Opinion ID: 1793652
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sims-foster trial

Text: The trial testimony revealed that Harris was traveling south on a gravel road in Jefferson Davis County approximately two miles from Bassfield. The road was 17-18 feet wide within the shoulders. He was driving a 1976 Ford pick-up truck which had fitted on it a wooden frame or body to transport furniture. He was familiar with the road. He approached a curve which turned sharply to his left. Foliage of roadside trees encroached upon the West, Harris's, side of the road. He testified he could not see around the curve, and was driving 12-20 miles per hour. He said he first saw Sims's automobile about three and one-half car lengths ahead coming into the curve meeting him, that he immediately applied his brakes, turned his wheels to the right and stopped. He also testified the Sims car was sliding all over the road, and the driver seemed like he had lost control. The Sims car struck the back of the pickup. Sims was driving a 1966 Chevrolet automobile, with his three children in the car. His left arm was out the window, his left hand on top of the car. He testified it looked to him like the pick-up was driving down the middle of the road, and Didn't look to me like he was trying to do nothing. He said the pick-up was cutting in on him. Sims said that he did not know what happened after the vehicles collided. Sims had just left the residence of his brother-in-law Arthur Ray Michael, where he had stopped to inquire whether his wife was there. According to him: Well, I pulled off and just before I got to that curve, well, I was fixing to get in the curve, I look  I seen the dust coming and I blowed the whistle twice and I got around the curve, I never did see nothing. Also: Well, when I seen the dust I blowed and then I looked and that's when I seen the truck, but I thought he was going to, you know, going to get over, but he never did get over. I was as far as I could get over. Harris said he was stopped at the time of the impact, but that the Sims car traveled another two hundred feet. The left rear hub cap was knocked off the truck, and the wood frame was struck at the rear. As to the automobile, the extreme left side of the windshield was broken, the left frame holding the windshield was bent, and the side of the car at the rear of the left door was bent. Gary Don Davis, constable, and Gary Jones, the chief deputy sheriff, respectively, of Jefferson Davis County, investigated the accident shortly after it occurred. Sims was still in his car. Jones said he could smell alcohol on Sims's breath. The officers checked the tracks of the vehicles, as well as debris from the pick-up frame in the road, which indicated the point of impact was about a foot and a half over onto the pick-up's side of the road. Davis also said the tracks indicated the rear of the Sims car was sliding at the time the vehicles collided, and that the back of the Harris truck was knocked about another foot and a half further over. Following the collision the two vehicles were about 300 feet apart. Sims could not read or write, and was intermittently employed by two of his cousins hauling paperwood. On the day of the accident he had been looking after the children while his wife Winnie worked. That morning he had driven about 30 miles distance to Hattiesburg, attended to some business about his home, and eaten a noon meal with a cousin. He bought a dollar's worth of gas and returned to his home. While back at his house, he said he had asked a neighbor, Lee Morris Knight, to help him scatter some dirt for his driveway. The two of them had a sixteen-ounce can of beer, each, according to Sims. Sims said he only drank about one-half of his. Knight was not called as a witness. Sims said that over in the afternoon he asked Knight what time it was, who told him it was after four p.m. Sims knew his wife got off from work at 3:30 and he was supposed to pick her up. He got in his car with the children and drove to Arthur Ray and Annie Pearl Michael's home where he expected to get his wife, but she was not there. He then drove off towards Bassfield. The curve in the road was about 300 yards from the Michael residence. Harris testified that when the Michaels came to the scene just after the accident, Arthur Ray told him Sims had been drinking. Michael testified that he and his wife heard the racket from the accident, that he ran from the house to the scene, and then the additional distance necessary to catch the Sims's still moving car. He said the pick-up was in the middle of the road. Michael admitted on cross-examination that he had been convicted of grand larceny. At his pretrial deposition Harris had said that there were over-hanging bushes or trees just before the collision. At the time of his deposition he did not recall the truck coming in contact with any trees or bushes. At trial he testified the truck may have done so, he just did not recall whether it had or not. At the conclusion of the trial, there was a jury verdict and judgment rendered for $80,000 in favor of Sims. Hartford, through Coker, offered Sims $50,000, the policy limits, in settlement of the case, which was refused. The defendants then appealed to this Court, and the case was affirmed without an opinion on November 22, 1978. Foster was required to pay $30,000 plus a $100 letter of credit fee. All appeal costs, interest and penalty were paid by Hartford. On February 25, 1980, Foster filed a declaration in Simpson County against Hartford, Williamson and Coker. The declaration contained three counts. All counts alleged that the defendants in assuming exclusive control of the defense of the case had a duty to properly conduct litigation and settlement negotiations and consider the interest of Foster as well as Hartford, and to evaluate settlement offers from the joint perspective of Hartford and Foster, and to exercise good faith toward Foster and his interests. Foster further alleged that in failing to settle within the policy limits for $35,000 and then $30,000, they gave deliberate preference to Hartford and breached their duty to him. Count I also alleged a concealment of the $30,000 settlement offer. Count II alleged that the conduct of the defendants constituted wilful oppression and arbitrary action and so unreasonable as to constitute fraud, and was a reckless disregard of Foster's rights. Count III alleged that by rejection of the $30,000 settlement offer and other settlement offers within the policy limits, and by acting for conflicting interest, the defendants became strictly liable for Foster's damages. Foster sought actual damages of $920,000 plus punitive damages of $1,000,000.