Perry Hamburger, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant

361 F.3d 875, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 1108, 57 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1087, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3953
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMarch 2, 2004
Docket02-21126
StatusPublished
Cited by170 cases

This text of 361 F.3d 875 (Perry Hamburger, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Perry Hamburger, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, 361 F.3d 875, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 1108, 57 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1087, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3953 (5th Cir. 2004).

Opinions

[878]*878LYNN, District Judge:

Perry Hamburger appeals the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment on his extra-contractual claims, the striking of his expert witness’s testimony on causation, the entry of judgment as a matter of law that Hamburger was not entitled to recover for pain and suffering or medical expenses related to his herniated disc, and the offset of the jury verdict with the $35,000 in benefits previously paid to Hamburger. We affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.

I. BACKGROUND

On July 26, 1999, Hamburger was involved in an automobile accident caused by another driver. Thereafter, Hamburger suffered a herniated disc in his neck that required surgery. Hamburger contends that this injury was caused by the accident. The other driver’s insurer, Old American Insurance Company (“Old American”), paid Hamburger $25,000, the limits of the other driver’s policy. Thereafter, Hamburger filed a claim with his insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”), for his damages which exceeded $25,000. State Farm paid Hamburger $10,000 under the personal injury protection (“PIP”) provision1 of his policy, but denied payment under the uninsured/underinsured motorist (“UIM”) provision.2

On July 24, 2001, Hamburger filed suit in state court against State Farm for breach of the UIM clause (the “contractual claim”), and for violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Article 21.21 of the Texas Insurance Code, relating to State Farm’s alleged bad faith in denying his claim under the UIM provision (the “extra-contractual claims”). State Farm removed the case to federal court on September 7, 2001, based on diversity jurisdiction.3

The trial court’s Docket Control Order set a discovery deadline of May 31, 2002. On March 15, 2002, State Farm moved for summary judgment on Hamburger’s extra-contractual claims. Hamburger asked State Farm to provide dates for Hamburger to depose Matt Schomburg and Catherine Wesley, the State Farm representatives who handled State Farm’s PIP and UIM claims. State Farm replied in an April 30, 2002 letter: “This is to inform you that State Farm will not agree to produce these representatives for deposition because there is no issue in this suit to which their testimony is relevant.” On May 20, 2002, Hamburger moved to compel the depositions of the two State Farm representatives. On May 28, 2002, the trial court granted State Farm’s motion for partial summary judgment, and Hamburger filed a motion to reconsider the partial grant of summary judgment. On June 12, 2002, the court conducted a hearing on Hamburger’s motion to compel and his motion to reconsider, and denied both motions. Hamburger appeals the granting of partial summary judgment for State [879]*879Farm on Hamburger’s extra-contractual claims.

Hamburger designated his expert witnesses on April 30, 2002, almost three months after the trial court’s deadline, without submitting expert reports. On May 23, 2002, State Farm filed a motion to exclude Hamburger’s expert witnesses for failure to timely designate the experts and produce expert reports. On June 12, 2002, the trial court granted State Farm’s motion to exclude Hamburger’s expert witnesses, and on August 23, 2002, the trial court denied Hamburger’s motion to reconsider. Hamburger appeals the court decision to bar Dr. Lynn Fitzgerald’s expert testimony that the accident caused Hamburger’s herniated disc.

Because Hamburger had no expert testimony that the accident caused Hamburger’s herniated disc, the trial court granted State Farm’s motion for judgment as a matter of law that the accident did not cause Hamburger’s injuries. Therefore, the trial court did not allow the jury to consider compensation for Hamburger’s medical expenses or pain and suffering related to the herniated disc. The jury was allowed to consider compensation only for Hamburger’s past and future pain and suffering related to injuries other than the herniated disc. As an alternative ground for granting judgment as a matter of law that Hamburger was not entitled to recover medical expenses, the trial court found that Hamburger had presented no evidence that his medical expenses were reasonable. Hamburger appeals the trial court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law.

The jury awarded Hamburger $50,000 for pain and suffering not related to his herniated disc, and on September 6, 2002, the trial court entered a final judgment against State Farm for $50,000. On September 13, 2002, State Farm moved to alter or amend the final judgment to offset the $10,000 in PIP benefits paid by State Farm, and the $25,000 in benefits paid by Old American. On September 30, 2002, the trial court granted State Farm’s motion and entered an amended final judgment against State Farm in the amount of $15,000. Hamburger appeals the trial court’s application of the offsets to the jury verdict.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Summary Judgment on the Extra-Contractual Claims

On May 28, 2002, the trial court granted State Farm’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Hamburger’s claims that State Farm “failed to attempt in good faith to effectuate a prompt, fair, and equitable settlement of a claim with respect to which the insurer’s liability had become reasonably clear” in violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Article 21.21 of the Texas Insurance Code (the “extra-contractual claims”). Hamburger contends that summary judgment on the extra-contractual claims was improper because (1) material facts were in dispute which precluded summary judgment, and (2) Hamburger was not afforded a full opportunity to conduct discovery.

The Court reviews the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment de novo, applying the same summary judgment standard applied by the district court. Williams v. Bramer, 180 F.3d 699, 702 (5th Cir.1999). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” In addition, the trial court’s interpretations of state law are reviewed by this Court de novo. Salve Regi[880]*880na Coll. v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 231, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991).

In order to impose liability on State Farm for violations of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, the DTPA, and Article 21.21, Hamburger was required to show that State Farm knew or should have known that it was reasonably clear that Hamburger’s UIM claim was covered, but failed to attempt in good faith to effectuate a prompt, fair, and equitable settlement. Universe Life Ins. Co. v. Giles, 950 S.W.2d 48, 55 (Tex.1997)(enunciating the standard for breach of the common law duty of good faith and fair dealing); Emmert v. Progressive County Mut. Ins. Co., 882 S.W.2d 32, 36 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1994, no writ) (“The various other extracontractual claims require the same predicate for recovery as bad faith causes of action.”).

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361 F.3d 875, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 1108, 57 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1087, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 3953, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perry-hamburger-plaintiff-appellant-cross-appellee-v-state-farm-mutual-ca5-2004.