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Schuff v. A.T. Klemens & Son12/27/2000
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eighth Judicial District, In and for the County of Cascade The Honorable Kenneth R. Neill, Judge presiding.
Heard: April 4, 2000
Submitted: June 28, 2000
Justice James C. Nelson
A.T. Klemens & Son (Klemens) appeals from a judgment resulting from a wrongful death claim entered in favor of Colleen Karen Schuff, and her sons, Adam and Jacob Schuff (Schuff), by the Eighth Judicial District Court, Cascade County. Schuff, both individually and as a personal representative of the estate of her deceased husband, cross-appeals the judgment, asserting that the court erred in reducing the judgment award and in calculating judgment interest.
We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.
Klemens raises the following issues:
1. Did the District Court abuse its discretion when it denied Klemens' motion to disqualify the Marra firm from representing Schuff?
2. Did the District Court abuse its discretion when it entered a default judgment against Klemens on the issue of liability as a sanction under Montana Rules of Civil Procedure 37(d) for alleged discovery abuses?
Subject to Schuff's cross-appeal as well as Klemens' appeal, we address the following issues:
3. Does Article II, Section 16, of the Montana Constitution create a fundamental right to recover attorney's fees and costs?
4. Did the District Court err when it reduced the jury verdict pro tanto based on Schuff's prior settlement with the other named defendants?
5. Did the District Court err in its collateral source reduction determinations regarding workers' compensation and Social Security benefits?
6. Did the District Court err when it limited Schuff's recovery of prejudgment interest?
7. Did the District Court err in determining the proper date for post-judgment interest?
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Schuff initiated this action in 1991 to recover damages for the alleged wrongful death of her husband, William Schuff, who died as a result of burns sustained at the M&H;Gas Station in Great Falls, Montana. The accident occurred on September 12, 1991, while Schuff's husband, an employee of Kenneco, Inc., was repairing a submersible pump in a manhole above an underground gasoline storage tank at the station. Accumulated gas fumes ignited, and engulfed Schuff in flames. He died from the resulting severe burn injuries on September 25, 1991.
Schuff's theory of negligence, in part, blamed the accident on either a mislabeled electrical relay switch and/or a mis-wired relay switch, which deceived William Schuff into turning off the wrong relay switch, and thereby providing an ignition source. Schuff alleged that the fumes accumulated due to a defective pump. On October 29, 1998, a jury returned a verdict in Schuff's favor in the amount of $1,303,000.
After filing her original complaint against M&H;Gas Company and three John Does on October 4, 1991, Schuff filed an amended complaint naming Klemens as well as another electrical contractor and the manufacturer of the submersible pump as additional defendants on January 31, 1992. A.T. Klemens & Son, an electrical contractor, was one of several contractors that had performed electrical work for M&H;at the gas station where the accident occurred.
Klemens was served with a copy of the amended complaint on February 3, 1992. The District Court would find, in its Order granting Schuff's motion for default judgment, that Klemens "denied ever doing any work involving wiring of the su
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Montana Personal Injury Attorneys
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