Court Opinion

ID: 9549268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:15:32.971319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:03.545628
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
The pivotal issue in this case is the exclusion from evidence of the letters and payments from Albertson’s to the Tommerups. Four days after the accident, Albertson’s wrote Mrs. Tommerup the following: “If you incur any expenses, or have been damaged, as a result of this incident, we will appreciate your forwarding itemized bills for our consideration.” Subsequently, Albertson’s wrote Mrs. Tommerup:
“We do wish to advise that we are willing to accept all of the bills in reference to *9this accident. When you are in a position to finalize the claim, we most certainly will work directly with you as we prefer working with our customers by mail if at all possible.”
Over the next three years Albertson’s paid the Tommerups over $4,000. Both the letters and the payments should have been admitted on two grounds: (1) as admissions of liability and (2) as evidence on the issue of estoppel.
Generally, “[a]ny statement, oral or written, voluntarily made by a party to an action that contradicts the position taken by that party may be introduced into evidence as an admission against interest if it is pertinent to the issues of the case.” Korleski v. Needham, 77 Ill.App.2d 328, 222 N.E.2d 334, 338 (1966). “Where a letter contains declarations and admissions against the interest of the writer, it is admissible.” Malcolm v. Hanmer, 64 Idaho 66, 81, 127 P.2d 331, 337 (1942). Accord, 31A C.J.S. Evidence § 272 (1964). The statement need bear on the issue only-incidentally or circumstantially in order to be competent as an admission against interest. Nungaray v. Pleasant Valley, 142 Cal.App.2d 653, 300 P.2d 285 (1956); Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Alderson, 26 Md.App. 277, 336 A.2d 811 (1975); White v. Burkeybile, 386 S.W.2d 418 (Mo.1965); Donnelly v. Goforth, 284 S.W.2d 462 (Mo.1955); Gaddy v. State Board, 397 S.W.2d 347 (Mo.App.1965); 31A C.J.S. Evidence § 277 (1964). A definite promise by a person in an accident to pay for damages resulting from the accident may constitute an implied admission of fault. Potts v. Armour & Co., 183 Md. 483, 39 A.2d 552 (1944).
The trial court apparently based the exclusion of this evidence on I.C. § 41 — 1840, which states that payments made on account of bodily injury are not admissible in evidence.1 That statute, however, presupposes that liability has not been admitted. The purpose of the statute clearly is to protect a person who has not admitted liability, and does not want to admit liability, but yet wants to make payments. The statute has no application where liability is admitted.2 To hold otherwise would allow a party to completely admit liability, wait till all the evidence had dissipated, then deny liability.
These letters and payments should also have been admitted on the issue of estoppel. “A statute cannot stand in the way of waiver or equitable estoppel when the facts demand their application in the interest of justice and right.” Kallock v. Elward, 118 Me. 346, 108 A. 256, 258 (1919). Accord, Holmes v. Graves, 83 Ariz. 174, 318 P.2d 354 (1957); Sanger v. Larson Construction Co., 126 Colo. 479, 251 P.2d 930 (1952); Johnson v. Neel, 123 Colo. 377, 229 P.2d 939 (1951); Mountain Stone Co. v. H. W. Hammond Co., 564 P.2d 958 (Colo.App.1977); In re Asterbloom, 63 Nev. 190, 165 P.2d 157 (1946). See also Priestly v. Inwood Industries, Inc., 560 P.2d 822 (Colo.1976). If these letters and payments are not admissible as evidence of or as tending to establish liability, they are most certainly admissible as tending to establish an estoppel.
*10Once it is accepted that these letters and payments are admissible, the next issue is whether the trial court erred in denying the Tommerups’ motion for summary judgment. The Tommerups moved for summary judgment on two grounds: (1) that Albertson’s had admitted liability and (2) that Albertson’s should be estopped from denying liability.
In their affidavits in support of their motion, the Tommerups stated their belief that the letters (and payments) were admissions of liability. They are clearly capable of that interpretation. Albertson’s, though afforded an opportunity to present affidavits which might have tended to explain away those statements, did not do so, and presumably could not do so. Although Albertson’s claims the benefit of I.C. § 41-1840, its letters did not mention that statute, or in any way alert the Tommerups to the fact, later asserted, that it was not admitting liability. Nor did Albertson’s furnish any affidavit whatever purporting to prove that the Tommerups were put on notice that payments were being made without admitting liability.
Rule 56(e) states that the adverse party may not rest upon mere allegations or denials of his pleading, but must come forth with affidavits stating material facts so as, as this Court has so often held, to present an issue of fact and avoid the entry of summary judgment. On the Tommerups’ motion for summary judgment it was proper for the trial court to determine the issue of liability, if that issue could be determined as a matter of law on the facts presented. In fact Rule 56(c) specifically provides that “[a] summary judgment, interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages.” On the state of the record before it, the trial court should have held that the letters did in fact admit liability,3 and payments made thereafter were in furtherance of and corroborative of that admission.
