FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANTS: ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEES:
DARLENE ROBINSON FRED S. WHITE
Oakland City, Indiana Bamberger Foreman Oswald & Hahn
Evansville, Indiana
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
LANA K. OXLEY and LEON A. OXLEY, )
)
Appellants-Plaintiffs, )
)
vs. ) No. 82A01-0406-CV-261
)
CHRISTOPHER LENN and )
RAIBLEY & LENN, LLP, )
)
Appellees-Defendants. )
APPEAL FROM THE VANDERBURGH SUPERIOR COURT
The Honorable E. Michael Hoff, Special Judge
December 28, 2004
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
SHARPNACK, Judge
The [Oxleys] were involved in an automobile collision on April 28, 1998.
They retained Attorney Christian M. Lenn to represent them in a personal injury
action against the other driver. Christian M. Lenn is a partner in
the law firm of Raibley & Lenn, LLP. There was an attorney-client
relationship between the [Oxleys] and [Lenn] as of April 25, 2000. On
April 25, 2000[,] Mr. Lenn filed a complaint on the [Oxleys] behalf in
the Hendricks Circuit Court against Vicki S. Matillo. Mr. Lenn did not
tender a summons with the complaint. According to the Affidavit of Christian
M. Lenn, . . . the summons was not included as a result
of secretarial inadvertence. Because no summons was included Vicki S. Matillo was
not served with the complaint before the statute of limitation expired. As
a result of the failure of [Lenn] in this case to tender a
summons before the statute of limitation expired[,] the [Oxleys] lawsuit against Vicki S.
Matillo was dismissed. The [Oxleys] appeal of the dismissal order was not
successful. On November 7, 2002, the [Oxleys] brought this malpractice claim against
[Lenn].
[Lenn] argue[s] that a lawyer cannot be held liable for a mistake when
the law is unsettled, citing Citizens Loan, Fund & Sav. Assoc. v. Friedley,
23 N.E. 1075 (Ind. 1890). The rule was discussed in a case
from Kansas that found that an attorneys judgment, while incorrect, did not constitute
legal malpractice. The Kansas Supreme Court stated the following:
While the exception for an error in judgment in legal malpractice actions is
a narrow one and should not be employed where the issue is settled
and can be identified through ordinary research and investigative techniques, the exception applies
in a case such as this, where the law is unclear, unsettled by
case law, and is an issue upon which reasonable doubt may well be
entertained by informed counsel. Bergstrom v. Noah, 974 P2d 531, 557 (Kan.
1999).
The Bergstrom court also held that finding no liability for an error in
judgment where the law is unsettled is subject to the attorney acting in
honest belief that his actions (or inactions) are well founded and in good
faith. Id. at 534.
[Lenn] contend[s] that when the Complaint was filed on April 25, 2000[,] there
was no agreed rule about when the summons had to be tendered.
[Lenn argues he] therefore cannot be held liable for the failure to tender
the summons contemporaneously with the complaint. [Lenn] further argue[s] that whether [he]
purposefully or inadvertently failed to tender the summons is irrelevant, and cannot constitute
a genuine issue of material fact.
At the time of the April 25, 2000 filing of the complaint there
was conflicting authority as to whether or not a civil action is timely
commenced if a plaintiff files a complaint within the statute of limitations period,
but does not tender a summons to the clerk within that period.
The Indiana Supreme Court decided the case of Ray-Hayes v. Heinamann, 760 N.E.2d
[1]72 (Ind. 2002), [rehg granted] to resolve a conflict in decisions of the
Indiana Court of Appeals concerning that issue. The Indiana Supreme Court subsequently
granted a Petition for Rehearing in that case. Ray-Hayes v. Heinamann, 768
N.E.2d 899 (Ind. 2002). The Supreme Court cited the treatise and statements
of Professor William F. Harvey in support of the view that it was
not necessary to tender a summons to toll the statute of limitation.
The Supreme Court acknowledged the difference of opinion concerning the issue by taking
the unusual step of ordering that its ruling apply only prospectively. Ray-Hayes
v. Heinamann, 768 N.E.2d 899 (Ind. 2002), at 901-02. For that reason,
this Court finds as a matter of law that there was a divergence
of opinion among appellate judges and commentators on April 25, 2000, and that
the issue involved in this case is on a point of law on
which reasonable doubt may be entertained by well-informed lawyers. As such, it
would not be negligent for an attorney to take mistaken action in that
event.
One further issue remains concerning the motion for summary judgment. According to
his affidavit, Attorney Lenn was not aware of the Court of Appeals decision
in Fort Wayne Intl Airport v. Wilburn, 723 N.E.2d 967 (Ind. [Ct.] App.
