Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-15-03167/USCOURTS-ca10-15-03167-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Grant Davis
Appellee
Virgil Wille
Appellant

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

_________________________________ 

VIRGIL WILLE, 

 Plaintiff - Appellant, 

v. 

GRANT DAVIS, 

 Defendant - Appellee. 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

RONALD M. BOEHMER; RONDA 

CARRANZA, 

 Plaintiffs - Appellants, 

v. 

GRANT DAVIS, 

 Defendant - Appellee. 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

PEGGY S. WALDON; JAMES 

CHARLES WALDON; MARILYN 

SMITH, 

 Plaintiffs - Appellants, 

v. 

GRANT DAVIS, 

 Defendant - Appellee. 

No. 15-3167 

(D.C. No. 5:11-CV-04121-RDR-KGS) 

(D. Kan.) 

No. 15-3204 

(D.C. No. 5:11-CV-04059-KHV) 

(D. Kan.) 

No. 15-3205 

(D.C. No. 5:11-CV-04060-KHV) 

(D. Kan.) 

_________________________________ 

FILED 

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit 

May 27, 2016

Elisabeth A. Shumaker 

Clerk of Court

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 1 
2 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

_________________________________ 

Before BRISCOE, LUCERO, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. 

_________________________________ 

In these consolidated appeals, Plaintiffs Virgil Wille (No. 15-3167), Ronald 

Boehmer and Ronda Carranza (No. 15-3204), and Peggy Waldon, James Charles 

Waldon, and Marilyn Smith (No. 15-3205), appeal three nearly identical district court 

orders granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant Grant Davis on legal 

malpractice claims. The district court ruled the claims were time barred. Exercising 

jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. 

I 

In 2002, Davis represented a number of individuals, including the Plaintiffs 

involved in this appeal, in over 300 personal-injury lawsuits filed in Missouri state 

court. The cases were brought against Robert Courtney, a pharmacist who admitted 

to diluting chemotherapy drugs, along with Eli Lilly and Company (“Eli Lilly”) and 

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“Bristol-Myers”), who allegedly failed to prevent 

their drugs from being diluted. In October 2002, Davis negotiated a global 

settlement with Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers. Each of the Plaintiffs signed two 

 *

 After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined 

unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of 

this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore 

ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding 

precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral 

estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with 

Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 2 
3 

documents in November 2002 to join in this settlement: a Disclosure of Global 

Settlement (the “Disclosure”), and a Release and Settlement Agreement (the 

“Settlement Agreement”).1

 

The Disclosure stated that the global settlement included over 300 separate 

lawsuits, that Davis’ law firm represented the majority of the plaintiffs in those 

lawsuits, and that Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers were making a joint settlement offer to 

resolve all of the cases. It explained that the settlement was contingent on payment 

of all claims from one combined fund and on all of the plaintiffs releasing the drug 

companies from liability. The Disclosure also indicated, by reference to the attached 

Settlement Agreement, that a special master would determine at a later date the 

amount to be deposited in the combined fund and the amount each plaintiff would 

receive. By signing the Settlement Agreement, Plaintiffs acknowledged that they 

understood the settlement process and agreed to accept the settlement amount 

ultimately determined by the special master. Finally, the Disclosure stated that Eli 

Lilly and Bristol-Myers had offered a separate settlement for $1,450,000 to one 

plaintiff, Georgia Hayes, who would not be participating in the combined settlement 

fund. Special masters later evaluated all of the individual claims and, in 2003, a 

Missouri court approved individual settlement allocations to Plaintiffs. 

 1

 Davis represented Evelyn Wille in the underlying litigation; Virgil Wille is 

her surviving husband. Evelyn Wille signed the Disclosure and Settlement 

Agreement. 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 3 
4 

In 2003, the Tilzers, who were other clients of Davis included in the global 

settlement, moved in Missouri state court to void their Settlement Agreement. They 

argued it was an aggregate settlement agreement governed by Rule 4-1.8(g) of the 

Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct, and that Davis failed to make the 

disclosures required by that rule. The Missouri court denied the Tilzers’ motion in 

January 2004. The Tilzers did not appeal; instead, they filed a legal malpractice suit 

against Davis in Kansas state court arguing he violated Rule 4-1.8(g). In April 2009, 

the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the Settlement Agreement was an aggregate 

settlement agreement and thus Davis was required to make disclosures under Rule 4-

1.8(g). Tilzer v. Davis, Bethune & Jones, L.L.C., 204 P.3d 617, 628-29 (Kan. 2009). 