The Tommerups also stated in their affidavits in support of their motion for summary judgment that it was in reliance on Albertson’s promise to pay Mrs. Tommerup’s bills that they had not consulted legal counsel at the time of the accident or obtained and preserved all evidence on the issue of liability. Again, these statements were unopposed by Albertson’s.
The elements of promissory estoppel4 are (1) a promise clear and unambiguous in its terms; (2) reliance on it by the party to whom the promise is made; (3) that such reliance is both reasonable and foreseeable; and (4) that the party asserting it was injured by his reliance on the promise. Tiffany Inc. v. W. M. K. Transit Mix, Inc., 16 Ariz.App. 415, 493 P.2d 1220 (1972); Youngman v. Nevada Irrigation District, 70 Cal.2d 240, 74 Cal.Rptr. 398, 449 P.2d 462 (1969); Graddon v. Knight, 138 Cal.App.2d 577, 292 P.2d 632 (1956).
“A promise which the promisor should reasonably expect to induce action or forbearance of a definite and substantial character on the part of the promisee and *11which does induce such action or forbearance is binding if injustice can be avoided only by enforcement of the promise.”
Southern California Acoustics Co. v. C. V. Holder, Inc., 71 Cal.2d 719, 79 Cal.Rptr. 319, 323, 456 P.2d 975, 979 (1969), quoting Restatement of Contracts § 90 (1932).
Similarly, “[t]o constitute quasi estoppel the respondent must have gained some advantage for herself, produced some disadvantage to appellant, or induced him to change his position. It must be unconscionable to allow her to maintain a position which is inconsistent with one of which she accepted a benefit.” Dawson v. Mead, 98 Idaho 1, 4, 557 P.2d 595, 598 (1976).
All of the elements of both promissory and quasi-estoppel are present here. The affidavits of the Tommerups were unopposed and the trial court should have held that (1) Albertson’s had promised to pay all of the Tommerups’ bills; (2) appellants in reliance thereon took no action to ascertain and preserve the factual elements necessary to litigation; (3) Albertson’s had to reasonably foresee that this would happen; and (4) appellants were injured by this reliance.
The Court’s opinion in its quasi-estoppel analysis, however, argues that appellants suffered no injury by this reliance, and that it would be wrong to conjecture (1) that the Tommerups might have found evidence and (2) that that evidence would have been favorable to them. This is a prime example of putting the cart before the horse. Albertson’s, not the Tommerups, is wholly responsible for the three and one-half years of delay during which the Tommerups labored under the Albertson’s-induced belief that there was no need to gather and preserve evidence. The Court in effect is saying that if a potential party defendant can delude a potential party plaintiff into thinking that the latter will be paid his damages without the need of a lawsuit, and if that delusion is maintained until all possible evidence is gone, there can never be an estoppel because there will be no way of knowing what the evidence would have been. Here Albertson’s is thus rewarded for having dissuaded the Tommerups from gathering and preserving evidence — evidence the nature of which obviously prompted Albert-son’s to admit liability and commence paying medical bills. The very principle of estoppel is to prevent unconscionability, and what can be more unconscionable than what took place here?
Albertson’s in its brief makes the following statement:
“It is difficult to see what relevance these photographs, or Mr. Tommerup’s testimony, have to the issues before the Court in this action. The photographs represent the store fronts of some of Defendant’s competitors as they existed approximately 4V2 years following the date of the accident in question. If the photos were offered and admitted for the purpose of establishing some standard by which the Defendant’s conduct was to be measured, they certainly would have no relevance to such a standard as it may have existed on the date Mrs. Tommerup fell, September 17, 1972.”
Albertson’s own argument serves to illustrate the very point at issue here — Tommerups’ inability to present relevant evidence because of the lapse of time.
The facts are undisputed: because of Albertson’s promise to pay, appellants took no action to marshal and preserve the evidence necessary to present their case. Thus they were prejudiced and the trial court should have granted their motion for summary judgment on the theory of estoppel as well as on the theory of an outright admission of liability. Apparently three members of the Court do not see how a reasonable person could read those letters as an admission of liability. Be that as it may, and assuming some degree of reason on the part of the other two members of the Court, at the least the letters should have been submitted to a jury of reasonable persons for their decision on that issue. One necessarily wonders what view the Court would entertain if Albertson’s had even more specifically stated: we have investigated the accident, we admit liability and we will pay your bills, and, when you are ready, we will finalize your claim by working directly with you.
*12I cannot believe that the legislature on being prevailed upon to enact I.C. § 41-1840, envisaged that the statute would be used to obtain the result we see today. I respectfully dissent.

