Summary
The Indiana Supreme Court granted rehearing to clarify that summary judgment for a nonmoving party under Trial Rule 56(B) must be limited to issues raised by the moving party’s motion. The court held that CNA did not waive affirmative defenses it expressly reserved and modified its prior opinion concerning coverage for Anthem’s settlement losses and defense costs.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Indiana Trial Rule 56(B) permits a court to grant summary judgment for a nonmoving party on issues not raised by the moving party's summary-judgment motion.
- Whether CNA waived affirmative defenses that it expressly reserved and did not present in its summary-judgment motion.
- Whether the Supreme Court's prior opinion should be modified to limit summary judgment for Anthem to the issues raised in CNA's motion.
Holdings
- Trial Rule 56(B) limits a court's authority to grant summary judgment for a nonmoving party to the issues raised by the moving party's summary-judgment motion.
- When a defendant moves for summary judgment and the plaintiff is the nonmoving party, the defendant does not waive affirmative defenses that it does not assert unless another moving party has first placed the relevant element in issue and presented evidence on it.
- The prior opinion must be modified to clarify that CNA's motion raised only certain issues of law before the close of discovery and that summary judgment for Anthem is limited to the issues raised in CNA's motion.
Key quotations
“As the moving party, CNA controls the definition of the issues raised by its summary judgment motion for purposes of Trial Rule 56(B).” (984)
“In the absence of a duty to raise one or more affirmative defenses, a defendant’s failure to do so cannot constitute waiver.” (984)
“We conclude that rehearing should be granted to modify our opinion to address only the issues raised in the summary judgment proceeding.” (985)
Factual background
CNA sought summary judgment on specified counts of Anthem's complaint and identified several coverage defenses, while expressly stating that additional defenses were not included because they might require further discovery. The trial court granted summary judgment for CNA, and Twin City was later added to the final judgment. In its prior opinion, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed and also granted summary judgment for Anthem on issues beyond those raised in CNA's motion, prompting CNA's rehearing petition.
Procedural history
Continental Casualty Company moved for summary judgment on specified claims and specified coverage defenses, expressly reserving additional defenses that might require discovery. The trial court granted summary judgment for CNA and directed entry of final judgment; Twin City was later joined in that judgment. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed on one coverage ground, and the Indiana Supreme Court reversed in its prior opinion. On CNA's petition for rehearing, the Supreme Court modified its prior opinion to limit relief under Trial Rule 56(B) to the issues raised in CNA's motion.
Remand instructions
The case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with the modified opinion. Summary judgment for Anthem is limited to the issues raised in CNA's motion, excluding Anthem's losses resulting from CSMS's claims and Anthem's bad-faith claim.