Court Opinion

ID: 9382663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-28 15:11:32.619185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:40.893276
License: Public Domain

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

              Present: Judges Malveaux, Athey and Callins
UNPUBLISHED

              Argued at Lexington, Virginia

              ADAM CHRISTOPHER ARMSTRONG
                                                                            MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY
              v.     Record No. 0347-22-3                                  JUDGE DOMINIQUE A. CALLINS
                                                                                 MARCH 28, 2023
              KRISTY MARIE ROADCAP

                                FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
                                             Bruce D. Albertson, Judge

                              Wyatt B. Durrette, Jr. (Christine A. Williams; Durrette, Arkema,
                              Gerson & Gill, PC, on brief), for appellant.

                              No brief or argument for appellee.

                     Following trial, a jury found for Adam Christopher Armstrong in his suit against Kristy

              Marie Roadcap for negligence and malicious prosecution. The jury awarded Armstrong $24,750 in

              damages for the negligence claim and no damages for the malicious prosecution claim. On appeal,

              Armstrong challenges the circuit court’s denial of his motions for summary judgment, arguing that,

              had the circuit court granted summary judgment, the jury would have awarded him a greater amount

              of damages. Armstrong also challenges the circuit court’s denial of his motion to set aside the jury

              verdict. For the reasons below, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

                                                       BACKGROUND

                     Because Roadcap prevailed on the damages issue, we review the evidence in the light

              most favorable to her. Gilliam v. Immel, 293 Va. 18, 20 (2017) (reviewing the evidence in the

              light most favorable to the party who prevailed on the issue of damages).

                     *
                         This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413
       In 2016, Armstrong and Roadcap were married but living separately. On April 10, 2016,

Roadcap, who was pregnant with Armstrong’s child, went to Armstrong’s house to discuss the

status of their marriage, “as well as co-parenting moving forward.” Roadcap and Armstrong got

into an argument, and Roadcap went to a neighbor’s house and called the police. The neighbor

described Roadcap’s demeanor as “afraid and nervous.” When the police arrived, Roadcap was

“visibly upset.” Roadcap alleged that Armstrong had prevented her from leaving, spit in her

face, bear-hugged her in the driveway, and took her keys so that she could not leave in her car.

The police arrested Armstrong, and he was charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors.

Armstrong spent the night in jail and posted bond the following morning. The circuit court

issued an emergency protective order against Armstrong. Following his release, Armstrong

complied with several bond restrictions, including not possessing a firearm, not traveling for

work without permission, and performing drug and alcohol screenings. Armstrong was placed

on probation and regularly checked in with his probation officer. Walter Green, an attorney and

Armstrong’s friend, represented Armstrong during the criminal proceedings.

       Roadcap subsequently recanted the allegations, and Armstrong and Roadcap jointly moved

to dismiss the charges against Armstrong. In support of the motion, Roadcap signed two affidavits

admitting that the claims she made against Armstrong were false. Roadcap explained that she

“overreacted” and Armstrong “only attempted to calm me down [and] did not harm me or hold me

against my will, in any way.” Roadcap also wrote to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for

Rockingham County asking the Commonwealth to dismiss the charges, and gave Armstrong a

handwritten letter apologizing for her actions. The circuit court denied the joint motion to dismiss

because Roadcap lacked standing to make the request and there was no basis for the relief sought.

In September 2016, the circuit court nolle prossed the criminal charges against Armstrong. In April

2017, the circuit court expunged the charges from Armstrong’s record.

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        On April 10, 2018, Armstrong filed a complaint against Roadcap alleging malicious

prosecution, assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress,

trespass, conspiracy, and negligence. Armstrong asked for $5,000,000 in compensatory damages

and $350,000 in exemplary and punitive damages against Roadcap. Roadcap filed a demurrer to

Armstrong’s complaint. The circuit court overruled Roadcap’s demurrer as to the malicious

prosecution and negligence counts, and Armstrong later nonsuited all remaining counts except

those for malicious prosecution and negligence. The parties appeared before the circuit court for a

jury trial on September 23 and 24, 2021, during which Roadcap represented herself pro se.

        At trial, Armstrong presented evidence that he paid Green $50,075 for Green’s legal

services during Armstrong’s criminal proceedings. Armstrong submitted into evidence a “receipt of

payments” for Green’s legal services showing that the payments included a wire payment of

$25,575 to a car dealer for a vehicle that Armstrong bought for Green as partial payment for

Green’s legal services. The receipt listed the dates of the payments, but did not itemize the specific

legal services provided by Green.