. Even if the payments themselves are not admissible, the letters constitute an admission against interest unrelated to any payments, and as such they are not covered by I.C. § 41-1840.

. I.C. § 41-1840 is apparently based on Fed.R. Evid. 409, which provides that “[e]vidence of furnishing or offering or promising to pay medical, hospital, or similar expenses occasioned by an injury is not admissible to prove liability for the injury." The commentary to Rule 409 states:
“Contrary to Rule 408, dealing with offers of compromise, the present rule does not extend to conduct or statements not a part of the act of furnishing or offering or promising to pay. This difference in treatment arises from fundamental differences in nature. Communication is essential if compromises are to be effected, and consequently broad protection of statements is needed. This is not so in cases of payments or offers or promises to pay medical expenses, where factual statements may be expected to be incidental in nature.”
At no point has Albertson’s alleged that these letters and payments represented mere offers of compromise. The parties were neither proposing a settlement nor discussing a claim for damages. Thus this case is clearly distinguishable from those cases where one party offers to settle in order to avoid litigation. See Arnold v. Owens, 78 F.2d 495 (4th Cir. 1935); Sims v. Sowle, 238 Or. 329, 395 P.2d 133 (1964).

. The majority states that this issue was not addressed on appeal. To the contrary, the whole theme of the Tommerups’ argument is that the letters constituted an admission of liability, and payments made thereafter were in furtherance of that admission.

. The majority does not see the issue of promissory estoppel as having been raised below. However, “[a] party entitled to an estoppel or waiver need not in all cases formally plead them. If the facts constituting the estoppel or waiver are in any way sufficiently pleaded, he is entitled to the benefit of the law arising therefrom.” (Emphasis added.) Palovik v. Absher, 198 Okl. 671, 181 P.2d 989, 990 (1947). Accord, Palmer v. Crews Lumber Co., Inc., 510 P.2d 269 (Okl. 1973). Where the facts as disclosed by The Tommerups made the issue of estoppel inherent in the case the issue was legitimately before the trial court. Dissault v. Evans, 74 Idaho 295, 261 P.2d 822 (1953). From the facts presented below, the issue of promissory estoppel was inherent in the case, and the language used by the Tommerups that “the conduct of the defendant in assuming the obligation to pay medical expenses has so seriously prejudiced plaintiffs” that the defendant should be estopped from denying liability, when read in connection with their motion to amend their pleadings “to conform to the evidence of estoppel,” sufficiently raised the issue of promissory estoppel.