Tennessee Court of Appeals Affirms $50,000 Crash and Loss-of-Consortium Verdict for Shelby County Couple

On April 7, 1998, Ivy Joe Clark was driving in Shelby County when his car was struck from behind by a vehicle operated by Joyce Ann Shoaf. Fault for the collision was never seriously contested. What followed was nearly a decade of litigation over how much the Clarks were owed and, just as important, who would actually pay it.

Clark and his wife, Vicky Clark, filed suit in the Circuit Court for Shelby County in March 1999. He sought compensation for his injuries. She brought a separate claim for loss of consortium, the harm a spouse suffers when an injury damages the marital relationship. Their complaint asked for $500,000 on his injury claim and $250,000 on her consortium claim.

Marvin A. Bienvenu, Jr. and Steven Rand Walker of Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi, PLC represented the couple. The case went to a jury in Shelby County before Judge Karen R. Williams. With liability effectively conceded, the trial turned on the extent of Clark's injuries and the value of each claim. The jury returned a general verdict: $20,000 to Ivy Joe Clark and $30,000 to Vicky Clark for loss of consortium, $50,000 in all.

Collecting that judgment proved complicated. While the case was on appeal, Shelby Insurance Company, which carried the Shoafs' auto liability coverage, was declared insolvent in August 2006. That moved the dispute onto the Clarks' own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and their carrier, Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Companies, which had been brought into the case as an unnamed defendant.

Tennessee Farmers moved for a new trial, lost, and appealed, arguing it should not have to answer for the verdict. In an opinion filed December 15, 2008, the Court of Appeals at Jackson rejected that position. Writing for the panel, Judge David R. Farmer held the carrier liable under the Clarks' policy up to the limits of their uninsured motorist coverage. Judges Holly M. Kirby and J. Steven Stafford joined the opinion. The court affirmed the Circuit Court's judgment and remanded the case.

The $50,000 award was not reduced or remitted at any stage. An earlier 2006 appeal in the same matter had already confirmed that Vicky Clark's loss-of-consortium claim was a distinct cause of action whose value could exceed her husband's recovery, and the 2008 decision left the jury's split intact. The opinion is reported as Clark v. Shoaf, No. W2008-00617-COA-R3-CV.