A girl who spent roughly a decade in a authorized battle along with her employer has had her case dismissed for a scarcity of appealable points.
Points started for Christy Kenworthy in 2012, who on the time was an worker of Richmond-based Lyons Insurance coverage. Michael Lyons, who served as president of Lyons Insurance coverage, obtained right into a scuffle with Kenworthy concerning the possession of a $13,031.76 distribution test from the Wayne County Insurance coverage Service.
The WCIS is a partnership of Wayne County insurance coverage brokers to which each Michael and Kenworthy belonged. At the moment, Kenworthy additionally served because the secretary and treasurer of WCIS.
Michael reported to the Richmond Police Division that Kenworthy had wrongfully withheld the distribution test from Lyons Insurance coverage. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Workplace filed a cost of Class D felony theft towards Kenworthy in 2013, however it moved to dismiss the cost after Kenworthy despatched the disputed test to Michael.
Lyons Insurance coverage nonetheless filed a criticism towards Kenworthy on a number of claims, together with that she had wrongfully withheld extra WCIS distributions, disadvantaged Lyons Insurance coverage of $7,856.17 and that she had labored for WCIS throughout a time when she had been paid to supply providers for Lyons Insurance coverage.
Kenworthy responded by elevating the affirmative defenses of unclean fingers and duress, amongst others. She additionally asserted counterclaims towards Lyons for defamation for oral and written statements made to the police and the prosecutor, unjust enrichment, conversion, fraud, malicious prosecution, abuse of course of, participating in frivolous litigation and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
Following years of cross-motions and trial courtroom judgments in partial favor of each events, a 2021 mediation resulted in Lyons Insurance coverage settling all its claims towards Kenworthy. The events filed a stipulation of dismissal, with prejudice, as to the claims of Lyons Insurance coverage.
Kenworthy additionally filed a movement for voluntary dismissal of her counterclaims pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 41(A)(1)(b), through which she mentioned the events had stipulated that her counterclaims needs to be dismissed with out prejudice. However Lyons objected, stating the events had by no means agreed to such a stipulation.
The Wayne Superior Court docket finally dismissed Kenworthy’s counterclaims with out prejudice however ordered that if she elected to refile any new case towards Lyons primarily based on or together with the identical claims, she wanted to pay lawyer charges incurred in the reason for motion at hand. The courtroom additionally retained restricted jurisdiction to find out these charges ought to Kenworthy elect to refile, then dismissed Lyons Insurance coverage’s claims towards Kenworthy with prejudice.
Kenworthy pursued the moment enchantment searching for overview of the trial courtroom’s abstract judgment rulings, prompting Lyons to file a movement to dismiss in June 2021. Amongst different issues, Lyons argued that Kenworthy was precluded from interesting any points as to her counterclaims because of the trial courtroom’s grant of her movement for voluntarily dismissal.
In July 2021, an appellate motions panel denied Lyons’ movement with out setting forth its rationale, with Senior Choose Randall Shepard dissenting.
Kenworthy’s enchantment of that call was finally dismissed by the COA, which concluded she offered no appealable points in Christy Kenworthy v. Lyons Insurance coverage & Actual Property, Inc., and Michael E. Lyons, 21A-CC-811.
“Neither the events’ stipulation nor the trial courtroom’s subsequent entry of an order of dismissal on the claims of Lyons Insurance coverage was a ultimate judgment from which enchantment may very well be taken,” Choose Patricia Riley wrote, citing Sartain v. Trilogy Healthcare of Hamilton II, LLC, 137 N.E.3d 1050 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019), trans. denied. “… In consequence, we conclude, as did the Sartain courtroom, that, in mild of Appellate Rule 5(A), we’ve got no jurisdiction over Kenworthy’s appellate claims regarding Lyons Insurance coverage’s Amended Criticism, and subsequently, we dismisses these parts of her enchantment.
The COA additional concluded that the trial courtroom’s grant of Kenworthy’s movement for voluntary dismissal rendered her remaining appellate claims moot.
Thus, “(i)n the absence of any authority indicating that Kenworthy’s appealed points related to her counterclaims are of nice public significance that are more likely to recur,” the COA additionally dismissed the parts of her enchantment regarding her dismissed counterclaims.