Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wood

121 So. 3d 982, 2013 WL 646468, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 13
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 22, 2013
Docket1111486
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 121 So. 3d 982 (Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wood, 121 So. 3d 982, 2013 WL 646468, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 13 (Ala. 2013).

Opinion

STUART, Justice.

Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company (“Nationwide”) and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”) filed a declaratory-judgment action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, seeking, among other things, a determination of the status of a settlement agreement they had reached with D.V.G., a minor, resolving her claims for coverage stemming from injuries she received in an automobile accident, following her death in a subsequent unrelated automobile accident before the Jefferson Circuit Court approved that settlement agreement. The federal district court ultimately concluded that the issue presented involved a question of Alabama law for which there was no clear controlling precedent, and it therefore certified the following question to this Court pursuant to Rule 18, Ala. RApp. P.:

“Under Alabama law, is an insurance company bound to a settlement agreement negotiated on behalf of an injured minor, if that minor dies before the scheduling of a pro ami hearing which was intended by both sides to obtain approval of the settlement?”

We consented to answer the question, and we now answer it in the affirmative.

I.

The federal district court provided the following statement of facts, which was stipulated to by the parties, in the certification order filed with this Court on August 17, 2012:

[984]*984“On or about March 16, 2011, D.V.G. was an occupant of a vehicle driven by K.C.T. that was involved in a single-vehicle motor vehicle accident in Hoover, Alabama. At the time of the subject accident, the vehicle occupied by D.V.G. and driven by K.C.T. was insured under a policy of insurance issued by [Nationwide]. This Nationwide policy provided for personal injury liability coverage. At the time of the subject accident, D.V.G. also possessed uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage under a policy of insurance issued by [State Farm].
“Stan Brobston, acting as attorney for D.V.G., who was a minor at the time of the subject collision, made insurance claims for personal injury against K.C.T., who submitted the claim under the Nationwide liability policy and for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage under the State Farm policy, but did not file suit. On or about August 5, 2011, a letter was written to Ralph D. Gaines, III [attorney for Nationwide], and forwarded to Stan Brobston, as counsel for D.V.G., confirming that Nationwide was tendering its bodily injury liability limits of $50,000.00 to D.V.G. On or about September 7, 2011, State Farm informed Stan Brobston, as counsel for D.V.G., that it was tendering its available uninsured/underinsured motorist limits of $50,000.00 to D.V.G. The offers made by Nationwide and State Farm, which totaled $100,000, were accepted by Stan Brobston as the attorney for D.V.G. It was the understanding of all parties that the settlement needed to be submitted to the Circuit Court of Jefferson County for approval.
“On or about September 15, 2011, D.V.G. passed away as the result of injuries sustained in an unrelated motor vehicle accident that occurred on that date. The parties agree that D.V.G.’s death was not related to the alleged injuries sustained in the subject accident on March 16, 2011. As of the date of her death, there had been no complaint filed by or on behalf of D.V.G., asserting claims for personal injury of UM/UIM benefits against K.C.T. and/or State Farm in relation to the automobile accident occurring on March 16, 2011. No pro ami hearing was ever held, and a court never approved the settlement.”1

II.

The relevant facts in this case are undisputed. “Because the issues before us involve only the application of law to undisputed facts, our review is de novo.” State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Motley, 909 So.2d 806, 810 (Ala.2005) (citing Alfa Mut. Ins. Co. v. Small, 829 So.2d 743, 745 (Ala.2002); and Allstate Ins. Co. v. Skelton, 675 So.2d 377, 379 (Ala.1996)).

III.

“Under the Alabama survival statute, § 6-5-462, Ala.Code 1975, an unfiled claim sounding in tort will not survive the death of the person with the claim, Malcolm v. King, 686 So.2d 231 (Ala.1996); Georgia Cas. & Sur. Co. v. White, 582 So.2d 487 (Ala.1991). A claim on a contract, on the other hand, survives in favor of a decedent’s personal representative, regardless of whether the decedent had filed an action before his death, McCulley v. SouthTrust Bank of Baldwin County, 575 So.2d 1106 (Ala. [985]*9851991); Benefield v. Aquaslide ‘N’ Dive Corp., 406 So.2d 873 (Ala.1981).”

Brooks v. Hill, 717 So.2d 759, 763 (Ala.1998). Thus, it is undisputed that any potential tort claims D.V.G. held were extinguished when she died; the issue before us is whether she held any contractual claims at her death that are now enforceable by the administratrix of her estate, her mother Barbara Walker Wood. Wood argues that the settlement agreed to by D.V.G.’s attorney Stan Brobston and Nationwide and State Farm is a valid contract that Wood can now enforce. Nationwide and State Farm argue that the settlement agreement was an executory contract that would not be complete and binding until it was approved by the Jefferson Circuit Court following a pro ami hearing. Alternatively, they argue that, even if the settlement agreement was a binding and enforceable contract, the pro ami hearing was a condition precedent to the performance of the contract and that hearing is now impossible as a result of the death of D.V.G.; consequently, they argue, their duty to perform under the contract is discharged.

Based on the stipulated facts, it is apparent that a contract did exist at the time of D.V.G.’s death. Nationwide and State Farm have argued that a minor lacks capacity to contract and cannot enter into a binding settlement of his or her potential claims; however, this argument is incom-píete. As this Court has stated, “ ‘[i]t is well settled by the authorities that infants are not liable on any of their contracts, except for necessaries. With the exception, all other contracts of infants, whether executory or executed, may be avoided or ratified at the election of the infant.’ H & S Homes, L.L.C. v. McDonald, 823 So.2d 627, 630 (Ala.2001) (quoting Harris v. Raughton, 37 Ala.App. 648, 649, 73 So.2d 921, 922 (1954) (emphasis added)). See also Davis v. Turner, 337 So.2d 355, 361 (Ala.Civ.App.1976) (stating that contracts entered into by minors are “not void, but voidable only” and “not totally ineffectual, [but] merely unenforceable if later repudiated”). Thus, at the time the settlement was agreed to, a contract was formed that was binding upon Nationwide and State Farm but voidable at D.V.G.’s election.2 See also White v. Allied Mut. Ins. Co., 29 Kan.App.2d 797, 802, 31 P.3d 328, 332 (2001) (minor not bound by settlement agreement until court approval was obtained, but other party was “bound not to revoke or attempt to withdraw its offer” prior to the court hearing); Dacanay v. Mendoza, 573 F.2d 1075, 1080 (9th Cir.1978) (settlement was voidable at election of minor until approved by the court); and Danes v.

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Bluebook (online)
121 So. 3d 982, 2013 WL 646468, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nationwide-mutual-insurance-co-v-wood-ala-2013.