Court Opinion

ID: 9564246
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:56:43.709797+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:18.992224
License: Public Domain

OPINION WALTERS, Judge. Plaintiff was awarded a $3,000 jury verdict for injuries and pain and suffering. From that amount, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff in intervention (plaintiff’s insurer Allstate), in the sum of $717.60 as its subrogated claim for expenses paid to or on plaintiff’s behalf. Plaintiff appeals the action of the trial court, contending that there was no proof offered by Intervenor on the amount claimed; therefore, the court had no authority to reduce her jury award by the amount of Intervenor’s claim.  Under ordinary circumstances we would be inclined to agree with plaintiff, and we have no quarrel with the general rule that a subrogee must establish the elements of its claim. See 73 Am.Jur.2d 690, § 141 (1974). In the instant case, however, Allstate was not allowed to present its claim to the jury, even though the trial court had ordered that it be joined as a plaintiff in intervention. The pre-trial order lists Allstate as a party, and discloses that Allstate was prepared to call witnesses and prove its subrogation claim as a full ' participant at trial. Counsel for plaintiff and for Allstate signed and filed a Stipulation of Statement of Facts and Proceedings wherein it was agreed that, by order of the trial court, (1) Intervenor Allstate’s subrogation rights including attorneys fees, would be protected by the court; (2) Intervenor was prohibited by the court from participating in the case; (3) Intervenor would not be permitted to introduce evidence of medical expenses paid, and (4) Defendants admitted liability on the day of trial. It is thus apparent that notwithstanding the pre-trial order showing Allstate as a party litigant, a later order of the trial court (not a part of the record other than as shown in the Stipulation) modified the pretrial order to exclude Intervenor as a trial participant and to recognize, accept, and protect the amount it claimed in subrogation. According to the Stipulation, the trial court assured Intervenor its subrogation rights “would be protected by court order.” Allstate’s complaint in intervention claimed $733.60 as the amount of medical expenses paid by it on behalf of plaintiff. Its complaint was filed against both plaintiff and defendants. Defendant answered and denied any liability to Allstate; plaintiff never filed an answer.  Nobody objected to the trial court’s proposed method of controlling the proceedings. Nobody should be heard to complain now on appeal. The well-established rule is that to preserve a question for review, the record must show that a ruling by the trial court was fairly invoked, Rule 11, N.M.R.App.P. (Civil), 1978; and that an issue raised for the first time on appeal will not be considered by the reviewing court. Phillips v. United Serv. Auto. Ass’n, 91 N.M. 325, 573 P.2d 680 (Ct.App.1977). Defendants paid to Intervenor the amount Intervenor claimed in subrogation; thus defendants do not complain. Intervenor did not appeal, being satisfied with the way its claim was to be “protected.” Only plaintiff appeals, attempting by her failure to produce evidence on the amount of Intervenor’s claim, to benefit by her own disregard of her role, if necessary, in fulfilling the promise of the court to the Intervenor. The sole purpose of Intervenor’s exclusion from trial was to remove consideration of insurance from the jury. That exclusion redounded only to the benefit of plaintiff. Not having objected to the court’s order regarding protection of Allstate’s claim at the time it was made, plaintiff acquiesced in the procedure outlined by the court and has no basis to object now. She became obligated, under the ruling of the court, to assume the proofs of Intervenor if she did not want its claimed amount for medical expenses, not denied by plaintiff, deducted from any award made by the jury, since that amount in deduction is exactly what the court disclosed prior to trial that it would order if a recovery were had. The trial court must clearly be alerted to error. Matters not called to the attention of the trial court, if not jurisdictional, cannot be raised for the first time on appeal. Somerstein v. Gutierrez, 85 N.M. 130, 509 P.2d 897 (Ct.App.1973). Plaintiff argues she was not required to appeal from the trial court’s order governing procedure because she was not prejudiced by Intervenor’s exclusion at trial. Of course she wasn’t. She confuses non-appeal from the order regulating trial procedure with failure to object to the intentions stated by the court regarding Intervenor’s protected status. We will not permit a litigant to sit back with complacence until the trial court puts its orders into effect, with the intention of sandbagging the trial court on appeal. The case went to trial with plaintiff in a default position insofar as Intervenor’s claim against her and defendants alleged its entitlement to subrogation for moneys paid to plaintiff. Subrogation being an equitable remedy and subject to equitable principles, White v. Sutherland, 92 N.M. 187, 585 P.2d 331 (Ct.App.1978), Intervenor may not be deprived of its right to collect from defendants what it paid on behalf of plaintiff when plaintiff, either by cleverness or ineptitude, avoids the responsibility of proving those damages which inhered in the trial court’s exclusion of Intervenor from the trial proceedings. In other words, equity regards that as done which ought to be done. Logan v. Emro Chemical Corporation, 48 N.M. 368, 151 P.2d 329 (1944). Plaintiff’s failure to deny Intervenor’s allegations was to recognize in Intervenor its equitable right to recover medical expenses paid on her behalf. Aware that such expenses were to be “protected” in any award granted to her, if plaintiff did not intend to prove Intervenor’s case so as to recover an amount reflective of all damages incurred, she waived any objection she might have had to the manner in which the award was apportioned. The case should be remanded and the judgment modified only to require the trial court to determine the proportionate amount of attorney fees Intervenor should contribute to plaintiff’s successful efforts in recovering Intervenor’s claim, and to affirm in all other respects. IT IS SO ORDERED. ANDREWS, J., concurs. LOPEZ, J., dissents.