2000)[, trans. denied]. That decision stated the rule that it was necessary
to tender a summons to toll the statute of limitation. Nevertheless, according
to his affidavit, Attorney Lenn intended to tender a subpoena when the complaint
against Vicki S. Matillo was sent to the Hendricks Circuit Court. He
failed to do so as a result of secretarial inadvertence. Attorney Lenns
ignorance of Fort Wayne Intl Airport v. Wilburn notwithstanding, Attorney Lenn apparently believed
that a summons should be tendered with the complaint. His affidavit does
not state otherwise. Attorney Lenn is responsible for the actions of his
secretary, and does not assert his secretarys negligence as a defense in this
case. He seeks to be relieved of responsibility for failing to tender
the summons that he thought should have been tendered because of the fortuitous
occurrence of divergent opinions about whether or not a summons was necessary.
It may be a strange result to relieve a lawyer of carelessness for
failing to take intended action because lawyers could disagree about whether or not
taking the action was required. This is especially true when it turns
out that taking the action was necessary. However, if Attorney Lenn did
not have a duty to tender the summons in the circumstances because the
law was unsettled, then his belief concerning the state of the law cannot
be relevant. It must be Attorney Lenns actions on behalf of his
clients that would be evaluated by a jury in this case and not
his beliefs.
The Court concludes that if it not negligent to fail to tender a
summons, the fact that Attorney Lenn intended to tender the summons but his
secretary failed to do so will not change that result.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that [Lenns] Motion for Summary Judgment is hereby granted,
and judgment is entered in favor of Defendants Christian M. Lenn and Raibley
& Lenn, LLP on [the Oxleys] complaint. This is a final order.
Appellants Appendix at 7-9.
The sole issue is whether the trial court erred by granting summary judgment
to Lenn in the Oxleys legal malpractice case. Our standard of review
for the grant of a motion for summary judgment is well settled.
Summary judgment is appropriate only where the evidence shows that there is no
genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment
as a matter of law. Ind. Trial Rule 56(C); Mangold ex
rel. Mangold v. Ind. Dept of Natural Res., 756 N.E.2d 970, 973 (Ind.
2001). All facts and reasonable inferences drawn from those facts are construed
in favor of the nonmoving party. Id. Review of a summary
judgment motion is limited to those materials designated to the trial court.
Id.
Where a trial court enters findings of fact and conclusions thereon in granting
a motion for summary judgment, as the trial court did in this case,
the entry of specific findings and conclusions does not alter the nature of
our review. Rice v. Strunk, 670 N.E.2d 1280, 1283 (Ind. 1996).
In the summary judgment context, we are not bound by the trial courts
specific findings of fact and conclusions thereon. Id. They merely aid
our review by providing us with a statement of reasons for the trial
courts actions. Id.
To prove a legal malpractice claim, a plaintiff-client must show: (1) employment of
an attorney (duty); (2) failure by the attorney to exercise ordinary skill
and knowledge (breach); (3) proximate cause (causation); and (4) loss to the plaintiff
(damages). Rice, 670 N.E.2d at 1283-1284; Picadilly, Inc. v. Raikos, 582 N.E.2d
338, 344 (Ind. 1991). A defendant is entitled to judgment as a
matter of law when undisputed material facts negate at least one element of
a plaintiffs claim. Douglas v. Monroe, 743 N.E.2d 1181, 1184 (Ind. Ct.
App. 2001).
The Oxleys argue that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment because
the question of whether Lenns failure to submit a summons with the complaint
constituted negligence, i.e., a breach of Lenns duty to his clients, is a
question of fact best left to a jury and not a question of
law as decided by the trial court. Lenn argues that as a
matter of law, [his] failure to tender [the] summons does not constitute legal
malpractice.
See footnote
Appellees Brief at 7. Lenn argues that his failure
to tender the summons was reasonable because at the time he filed the
Oxleys complaint [t]here was no requirement that the summons be tendered with the
complaint in order to toll the statute of limitations and, in fact, the
decision in Taylor v. Lewis, 577 N.E.2d 986 (Ind. App. 1991) held to
the contrary. Appellees Brief at 4.
