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Miklas v. Parrott6/24/2003
Appellant Illinois Farmers Insurance Company challenges the district court's denial of its motion to vacate an order appointing respondent Patricia E. Miklas trustee of the next-of-kin of Kathleen Rose Fields and Daniel Josephs Fields and approving settlement of a lawsuit brought by Miklas as trustee of the next-of-kin of Kathleen Rose Fields, a minor.
During settlement negotiations and in her complaint against the uninsured driver, the vehicle's owner, and Illinois Farmers, Miklas represented herself as the trustee for the next-of-kin to Kathleen Fields and Daniel Fields. But Miklas was not appointed as trustee until the day of the settlement-approval hearing, which occurred more than three years after the deaths of Kathleen and Daniel Fields. Because the district court abused its discretion by denying Illinois Farmers' motion to vacate appointment and approval of the settlement, we reverse that portion of the judgment. Because Illinois Farmers is no longer liable for uninsured-motorist benefits claimed as a result of the accident that killed Kathleen and Daniel Fields, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Miklas's claims arising out of the death of Daniel Joseph Fields.
FACTS
Kathleen Rose Fields and her brother, Daniel Joseph Fields, were killed in a one-car accident on May 29, 1997. The Fields siblings were passengers. Neither the driver nor the owner of the involved automobile was insured. But the decedents, and their mother, respondent Patricia E. Miklas, were insured as members of the household of Miklas's surviving son, under a policy issued to him by appellant Illinois Farmers Insurance Company.
In January 1999, Miklas brought a wrongful-death action against the driver and the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident. In the same action, Miklas sued Illinois Farmers for uninsured-motorist benefits. Miklas brought the lawsuit as trustee for the next-of-kin of both Kathleen and Daniel Fields. Miklas asserted in the complaint that the court had appointed her as trustee of the next-of-kin of both children on September 29, 1997.
Illinois Farmers entered into settlement negotiations with Miklas, as trustee of the next-of-kin of Kathleen Fields, and agreed to settle claims asserted on behalf of Kathleen Fields's next-of-kin for $30,000, payable to Miklas "as trustee for the next-of-kin of Kathleen Rose Fields." Miklas petitioned the district court for approval of the settlement. Believing this to be a routine hearing to approve a minor settlement, Illinois Farmers did not attend.
For reasons that are not clear on the record provided to this court, Miklas had not actually been appointed as trustee for the next-of-kin for either child, so at the January 17, 2002, settlement-approval hearing, counsel for Miklas apparently requested that the court appoint Miklas as trustee. The district court appointed Miklas trustee for the next-of-kin of both decedents and, in the same order, approved the settlement. Illinois Farmers first learned that Miklas was not the appointed trustee, as she had alleged in her complaint and during settlement negotiations, when it received the district court order. Illinois Farmers immediately moved under Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02 to vacate the order that appointed Miklas as trustee and approved the settlement on the ground that the settlement was void because it had been entered into under mistake and misrepresentation. Illinois Farmers also moved to dismiss the remaining claims asserted by Miklas on behalf of the next-of-kin of Daniel Fields on the ground that Miklas had no standing to assert the claims, and Illinois Farmers had no liability for the claims because Miklas had not been appointed as tr
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