        Armstrong also presented evidence that he owns ninety-nine percent of Maryland

Consulting Group (MCG), a company that sells travel-club memberships and vacation tours. Ethan

Hitchcock, an expert in valuation and forensic accounting, testified about the damages to

Armstrong’s business caused by Armstrong’s arrest and calculated Armstrong’s total lost profits as

$609,084. In reaching this figure, Hitchcock interviewed Armstrong several times and considered

information provided by Armstrong’s company. Hitchcock also considered “various professional

texts, reference texts, third-party data sources such as industry research, relevant court cases, and

things like that.” Hitchcock testified that MCG sold 15% fewer tours in March to December 2016

as compared to the year before, even though the data showed that the company’s sale percentage

started growing significantly near the end of 2015. Hitchcock concluded that “[t]here wasn’t any

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factor that we could identify other than the alleged malicious prosecution that would have [led] to

this decrease in tours.” Hitchcock also included the prejudgment interest and calculated a total

MCG damages amount of $796,688 based on 6% interest from April 2016 through the date of trial

on September 23, 2021.

        On cross-examination by Roadcap, Hitchcock conceded that other factors, such as

Armstrong’s marital separation from Roadcap, his month-long vacation to the Bahamas, his

concerns about Roadcap’s pregnancy and the medical condition of their child, and the declining

health of his father could have also possibly contributed to the reduction in MCG’s profits.

Hitchcock testified that “if all those things were happening during this April [2016] to September

[2016] time period, and this is the only time any of those things happened, then that could certainly

impact” the profits.

        After Armstrong rested his initial case, Roadcap called witnesses in her defense. At the

close of Roadcap’s evidence, Armstrong moved for summary judgment on liability, arguing that all

the evidence supported a finding that Roadcap’s allegations on April 10, 2016, were false. The

circuit court denied the motion. Armstrong renewed his motion for summary judgment at the end of

the trial, which the circuit court also denied. The jury ultimately found Roadcap liable on both the

malicious prosecution and negligence counts. The jury awarded Armstrong $24,750 in damages on

the negligence count and no damages on the malicious prosecution count.

        After the trial, both parties separately moved to set aside the jury verdict on various grounds.

In his motion, Armstrong asked the circuit court to enter an award of damages against Roadcap on

the malicious prosecution count “in accordance with the evidence presented” and in the alternative,

to order a new trial. As to the negligence count, Armstrong asked the circuit court to find that the

jury’s award of damages was “inadequate and require [Roadcap] to pay an amount in excess of the

recovery . . . found in the verdict or to award a new trial.”

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        Following a hearing, the circuit court denied the motions to set aside the jury verdict. The

circuit court determined that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdicts, including the

zero-dollar verdict on the malicious prosecution count. The circuit court explained that the “jury

was free to make determinations on the credibility of the evidence and witnesses including that of

[Armstrong], his former counsel Mr. Green, [Armstrong’s] expert, and financial documents entered

as exhibits.” The circuit court found that Roadcap “adroitly” cross-examined Armstrong’s expert

witness and “poked significant holes in [Armstrong’s] assertion of damages.” The circuit court also

noted that the jury may not have found the expert’s testimony credible, as the testimony “greatly

relied on information provided to [the expert] by” Armstrong. As for the attorney billing issue, the

circuit court observed that “[t]here was no formal invoice” and that Armstrong only submitted a

receipt from Green “that appear[ed] to have been produced for trial purposes.” The circuit court

also noted that Green’s fee was “extremely large” and involved an “unusual partial payment” of

Armstrong buying a car for Green “by wire transfer directly to the dealer.”

        In addition, the circuit court explained that Armstrong drafted and was the proponent of the

verdict form, which instructed the jury that it “must fill in the blanks below with either a dollar

amount or the word ‘none.’” The circuit court observed that Armstrong “asked that the form

include the possibility of ‘none’ in determining damages.” As a result, Armstrong “made this

verdict form the law of the case, and he was the proponent of the possibility of a $0.00 verdict.”

                                              ANALYSIS

                               I. Motion to Set Aside the Jury Verdict

        For his second, third, fourth, and fifth assignments of error, Armstrong asserts that the

circuit court erred in denying his motion to set aside the jury verdict on the damages issue.

Armstrong argues that “[n]othing in the trial record supports an award of zero damages on the

malicious prosecution count and/or only $24,750.00 on the negligence count.” Armstrong

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argues that “Roadcap did not effectively challenge any of the damages in this case nor did she

present expert testimony of her own nor any witnesses that rebutted damages.” Armstrong

points to Hitchcock’s lengthy testimony that Armstrong’s business lost profits amounting to

about $609,000 “during the time period from his arrest on the false charges to the dismissal of

those charges.” Armstrong also points out that he submitted evidence of “direct out of pocket

expenses,” including his attorney fees and bond payment.

