State Ex Rel. Regents of New Mexico State University v. Siplast, Inc.

877 P.2d 38, 117 N.M. 738
New Mexico Supreme Court·Decided June 6, 1994·No. 21457·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BACA, Justice.

Plaintiffs-Appellants, The Regents of New Mexico State University, New Mexico State University (“NMSU”), and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (“Aetna”), appealed when the trial court granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee, Siplast, Inc. (“Siplast”). The action arose out of damages sustained to the Pan-American Center located at NMSU in Las Cruces due to a fire that occurred while the building was being re-roofed. NMSU was covered by a policy issued by Aetna that covered all of the property that it owned. Aetna covered the damage to the Pan-American Center and then filed suit against Van Winkle Roofing, Inc. (“Van Winkle”), Ronnie Van Winkle, United Construction Products, Inc., Tectum, Inc. and Siplast to recover the amount it paid out for the damage caused by the fire. All of the defendants subsequently filed motions for summary judgment on the grounds that as co-insureds under the Aetna policy, Aetna could not subrogate against them, and that the waiver clause in the re-roofing contract was a contractual bar to suit against them. Siplast was the only defendant remaining when the trial court entered its order granting summary judgment. On appeal, we address four issues: (1) Whether the trial court’s decision to change its ruling on Siplast’s motion for summary judgment was an abuse of discretion; (2) whether summary judgment was precluded because a material issue of fact existed as to whether Siplast was a subcontractor, a sub-subcontractor, an agent, or an employee of NMSU; (3) whether Siplast was a co-insured under the policy; and (4) whether an insurance company may subrogate against its insured under New Mexico law. We review this case pursuant to SCRA 1986, 12 — 102(A)(1) (Repl.Pamp.1992), and affirm.

I

On May 11, 1987, NMSU entered into a contract with Van Winkle for the re-roofing of the Pan-American Center. Siplast provided various materials which were used by Van Winkle for the re-roofing project and performed inspection services to the extent necessary to provide Siplast’s ten-year guarantee to Van Winkle. On August 11, 1987, a fire caused damage to the Pan-American Center, both to the re-roofing work as well as to other areas of the building. Aetna alleged in its complaint that the negligence of Van Winkle, Siplast, and the other defendants caused the fire. Aetna paid out NMSU’s claim for damage to the building and subsequently filed suit against Siplast for subrogation, claiming that Siplast was not covered under the Aetna policy. Siplast filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming that because it was a subcontractor within the meaning of the waiver clause in the contract between Van Winkle and NMSU, the waiver clause constituted a contractual bar to the suit. Siplast also claimed that, as an insured under the Aetna policy, Aetna could not subrogate against it. The trial court denied Siplast’s motion, reasoning that NMSU had waived any claim for damages by fire to the re-roofing project against contractors, subcontractors, and sub-subcontractors only to the extent covered by property insurance obtained pursuant to the re-roofing contract. The trial court also concluded that Siplast could raise the issue of whether it was subcontractor as a motion for directed verdict at the close of plaintiffs case at trial.

Thereafter, Siplast filed a motion to reconsider summary judgment. Fourteen months later the district court, with a different judge presiding over the case, granted Siplast’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that, as a matter of law, Siplast was a subcontractor, a sub-subcontractor, an agent, or an employee of NMSU, and was, therefore, an insured under the policy with Aetna. Aetna and NMSU appeal from this order.

II

We first address whether the trial court’s decision to change its ruling on Siplast’s motion for summary judgment was an abuse of discretion. Aetna contends that the trial court abused its discretion by reversing the prior ruling denying Siplast’s motion for summary judgment. We disagree.

In our recent opinion in Tabet Lumber Co. v. Romero we decided this identical issue and held that

[t]he district court “has the inherent authority to reconsider its interlocutory order, and it is not the duty of the [trial court] to perpetuate error when it realizes it has mistakenly ruled.” The grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory order, and, therefore, the [trial court] could properly reconsider its previous ruling notwithstanding the fact that a different judge had issued that ruling.

117 N.M. 429, 431, 872 P.2d 847, 849 (1994) (citations omitted).

The trial court’s order denying summary judgment was not a final order and, hence, was subject to later reversal by a different judge ruling on the motion for reconsideration.

III

We next address whether the trial court correctly granted summary judgment in favor of Siplast. Summary judgment is properly granted in a case when no genuine issues of material fact are presented and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. SCRA 1986, 1-056(C) (Repl.Pamp.1992); New Mexico Physicians Mut. Liab. Co. v. LaMure, 116 N.M. 92, 100, 860 P.2d 734, 742 (1993). If the facts are undisputed and only a legal interpretation of the facts remains, summary judgment may be properly granted. Koenig v. Perez, 104 N.M. 664, 665, 726 P.2d 341, 342 (1986).

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State Ex Rel. Regents of New Mexico State University v. Siplast, Inc., 877 P.2d 38, 117 N.M. 738 (N.M. 1994).

877 P.2d 38 (State Ex Rel. Regents of New Mexico State University v. Siplast, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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