All of the pleadings in the Tilzer case were filed under seal, and the Tilzers’ 

attorney, William Skepnek, was barred from contacting any of Davis’ other clients. 

That restriction was lifted in December 2009. Skepnek contacted the Boehmer 

Plaintiffs in December 2009, the Waldon Plaintiffs in July 2010, and Wille in 2011. 

The Boehmer and Waldon Plaintiffs filed their legal malpractice claims against Davis 

on June 15, 2011. Wille filed his claim against Davis on September 29, 2011. All 

Plaintiffs alleged that they lost settlement value in the underlying case because Davis 

failed to disclose his conflicts of interest, concealed the total settlement amount and 

the specific amounts awarded each client, and concealed the criteria and methodology 

used to determine the awards, as required by Rule 4-1.8(g). 

Davis moved for summary judgment, arguing Plaintiffs’ claims were time 

barred. The district court granted Davis’ motion. It ruled that Plaintiffs were aware 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 4 
5 

of the facts necessary to support their claims in 2003 when they received their 

settlement awards, or at the very latest when the Tilzer decision issued. The court 

also rejected Plaintiffs’ argument that Davis should be equitably estopped from 

asserting a statute-of-limitations defense. Plaintiffs now appeal. 

II 

“We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, applying 

the same standard as the district court.” Jaramillo v. Adams Cty. Sch. Dist. 14, 

680 F.3d 1267, 1268 (10th Cir. 2012). Summary judgment is appropriate only if 

“there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to 

judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). 

All parties agree that Kansas law controls the statute-of-limitations issue in 

this diversity case. The limitations period for a legal malpractice claim in Kansas is 

two years. Mashaney v. Bd. of Indigents’ Def. Servs., 355 P.3d 667, 672 (Kan. 2015) 

(citing Kan. Stat. § 60-513(a)(4)).2 “In general, a cause of action accrues, so as to 

start the running of the statute of limitations, as soon as the right to maintain a legal 

action arises.” Pancake House, Inc. v. Redmond ex rel. Redmond, 716 P.2d 575, 579 

(Kan. 1986). Kansas recognizes the “discovery rule,” however, under which the 

 2

 Plaintiffs’ complaints based their malpractice claims on negligence, fraud, 

and breach of fiduciary duty. Fraud and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims have a 

two-year limitations period under Kan. Stat. § 60-513(a)(3), and tort claims have a 

two-year limitations period under § 60-513(a)(4). For the first time on appeal, 

Plaintiffs argue the district court failed to apply § 60-513(a)(3) to their fraud and 

breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims. We consider this argument forfeited. See Turner v. 

Pub. Serv. Co. of Colo., 563 F.3d 1136, 1143 (10th Cir. 2009) (“Absent extraordinary 

circumstances, we will not consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal.”). 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 5 
6 

limitations period does not begin to run “until the fact of injury becomes reasonably 

ascertainable to the injured party.” Kan. Stat. § 60-513(b); see also Mashaney, 

355 P.3d at 673. A legal malpractice claim accrues when the plaintiff reasonably 

ascertains that her injury is the result of the attorney’s negligence. Dearborn Animal 

Clinic, P.A. v. Wilson, 806 P.2d 997, 1006 (Kan. 1991). 

“Reasonably ascertainable does not mean actual knowledge.” Davidson v. 

Denning, 914 P.2d 936, 948 (Kan. 1996) (quotations omitted). An injury is 

“reasonably ascertainable” under § 60-513(b) “when the plaintiff knew or could 

reasonably have been expected to know of the alleged negligence.” Knight v. Myers, 

748 P.2d 896, 901 (Kan. Ct. App. 1988). “The term ‘reasonably ascertainable’ 

carries with it an obligation to investigate available factual sources.” Bi-State Dev. 

Co., Inc. v. Shafer, Kline & Warren, Inc., 990 P.2d 159, 162 (Kan. Ct. App. 1999). 

