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Pollard v. Hunt11/10/2005
{ } Drucilla Pollard, Robert Stamm, and their daughter, Tammi Stamm (collectively, "the Pollards"), appeal from a judgment of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, which granted judgment to Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company ("OBLIC") on the Pollards' claim for coverage.
{ } According to the record, the Pollards hired attorney Richard Hunt ("Hunt") to represent them concerning their daughter's personal injury negligence claim arising out of an automobile accident. Hunt filed an action for the Pollards against Domino's Pizza, Inc., and others as part of his representation. Pollard v. Maus, Warren Case No. 93-CV-51465. On May 10, 1994, the court granted summary judgment to Domino's. Although the ruling contained a Civ.R. 54(B) certification, Hunt did not appeal that judgment. Rather, in December 1994, Hunt voluntarily dismissed the action and refiled it; the complaint reasserted the Pollards' claims against Domino's. On Apr. 21, 1995, Domino's filed a motion to dismiss the claims against it. That motion was granted on May 10, 1995. On June 6, 1995, the Pollards wrote to Hunt, dismissing him as their legal representative and requesting all files regarding the suit. Hunt gave the Pollards the files without keeping a copy.
{ } Hunt asserts that he then called OBLIC, his malpractice carrier, to alert the company to a potential claim regarding the matter. On August 7, 1996, the Pollards' new attorney sent correspondence to Hunt, notifying him of a malpractice complaint which had been filed in Pollard v. Hunt, Montgomery Case No. 96-CV-2376. Hunt neglected to forward a copy of the complaint against him, or to provide written notice of it, to OBLIC. In 1999, the Pollards voluntarily dismissed their action. They refiled their claim in March 2000. Pollard v. Hunt, Montgomery Case No. 00-CV-1553. OBLIC first received written notice of the Pollards' malpractice claim against Hunt when Hunt's attorney, John Smalley, wrote to OBLIC regarding the complaint on October 9, 2000. OBLIC ultimately denied coverage.
{ } On April 2, 2001, Hunt entered into a settlement agreement with the Pollards. Under the terms of this settlement, Hunt agreed to a judgment of $750,000; however, the agreement further provided that Hunt would pay only $4,000 and would assign his bad-faith claim against OBLIC to the Pollards in exchange for their agreement to satisfy the remainder of the judgment by seeking a judgment against OBLIC instead of him. The trial judge subsequently approved the settlement and entered judgment against Hunt for $750,000.
{ } The Pollards then filed a supplemental complaint against OBLIC under R.C. 3929.06 to enforce the consent judgment and seeking damages for OBLIC's failure to defend and to indemnify Hunt against the malpractice claim brought by the Pollards. Pollard v. Ohio Bar Liab. Ins. Co., Montgomery Case No. 00-CV-1553. The Pollards also asserted a bad-faith claim against the insurance company as Hunt's assignees. Meanwhile, OBLIC filed a separate action for declaratory judgment against Hunt and the Pollards. Ohio Bar Liab. Ins. Co. v. Hunt, Montgomery Case No. 00-CV-5154. Both the Pollards and OBLIC moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted OBLIC's motion and denied the Pollards' motion, finding, in pertinent part, that " ritten notice was required, but not given and OBLIC was well within its rights to refuse coverage."
{ } In a consolidated appeal of both cases, the Pollards appealed the adverse summary judgment ruling. Upon review, we concluded, in part, that the policy's notice provisions were ambiguous on the issue of whether oral notice of a malpractice claim (which Hunt claimed to have given to OBLIC) was sufficient and, thus,
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