Simon Estes v. Progressive Classic Insurance Company

809 N.W.2d 111, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 9, 2012 WL 246086
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 27, 2012
Docket09–1673
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 809 N.W.2d 111 (Simon Estes v. Progressive Classic Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simon Estes v. Progressive Classic Insurance Company, 809 N.W.2d 111, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 9, 2012 WL 246086 (iowa 2012).

Opinion

WIGGINS, Justice.

This case involves a dispute between an insured and his insurance company regarding underinsured motorist benefits. The district court denied the insurance company's motion for summary judgment. The case proceeded to trial. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the insured, and the district court entered judgment in favor of the insured with interest running from the date the insured filed his action against the insurance company. The insured filed a motion to modify the judgment, asking the *113 court to amend the judgment to start the running of interest from the date the insured filed his action against the original tortfeasors. Over the insurance company's objection that the insured did not. timely file his motion, the district court modified the judgment to start the running of interest from the date the insured filed his action against the original tortfeasors.

The insurance company appealed. Our court of appeals affirmed the district court. We granted further review. In this appeal, we must determine whether an order denying a motion for summary judgment is reviewable and whether the insured timely filed his posttrial motion.

On further review, we find that the order denying the insurance company's motion for summary judgment is not reviewable. Additionally, we find that the insured failed to timely file his posttrial motion and that the district court erred when it considered the motion. Accordingly, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals. We affirm that part of the district court's judgment requiring the insurance company to pay its underinsured motorist limit to the insured. We reverse that part of the judgment awarding interest from the date the insured filed the original action against the tortfeasors and remand the case to the district court to enter judgment with the interest running from the date the insured filed his petition against the insurance company.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

In October 2005, Simon Estes was in the tire and battery center of Sam's Club in Waterloo, Towa. With the permission of an employee, he entered the work area of the tire center. Another customer, Annette Rivers, drove into the tire center at a high rate of speed and struck Estes. The collision knocked Estes to the floor and injured him.

At the time of the accident, Estes maintained an automobile insurance policy with Progressive Classic Insurance Company. His policy contained coverage for an un-derinsured motorist for up to $300,000.

Estes filed suit against Rivers and Sam's Club in June 2006. Rivers' liability limit was $250,000 and Sam's Club's liability limit was $9,950,000. The parties reached settlement agreements. Specifically, Estes settled with Rivers for $231,449 and with Sam's Club for $75,000. Estes sought and received Progressive's consent to settle with Rivers. Estes, however, did not seek or receive Progressive's consent for the settlement with Sam's Club.

After settling with Rivers and Sam's Club, Estes brought an action in September 2007 against Progressive to collect un-derinsured motorist benefits. Progressive sought summary judgment, relying on provisions of Estes's policy. In summary, Progressive contended Estes violated his insurance policy by failing to obtain Progressive's consent to settle his claim with Sam's Club, as required by the consent-to-settlement clause of the policy. Progressive also alleged that Estes should not be allowed to recover under the policy because he had not alleged damages in excess of "all applicable bodily injury, liability bonds or policies" of Rivers and Sam's Club, as required by the policy. Progressive characterizes the latter clause as an exhaustion clause.

The district court denied Progressive's motion, concluding that the insurance poli-ey did not contain an explicit consent-to-settlement clause with a tortfeasor, such as Sam's Club, and that, if the consent-to-settlement clause did apply to Sam's Club, a fact issue had been engendered as to whether Estes's settlement with Sam's *114 Club prejudiced Progressive. The district court further held that it could not determine whether the alleged "exhaustion clause," relied upon by Progressive, would limit recovery because only the fact finder could determine if Estes's damages exceeded the applicable policy limits.

The case proceeded to trial. The parties submitted the case only on the issue of damages. In other words, the jury decided only the total amount of Estes's damages caused by the collision on the day of the injury. The jury did not assess fault between Rivers and Sam's Club. The jury determined Estes's damages from the accident were $1,189,486.11. The court entered a judgment against Progressive for $300,000, the limit of Estes's underinsured motorist coverage, plus interest, calculated from the date he filed his action against Progressive.

Progressive filed a motion for new trial within the time allowed for filing such a motion. Estes filed a motion to modify the judgment, contending the interest on the judgment against Progressive should be caleulated as of the date Estes filed suit against Rivers and Sam's Club in the underlying tort suit, rather than as of the date Estes filed his suit against Progressive. Estes filed his motion after the ten-day time limit for filing posttrial motions had expired. The district court denied Progressive's motion for new trial and granted Estes's motion. The court entered judgment against Progressive with interest calculated as of the date Estes filed the tort action against Rivers and Sam's Club.

Progressive appealed, arguing the district court erred by denying its motion for summary judgment and in granting Estes's motion to modify the judgment by calculating interest from the date of the filing of the underlying tort case.

The court of appeals affirmed the district court on all of the issues raised on appeal. Progressive sought further review. We granted Progressive's application.

II. Appeal of Summary Judgment Ruling.

An order overruling a motion for summary judgment is a nonreviewable order when the district court finds a genuine issue of material fact exists and the case proceeds to final trial, Klooster v. N. Iowa State Bank, 404 N.W.2d 564, 567 (Iowa 1987). We have consistently applied this rule when presented with an appeal from the denial of a motion for summary judgment once the case has proceeded to trial. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Johnson, 781 N.W.2d 553, 556 (Iowa 2010); Lindsay v. Cottingham & Butler Ins. Servs., Inc., 763 N.W.2d 568, 572 (Iowa 2009); Kiesau v. Bantz, 686 N.W.2d 164, 174 (Iowa 2004). Our court of appeals has also applied this rule. See., e.g., Neuroth v. Preferred Cartage Serv., Inc., No. 05-0320, 2006 WL 2871997, at *3 (Iowa Ct.App. Oct. 11, 2006).

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Bluebook (online)
809 N.W.2d 111, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 9, 2012 WL 246086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simon-estes-v-progressive-classic-insurance-company-iowa-2012.