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Garrison v. Stamps2/6/2003
On October 10, 1998, Charles Garrison, then a minor age sixteen years, while driving a motor vehicle, was struck and seriously injured by an automobile driven by James C. Stamps, an uninsured motorist.
Charles Garrison was an additional insured under policies of insurance separately issued to his parents, Glenda Carol Garrison and Wendell Garrison, by State Farm Insurance Company and Guidance Specialty Mutual Insurance Company respectively. Uninsured motorists coverage under each policy was $25,000, and the companies agreed to pay their respective policy limits.
Glenda Carol Garrison, as mother and next friend of the minor Charles Garrison, sought court approval of this settlement by a Petition filed April 8, 1999 naming James C. Stamps as "defendant." No process was ever issued for James C. Stamps or served upon him, and he was apparently unaware of the settlement Petition. After reciting the essential facts of the accident, the uninsured status of James C. Stamps, and his residence in Wilson County, Tennessee, the Petition stated:
6. The Petitioners have reached a settlement of all claims for personal injury of the minor, Charles Garrison, under the terms of which the Defendant will pay the minor's Mother will receive on behalf of the minor the sum of $50,000.00, which will be in full and final satisfaction and settlement of any claims for damages of the minor Plaintiff arising from the foregoing accident. Please see the attached Contract signed by all parties setting out the fee agreement in this matter.
7. Your Petitioners show that the Defendant has reimbursed the minor's Mother and guardian for all out of pocket expenses incurred for the minor's treatment.
WHEREFORE, Petitioners respectfully petition this Court to conduct a hearing, review and approve settlement, and enter judgment thereon.
On the same day the Petition was filed, an Order was entered approving the settlement, which Order provided, in part:
This cause came to be heard on this the 8th day of April, 1999, before the Honorable Robert P. Hamilton, Judge, holding the Probate Court for Wilson County, Tennessee, upon the Joint Petition of Charles Garrison by next friend and Mother Glenda Carol Garrison for approval of a minor settlement from an accident occurring on October 10, 1998. The Court finds that the settlement of the minor's cause of actions is in the best interest of the minor child. Further, that it is in the best interest of the minor child that the net recovery in the amount of $29,350.26, be held by the Clerk of the Court in favor of the minor child, Charles Garrison, for the support, maintenance and education of the minor under further orders of the Court. The fund to be disbursed to the minor child upon the child reaching adulthood.
We are advised in the briefs and at the bar of this Court that two days prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations, suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Wilson County by Charles Garrison against James C. Stamps for personal injuries resulting from the October 10, 1998 accident. The record before this Court does not contain such Complaint, nor any of the proceedings in that case, but we are again, in briefs and at the bar of the court, advised that the personal injury Complaint was met by a Motion for Summary Judgment which asserted that the settlement Petition and the Order approving same had res judicata effect and barred the personal injury action against Stamps.
The record at bar does disclose that, on August 17, 2001, counsel for Garrison filed a Motion to Amend the Order of April 8, 1999, pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 60. This Motion to Amend a
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