Patrick v. Monte Owens Agency, Inc.

332 S.W.3d 917, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 216, 2011 WL 588708
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 22, 2011
DocketWD 72462
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 332 S.W.3d 917 (Patrick v. Monte Owens Agency, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patrick v. Monte Owens Agency, Inc., 332 S.W.3d 917, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 216, 2011 WL 588708 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.

Angelique Patrick (“Patrick”) filed suit against Monte Owens (“Owens”), the Monte Owens Agency, Inc. (“Agency”), and the Missouri Property Insurance Placement Facility (“MPIP”), for breach of contract, reformation, negligence, and fraudulent misrepresentation. Patrick claimed she had obtained high risk homeowner’s insurance from Owens and Agency through MPIP. Shortly after meeting with Owens, Patrick’s home suffered a significant fire loss. MPIP did not pay on the loss because it had not issued a policy of insurance.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all of the defendants based on each defendant’s unconverted factual contentions being treated as admitted after Patrick repeatedly failed to adhere to the requirements set forth in Rule 74.04(c)(2). The admitted uncontroverted facts were deemed by the trial court to support the entry of summary judgment as a matter of law as to all relief prayed by Patrick.

Patrick appeals. We affirm.

Statement of Facts and Procedural History

In early February 2008, Patrick applied with Owens for homeowner’s insurance through Allstate Insurance Company after her previous insurance policy lapsed. Ow *918 ens, a licensed insurance agent for Allstate, operated the Agency. Allstate denied Patrick’s application.

Owens told Patrick that she could try to secure insurance through MPIP which offered insurance to high risk insureds who were unable to secure insurance through other carriers. Owens is not a licensed agent for MPIP but is an insurance producer who can submit risks to MPIP for its consideration. No producer, including Owens and Agency, has a contract or license with MPIP, however.

On February 21, 2008, Owens assisted Patrick in filling out an application for a homeowner’s policy through MPIP. This application, along with pictures of Patrick’s home and a one hundred dollar money order, were mailed to MPIP on February 25, 2008.

On February 26, 2008, Patrick’s home was destroyed in a fire. Patrick submitted a claim to MPIP. MPIP denied the claim because, as of the date of the loss, it had not yet received Patrick’s application and had not issued a policy. 1 Even had it received her policy, the regulations controlling the insurance product MPIP issues require at least twenty days to pass from the time of application until the issuance of a policy and further condition the decision to issue a policy on a home inspection. Moreover, Patrick had requested coverage in the total amount of $300,000, which exceeded MPIP’s legal coverage limits. Finally, the amount of “premium” Patrick mailed with her application was insufficient. To be considered for coverage above $100,000, an application must be accompanied by at minimum of two hundred dollars.

On March 31, 2008, Patrick filed suit against the defendants. Patrick alleged that MPIP breached its contract, and she sought to reform the contract to commence coverage on the day she gave Owens the one hundred dollar money order. Patrick alleged that Owens and the Agency committed fraudulent misrepresentation because Owens held himself out to be a MPIP agent. Patrick also alleged that Owens and Agency were negligent in failing to secure insurance for Patrick.

The defendants filed answers, and MPIP filed a cross-claim for indemnity against Owens and the Agency. Following discovery, MPIP, and Owens and his Agency, filed separate motions for summary judgment as to all of the relief prayed by Patrick. Patrick did not respond to the motions for summary judgment. The trial court entered its judgment on October 7, 2009, granting both motions for summary judgment and entering judgment in favor of MPIP, and Owens and Agency as to all relief prayed by Patrick.

Patrick filed a motion to reconsider. On November 9, 2009, the trial court granted Patrick’s motion and afforded her ten days to file suggestions in opposition to both motions for summary judgment. Patrick filed a consolidated response to both motions for summary judgment and an affidavit that contradicted in material fashion her previous deposition testimony.

On January 20, 2010, the trial court granted MPIP’s motion for summary judgment, observing that “Plaintiffs response thereto is incomprehensible.” The trial court denied, however, Owens’s and Agency’s motion for summary judgment without prejudice to re-file. In its order, the trial court warned Patrick that should Owens *919 and Agency re-file their motion for summary judgment, she would be required to respond “in the manner required by Supreme Court Rule 74.04(c)(2).” The order provided detailed guidance to Patrick about the nature of the response required by Rule 74.04 and advised that “[fjailure of Plaintiff to strictly adhere to the procedure mandated by that rule will result in Plaintiff being deemed to have admitted the uncontroverted facts averred by defendants in their motion.”

Owens and Agency re-filed their motion for summary judgment on January 25, 2010. Patrick filed a response to the motion for summary judgment that was nearly identical to the response she had filed in response to Owens’s and Agency’s first motion for summary judgment, a response which had drawn pointed criticism from the trial court in its January 20, 2010 order.

On April 1, 2010, the trial court entered an order and judgment granting Owens’s and Agency’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court summarized the warnings it had afforded Patrick in its January 20, 2010 order, and noted that “[djespite the Court’s warning that Plaintiff strictly adhere to Rule 74.04(c)(2), Plaintiffs Response still fails to comply therewith. Therefore, paragraphs 1-43 of Defendants’ Statement of Uncontroverted Material Facts ... are hereby DEEMED to have been ADMITTED by Plaintiff.” The trial court entered judgment in favor of Owens and Agency on Counts III and IV of Patrick’s petition and noted its earlier entry of judgment in favor of MPIP on counts I and II Patrick’s petition. The trial court ruled that MPIP’s cross-claim for indemnity was moot, thus rendering its April 1, 2010 order and judgment a final judgment from which Patrick’s appeal has been taken.

Standard of Review

Our review from a judgment granting summary judgment is essentially de novo, and as such we will apply the same criteria as the trial court to determine if summary judgment was appropriate. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). We view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, drawing all inferences in their favor. Id. The trial court’s grant of summary judgment will be upheld only if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the mov-ant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 380.

Analysis

Patrick raises two points on appeal. In her first point, which relates only to MPIP, Patrick claims that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of MPIP because there were genuine issues of material fact in dispute with respect to the existence of an agency relationship between Owens, Agency, and MPIP.

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Bluebook (online)
332 S.W.3d 917, 2011 Mo. App. LEXIS 216, 2011 WL 588708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patrick-v-monte-owens-agency-inc-moctapp-2011.