Newman v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.

290 F. App'x 106
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 5, 2008
Docket07-6060
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 290 F. App'x 106 (Newman v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newman v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 290 F. App'x 106 (10th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

*108 ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

MARY BECK BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

A house owned by Jerry and Judy Newman was destroyed by fire. While their fire-loss claim was pending with their insurer, State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., they filed this diversity action asserting that State Farm had breached the insurance contract and had handled their claim in bad faith. Thereafter, State Farm denied the claim based on the Newmans’ alleged motive and opportunity to set fire to the house and based on their alleged fraud and false swearing during the claim process. The district court granted State Farm’s motion for partial summary judgment on the bad faith claim. A jury decided for State Farm on the breach of contract claim. The Newmans appeal, arguing that (1) the jury instructions were confusing and contrary to Oklahoma law; (2) the district court improperly denied their motions to exclude testimony from State Farm’s experts; (3) the district court improperly refused to allow them to present a rebuttal expert; and (4) the district court erred in granting State Farm’s motion for partial summary judgment on the bad faith claim. We affirm.

I.

Before considering the facts and issues in this appeal, we address a preliminary matter concerning State Farm’s improper citation in the fact section of its brief, and throughout other parts of its brief to a lesser extent, to transcript and deposition pages not included in the appendices. 1 State Farm cites to various pages of the trial transcript and a deposition. More than seventy-five percent of the pages State Farm cites in its fact section are not included in the appendices. Although the Newmans provided only selected pages of the trial transcript and the deposition in their appendix, State Farm’s supplemental appendix failed to provide the pages not included in the Newmans’ appendix.

Our rules state that citation references should be to the appendices, and not to the transcripts. See 10th Cir. R. 28.1(A). Further, transcript excerpts must be included in an appendix when referred to in a brief. See id. at 10.3(D)(4). State Farm had the responsibility to file a supplemental appendix including any necessary items omitted from the Newmans’ appendix. See id. at 30.2(A)(1); see also Yarrington v. Davies, 992 F.2d 1077, 1080-81 (10th Cir.1993) (recognizing counsel’s responsibility to provide sufficient record excerpts for consideration of issues on appeal). We will not remedy State Farm’s failure to provide an adequate record. See 10th Cir. R. 10.3(B); id. at 30.1(A)(3).

Because State Farm failed to comply with our rules, we, for the most part, will not consider the fact section of State Farm’s brief. Nor will we consider assertions made by State Farm in other parts of its brief that are supported by citation to transcript pages not included in the appen *109 dices. Instead, we will decide this appeal based on the portions of the record in the appendices. We remind counsel of the importance of following court rules to aid our consideration of appeals, as these rules “are not empty gestures.” Travelers Indem. Co. v. Accurate Autobody, Inc., 340 F.3d 1118, 1121 (10th Cir.2003).

II.

On March 19, 2004, the Newman home burned to the ground. No one was home at the time, as Ms. Newman had moved out a year before due to marital difficulties and Mr. Newman was camping at a nearby lake with their son.

State Farm sent B.W. Scott, Jr., a fire cause and origin expert, to investigate. He reported that the fire started in the kitchen area. He noted excessive heat damage and higher than normal temperatures in the stove area, including a partial melting of two cast iron skillets nesting on the stove and a burner imprint on the bottom of the lower skillet and melted and faulty wiring. In Mr. Scott’s experience, “when evidence of higher temperatures are observed an additional accelerant or fuel was present in the fire area.” Aplt. App., Yol. 2 at 308. Because he, like the local fire department, was unable to determine the cause of the fire, he advised State Farm to retain an electrical engineer to inspect the electrical appliances and electrical service.

State Farm’s claims representative received authorization to settle the New-mans’ claim. But before he did so, State Farm received information that the New-mans may have hired someone to set their home on fire. State Farm followed up on this information, while continuing to give the Newmans money for living expenses.

Stephanie Knight, a former State Farm employee, told State Farm that she had heard from Ava Shaffer and Pam Snyder, two friends of Ms. Newman, that the New-mans had hired someone to burn down their house, that the arsonist was demanding money, and that the fire had something to do with the stove. These two women confirmed to State Farm that Ms. Newman had hired Rudy Smith to bum the house. Ms. Shaffer also stated that Ms. Newman had first tried to hire a friend of Ms. Shaffer’s to burn down the house, but he refused. Ms. Snyder also stated that Ms. Newman tried to borrow money from her husband. During the investigation, State Farm learned that Ms. Newman had unsuccessfully tried to borrow $6000 or $7000 from Rob McDonald shortly after the fire.

In her statements to State Farm, however, Ms. Newman denied hiring anyone to burn the house. She admitted calling Mr. Smith before the fire to ask him to help with remodeling the kitchen and after the fire to help with debris removal, but she stated that she never made the connection after the fire that she was calling the same person she called before the fire. She also stated she had borrowed money from a bank to buy a car for her daughter, but denied trying to borrow money from Mr. McDonald.

The Newmans filed a complaint in district court alleging State Farm breached the insurance contract and acted in bad faith. Thereafter, based on its investigation, State Farm denied the Newmans’ claim based on their motive and opportunity to start the fire and their fraud and false swearing. State Farm moved for summary judgment on the bad faith claim, and the district court granted the motion.

State Farm hired Glenn Hardin, an electrical engineer, to evaluate the Newmans’ stove and the two cast iron skillets found nesting on the stove. Mr. Hardin concluded that the left rear burner was on at the *110 time of the fire as evidenced by the branding of the burner element onto the bottom of the lower skillet. He conducted two tests to support his conclusion. Additionally, he noted extremely high heat conditions were present during the fire.

Before trial, Mr. Scott changed his opinion about the cause of the fire. He testified at his deposition that he believed the fire probably was incendiary in origin. His conclusion was based on the excessive heat, the melted cast iron skillets, and the investigation by Mr. Hardin. Also, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
290 F. App'x 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newman-v-state-farm-fire-casualty-co-ca10-2008.