Amtrust N. Am. Inc. v. Palmer Trucking & Leasing Inc.

The trial court erred in failing to consider the plaintiff's timely conflict letter pursuant to U.S.C.R. 17.1.

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Amtrust North America “Amtrust” appeals the trial court’s decision to strike its complaint and enter judgment in favor of Palmer Trucking and Leasing, Inc., An Jan Hauling, Inc., and Janette Palmer collectively “Palmer” after counsel for Amtrust failed to appear at the call of the case for trial. Specifically, Amtrust argues that the trial court erred in granting Palmer’s motion to strike 1 in light of a conflict letter filed by counsel for Amtrust, which listed two other trial cases having priority; 2 without affording Amtrust the response time set forth in Uniform Superior Court Rule 6.2; and 3 without allowing adequate response time because the motion was never served upon Amtrust. Because we agree that the trial court erred in striking the pleadings and entering judgment against Amtrust, we vacate the court’s order and reverse the judgment for the reasons set forth infra.

The record reflects that Amtrust filed suit against Palmer in January 2011, seeking monetary damages for an allegedly fraudulent worker’s compensation claim. Palmer answered and sought attorney fees and other damages based on a claim that Amtrust had been stubbornly litigious. The case was eventually set for an October 3, 2011 trial date. But in a letter dated September 22, 2011, Amtrust’s counsel notified judges, clerks of court, and opposing counsel of conflicts for the week of October 3, 2011, through October 7, 2011. The letter listed two cases in the State Court of Fulton County as having priority over the instant case pursuant to Uniform Superior Court Rule 17.1, and it notified the recipients that counsel would “appear as set forth below and ask the Courts to consider Conflict sic if I am not able to reach their case.”

Amtrust N. Am. Inc. v. Palmer Trucking & Leasing Inc.

The trial court erred in failing to consider the plaintiff's timely conflict letter pursuant to U.S.C.R. 17.1.

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report