We agree that in Taylor we held Ind. Trial Rule 3 require[d] only
the filing of a complaint to commence the [civil] action and to toll
the statute of limitations[,] Taylor, 577 N.E.2d at 989; however, we disagree
with Lenns characterization of the state of the law at the time Lenn
filed the Oxleys complaint in April 2000. In February 2000, we held
that it was necessary to file a summons along with the complaint when
commencing a civil action. Fort Wayne Intl Airport v. Wilburn, 723 N.E.2d
967, 968-969 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000) (citing Boostrom v. Bach, 622 N.E.2d 175
(Ind. 1993), rehg denied, cert. denied, 513 U.S. 928, 115 S. Ct. 318
(1994), rehg denied), trans. denied. Thus, at the time Lenn filed the
Oxleys complaint, there was existing case law that required that the summons be
tendered at the same time the complaint was filed.
The trial court acknowledged the different case law when it concluded that at
the time of the filing of the complaint there was conflicting authority as
to whether or not a civil action is timely commenced if a plaintiff
files a complaint within the statute of limitations period, but does not tender
a summons to the clerk within that period. Appellants Appendix at 8.
The trial court then concluded that as a matter of law because
there was a divergence of opinion . . . on which reasonable doubt
may be entertained by well-informed lawyers[,] Lenn was not negligent for his failure
to file the summons with the complaint, which resulted in the dismissal of
the Oxleys claim. Appellants Appendix at 8. In other words, the
trial court found as a matter of law that Lenn was entitled to
summary judgment because he negated the second element of a legal malpractice claim,
i.e., the failure by the attorney to exercise ordinary skill and knowledge or
the breach of duty. We cannot agree.
Whether a particular act or omission is a breach of a duty is
generally a question of fact. Stephenson v. Ledbetter, 596 N.E.2d 1369, 1372
(Ind. 1992). It can, however, be a question of law when the
facts are undisputed and only a single inference can be drawn from the
facts. Id. This Court must liberally construe all designated evidentiary matter
in favor of the nonmoving party and resolve any doubt against the moving
party. Stryczek v. Methodist Hospitals, Inc., 656 N.E.2d 553, 554 (Ind. Ct.
App. 1995), rehg denied, trans. denied. Even if it appears that the
nonmoving party will not succeed at trial, summary judgment is inappropriate where material
facts conflict or undisputed facts lead to conflicting inferences. Id. In
negligence cases, summary judgment is rarely appropriate because negligence cases are particularly fact
sensitive and are governed by a standard of the objective reasonable person--one best
applied by a jury after hearing all of the evidence. Rhodes v.
Wright, 805 N.E.2d 382, 387 (Ind. 2004).
Here the following facts are undisputed: (1) case law prior to Wilburn held
that Ind. Trial Rule 3 required only the filing of a complaint to
commence a civil action and to toll the statute of limitations, see, e.g.,
Taylor, 577 N.E.2d at 989; (2) in February 2000, we held in Wilburn
that it was necessary to file a summons along with the complaint when
commencing a civil action, see Wilburn, 723 N.E.2d at 968-969; (3) in April
2000, Lenn filed the Oxleys complaint but did not tender a summons; and
(4) the trial court dismissed the Oxleys personal injury claim against Matillo for
failure to file the summons.
Although the facts are undisputed, such facts do not necessarily lead to a
single inference and, indeed, lead to conflicting inferences, thereby rendering summary judgment improper.
See, e.g., Frazier v. Mellowitz, 804 N.E.2d 796, 805-806 (Ind. Ct. App.
2004) (reversing the grant of summary judgment where the facts did not lead
to only one conclusion on the issues of whether the defendants breach was
material). We cannot agree with the trial courts conclusion that the existence
of a conflict of law automatically renders an attorneys action or inaction as
not negligent. Instead, it is for the jury to determine, given the
then existing conflict of case law, whether Lenn breached his duty by failing
to exercise ordinary skill and knowledge when he failed to tender the summons
at the time he filed the complaint. Furthermore, expert testimony is usually
required in a legal malpractice action to establish the standard of care by
which the defendant attorneys conduct is measured. Thomsen v. Musall, 708 N.E.2d
911, 912 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999), rehg granted in part, 713 N.E.2d 900
(Ind. Ct. App. 1999), trans. denied. Consequently, we must conclude that summary
judgment is inappropriate. Thus, the trial court erred by granting Lenns motion
for summary judgment. See, e.g., Robertson v. Bond, 779 N.E.2d 1245, 1249
(Ind. Ct. App. 2002) (holding in a medical malpractice case that summary judgment
is rarely appropriate where the critical question for resolution is whether the defendant
exercised the requisite degree of care under the circumstances), trans. denied.
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial courts grant of Lenns motion
for summary judgment and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.
Reversed and remanded.
BAILEY, J. and VAIDIK, J. concur