       It is well-settled that “a party who comes before us with a jury verdict approved by the

circuit court ‘occupies the most favored position known to the law.’” Northern Va. Kitchen,

Bath & Basement, Inc. v. Ellis, 299 Va. 615, 622 (2021) (quoting Ravenwood Towers, Inc. v.

Woodyard, 244 Va. 51, 57 (1992)). This Court “will not set aside a trial court’s judgment

sustaining a jury verdict unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.” Sroufe v.

Waldron, 297 Va. 396, 397 (2019) (quoting Parson v. Miller, 296 Va. 509, 524 (2018)).

       Here, Armstrong had the burden to prove the damages resulting from Roadcap’s

negligence and malicious prosecution. See Shumate v. Mitchell, 296 Va. 532, 550 (2018). The

circuit court found that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict because Roadcap

“poked significant holes” in Hitchcock’s testimony and presented the jury with alternative

reasons as to why Armstrong’s profits might have declined, including the stress of a marital

separation, the pending arrival of a new child, and the declining health of a family member.

Moreover, as the circuit court noted, Hitchcock’s conclusions greatly relied on information

Armstrong provided to him for trial. The jury was free to weigh the credibility of Hitchcock’s

testimony on damages, as “the jury are the sole judges of the weight and credibility of the

evidence and have the right to discard or accept the testimony, or any part thereof, of any witness

when considered in connection with the whole evidence before them.” Gilliam, 293 Va. at 24

(quoting Smith v. Wright, 207 Va. 482, 486 (1966)).

                                                -6-
       As to Armstrong’s claim for reimbursement of Green’s attorney fees, the circuit court

explained that “the jury did not have to believe the veracity of Mr. Green, his billing in the case,

or [Armstrong].” Armstrong offered no formal invoice, but rather a general receipt of the date of

payments, and did not itemize the specific legal services Green performed. Rather, the receipt

generally stated that Green provided “services in regards to abduction, domestic assault and

battery and larceny, and preventing all charges.” The receipt also stated that Green “received a

2009 Lexus LS 460 as part of payment.” As the circuit court noted, the partial payment of fees

through the purchase of a vehicle was “unusual.” Thus, the circuit court correctly concluded that

“[t]he jury was free to determine that no credible evidence was presented for which they could

find a dollar figure.” Accordingly, we hold that the circuit court did not err in denying

Armstrong’s motion to set aside the jury verdict.

                                       II. Summary Judgment

       For his first assignment of error, Armstrong argues that the circuit court erred in denying his

motions for summary judgment because “there was no question of material fact in dispute regarding

Roadcap’s liability for malicious prosecution and negligence.” Although the jury ultimately found

Roadcap liable on both the malicious prosecution and negligence counts, Armstrong argues that the

circuit court’s denial of his motions for summary judgment was not harmless error because “[t]he

deliberative process of a jury is unknowable and undoubtedly would have been impacted had the

trial court granted summary judgment and only instructed them on damages.”

       We will assume, arguendo, that the circuit court erred in denying Armstrong’s motions for

summary judgment. We will also assume, arguendo, that had the circuit court granted summary

judgment, that decision would have influenced the jury to award Armstrong a greater amount of

damages. Armstrong’s argument nevertheless still fails because it incorrectly assumes that a trial

court’s grant of summary judgment on liability is a legitimate factor that the jury may consider in

                                                -7-
determining the amount of damages to award a plaintiff. Had the circuit court’s imprimatur on

liability influenced the jury to award Armstrong a greater amount of damages, such influence would

have been entirely improper. An appellant cannot claim that an alleged error is not harmless by

arguing that, had the error not been committed, the jury would have been influenced by an improper

factor that had no relevance to the jury’s decision in the first place. The jury’s decision on damages

had to be based solely on the evidence presented to it, and that alone. And, as explained in Section

I, supra, the jury’s decision on damages was warranted by the evidence presented in this case.

Therefore, even if the circuit court erred in denying Armstrong’s motions for summary judgment,

we hold that such error was harmless. See Code § 8.01-678 (“When it plainly appears from the

record and the evidence given at the trial that the parties have had a fair trial on the merits and

substantial justice has been reached, no judgment shall be arrested or reversed . . . for any error

committed on the trial.”).

                                            CONCLUSION

        For these reasons, the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.

                                                                                               Affirmed.

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