.2d 948, 305 Ark. 25, 1991 Ark. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-valley-forge-insurance-ark-1991.