Opinion ID: 2633092
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Should the issues concerning check 722 have been submitted to the jury?

Text: Joe and Bertha Tatum's first point on appeal is that Joe and Bertha Tatum were not [n]ecessary [p]arties for the [t]rial. Their argument is not that the court erred in joining them as parties but that once the superior court ruled that Allstate was estopped from claiming fraud in the application process and estopped as well from contending that there was a gap in policy coverage, the issues surrounding check 722 should not have been submitted to the jury. Joe and Bertha Tatum claim that submitting these issues to the jury was an abuse of discretion because advisory opinions are usually to be avoided and further that it is the function of the court to simplify, not unnecessarily complicate, the issues for trial. In response Allstate argues that the questions as to when check 722 was mailed and whether Joe and Bertha Tatum committed fraud in trying to convince Allstate that it was mailed before the accident were not merely conditionally relevant. Allstate points to a superior court order issued subsequent to the court's decision concerning the conditional submission of the check 722 issues. The later order recognized that the check 722 issues would be relevant to other issues that would be tried, namely, whether the Tatums sought to defraud Allstate, whether the investigation was negligent, and whether Allstate's refusal to cover was in bad faith. The court stated in this order: Indeed, having evaluated the matter further, it is clear to the court that in fact the jury in all likelihood will have to address and resolve the factual matters raised by Joe and Bertha Tatum. Allstate is claiming that the Tatums tried to defraud Allstate by submitting altered checks 721 and 723  the jury cannot decide this issue without determining when those three checks actually were mailed. Similarly, the date on which Bertha Tatum actually mailed the check is an important element of the competence of Allstate's investigation of the matter, and both the date the check was mailed and the date that Allstate learned of the accident will undoubtedly figure into the jury's evaluation of whether Allstate denied coverage in bad faith. In so ruling the court did not abuse its discretion. Similarly, even if the issues surrounding check 722 were merely of conditional relevance, we would not find that the court abused its discretion by ordering them tried because doing so held the potential to avoid a second trial and involved only limited additional costs. [22]