Bartley-Rice v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.
| Docket Number: | 2013-CA-00966-COA Linked Case(s): 2013-CA-00966-COA |
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| Court of Appeals: |
Opinion Link Opinion Date: 12-16-2014 Opinion Author: Griffis, P.J. Holding: Affirmed. |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Personal injury - Verdict form - Weight of evidence - M.R.C.P. 50 - M.R.C.P. 59 Judge(s) Concurring: Lee, C.J., Barnes, Ishee, Roberts, Carlton, Maxwell and Fair, JJ. Dissenting Author : Irving, P.J., With Separate Written Opinion Dissent Joined By : Joined In Part by James, J. Concur in Part, Dissent in Part 1: James, J., Without Separate Written Opinion Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 05-13-2013 Appealed from: HOLMES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Judge: JANNIE M. LEWIS Disposition: Entered final judgment in favor of defendant/appellees |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | Brief(s) Available: | ||
| Appellant: | Debra Bartley-Rice |
TYLVESTER OTIS GOSS, MICHAEL M. WILLIAMS |
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| Appellee: | State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Idalan Haymon and Judy Austin | WILLIAM H. CREEL JR., TIFFANY PIAZZA GROVE, WILLIAM M. DALEHITE JR., CHRISTOPHER DAVID MORRIS, REEVE G. JACOBUS JR., JAMES SETH MCCOY | ||
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| Appellee #3: | ||||
Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Personal injury - Verdict form - Weight of evidence - M.R.C.P. 50 - M.R.C.P. 59 |
| Summary of the Facts: | After being involved in an automobile accident, Debra Bartley-Rice filed a negligence action against Indalan Haymon and Judy Austin. Both Haymon and Austin were uninsured. Therefore, Bartley-Rice’s complaint also named her insurance carrier, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, and asserted a claim for uninsured-motorist coverage under her policy. State Farm filed a motion to bifurcate the claims. The trial court granted State Farm’s motion and ordered Bartley-Rice to proceed to trial on her claims against Haymon and Austin. If a final judgment of liability and damages was entered in Bartley-Rice’s claims against Haymon and Austin, then such an award would be binding as to Bartley-Rice’s claim against State Farm, subject to the policy limits. The jury found that the amount of damages to be zero. The jury apportioned sixty-six percent of the fault to Haymon and Austin and thirty-three percent to Bartley-Rice. Bartley-Rice appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Bartley-Rice argues that the trial court erred when it failed to require the jury to clarify its verdict where the general-verdict form was in obvious conflict with the special-verdict form. She also argues that the verdict is unsupported by the evidence and evinces bias, prejudice, and passion by the jury. Where a party makes no objection to the form of a verdict returned by the jury, that party is procedurally barred from raising errors related to such on appeal. In this case, there was no objection or challenge to the form of the jury’s verdict by counsel for Bartley-Rice. In order to raise the issue that the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, it is essential that the contention be embodied in a motion for a new trial in the lower court and be passed upon by the trial judge. Bartley-Rice failed to file a timely post-trial motion under either M.R.C.P. 50 or 59. The final judgment was signed on May 13, 2013, and filed on May 14, 2013. On May 29, 2013, Bartley-Rice filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (M.R.C.P. 50) or, in the alternative, a new trial (M.R.C.P. 59). Rule 50(b) and Rule 59(b) and (e) require that such motions must be filed within ten days of the “entry of a judgment.” Bartley-Rice failed to file the motions in a timely manner. Further, Bartley-Rice failed to bring either of these motions to the attention of the trial judge. Thus, the issues are procedurally barred on appeal. |
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