Plaintiffs contend that they could not have discovered either their injury or that 

their injury was the result of Davis’ malpractice until the Kansas Supreme Court’s 

Tilzer decision was issued. They concede that the Tilzer decision itself is not a 

material fact, but argue the decision imparted knowledge of facts that were not 

previously known. But even assuming that Plaintiffs’ malpractice claims against 

Davis were not reasonably ascertainable until the Tilzer decision, we agree with the 

district court that Plaintiffs’ claims are nonetheless time barred because they were 

filed more than two years after Tilzer was issued on April 3, 2009. 

Plaintiffs argue they are not expected to follow developments in case law and 

they could not have learned about the Tilzer decision until contacted by Skepnek. 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 6 
7 

But “Kansas courts charge parties with constructive notice of public records.” Id. 

Any facts disclosed by the Tilzer case were a matter of public record as soon as the 

decision was issued by the Kansas Supreme Court. See Stephens v. Van Arsdale, 

608 P.2d 972, 981 (Kan. 1980) (holding that court records are generally open public 

records).3

 “[T]he Kansas Supreme Court [has] held that a party charged with 

constructive notice cannot claim ignorance of public records in order to toll the 

statute of limitations.” Bi-State, 990 P.2d at 162 (citing Travis v. Glick, 91 P.2d 41, 

47 (Kan. 1939)). This rule applies to lawyers and laypersons alike. See id.; Knight, 

748 P.2d at 901-02. The district court correctly ruled Plaintiffs were charged with 

constructive knowledge of Tilzer once it was issued on April 3, 2009, and thus their 

claims, filed more than two years later, are time barred. 

Plaintiffs also argue that the district court erred in rejecting their argument that 

Davis should be equitably estopped from advancing a statute-of-limitations defense. 

They contend he opposed disclosure of his clients’ names to Skepnek for several 

months after the Tilzer decision issued, which delayed them learning about the 

opinion. 

Under Kansas law, a defendant can be estopped from asserting a statute-oflimitations defense if he induced the plaintiff to delay filing an action “either through 

affirmative acts or through silence concerning material facts when under affirmative 

 3

 Although the pretrial proceedings were sealed, it is undisputed that the Tilzer 

decision was issued by the Kansas Supreme Court and became available to the public 

on April 3, 2009. 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 7 
8 

duty to speak.” City of Wichita v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 72 F.3d 1491, 1499-1500 

(10th Cir. 1996). “There must be some actual artifice to prevent knowledge of the 

fact, some affirmative act of concealment, or some misrepresentation to exclude 

suspicion and prevent injury.” Friends Univ. v. W.R. Grace & Co., 608 P.2d 936, 

941 (Kan. 1980) (quotation omitted). “The question is whether there was a design to 

prevent the discovery of the facts which gave rise to the action, and whether the act 

operated as a means of concealment.” Id. (quotation omitted). 

Plaintiffs have not alleged that Davis engaged in artifice, misrepresentation, or 

concealment of facts giving rise to their claims. Davis’ opposition to the disclosure 

of his clients’ names to Skepnek did not involve any facts giving rise to Plaintiffs’ 

claims. Moreover, given that Plaintiffs are charged with constructive knowledge of 

the Tilzer decision when it was issued, the date on which Skepnek contacted any of 

the Plaintiffs is immaterial to the running of the limitations period. Id. (“There can 

be no concealment which will prevent the running of the statute of limitations where 

the cause of action is known to the plaintiff or there is a presumption of such 

knowledge.” (quotation omitted)).4

 4

 Many of Plaintiffs’ appellate arguments were raised for the first time on 

appeal, and therefore are forfeited, see Turner, 563 F.3d at 1143, including their 

argument that district court failed to accept the Tilzer decision as dispositive and 

their fraud and breach-of-fiduciary-duty arguments based on Great Plains Christian 

Radio, Inc. v. Central Tower, Inc., 399 F. Supp. 2d 1185 (D. Kan. 2005). 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 8 
9 

III 

The motion to file appendices under seal is GRANTED. The district court’s 

judgments are AFFIRMED. 

Entered for the Court 

Carlos F. Lucero 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 15-3167 Document: 01019628295 Date Filed: 05/27/2016 Page: 9