VEPCO v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co.

Present: Hassell, C.J., Koontz, Kinser, Lemons, and Millette,
JJ., and Russell and Lacy, S.JJ.

VIRGINIA ELECTRIC
AND POWER COMPANY, ET AL.
OPINION BY SENIOR JUSTICE
v. Record No. 081294 ELIZABETH B. LACY
September 18, 2009
NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HALIFAX COUNTY
William R. Shelton, Judge Designate

This appeal arises from a contract dispute between a

railway company and two utility companies over periodic cost

adjustments of rates charged by the railway company for

transportation of coal to an electricity generating facility in

Halifax County. The principal issue we consider is whether the

circuit court correctly determined that the contract in question

was unambiguous in requiring the application of a specific rail

cost adjustment factor for calculating quarterly adjustments to

the coal transportation rates. We also consider whether the

circuit court erred in striking certain affirmative defenses

raised by the utilities to the railway company’s claim for

breach of the contract and subsequently entering a judgment of

more than $77 million plus interest in favor of the railway

company.

BACKGROUND

The essential facts are not in dispute. On April 5, 1989,

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (“ODEC”) entered into a
contract with Norfolk and Western Railway Company, the

predecessor in interest to Norfolk Southern Railway Company

(“Norfolk Southern”), for the regular transportation of coal to

an electricity generating facility ODEC was constructing in

Clover, Virginia. ODEC subsequently sold an undivided one-half

interest in the Clover facility to Virginia Electric and Power

Company (“VEPCO”). 1

The contract, which was styled as a “Coal Transportation

Agreement” (“CTA”), addressed the transportation rates for coal

deliveries to the Clover facility in Article 25, which provided

in relevant part:

Unless specified otherwise, all rates and charges
in this Agreement shall be subject to adjustment in
accordance with this Article. Rate adjustments shall
be based upon the ICC generated RCAF. During the term
of this Agreement, should the RCAF described in this
Agreement . . . be modified or changed other than
renormalizing, a new factor which closely tracks the
RCAF shall be agreed to by the Parties.

. . . .

The amount of each such adjustment shall be
determined according to the applicable procedures
prescribed by the ICC in Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2)
and published in Title 49 C.F.R., Part 1102, Section
1102.1 and Interstate Commerce Act, Section 10707, as
may be amended, incorporated herein by reference.

1
There is no dispute that VEPCO and Norfolk Southern are
the real parties in interest in this contract dispute.
Accordingly, we will refer hereafter to ODEC and VEPCO where
context permits as “the utilities” and the contracting railway
company as “Norfolk Southern.”

2
The CTA defines the term “RCAF” as the Rail Cost Adjustment

Factor, as “prescribed by the ICC in Ex Parte No. 290.” 2 The

ICC-generated RCAF refers to an index for coal transportation

rates first established pursuant to Section 203 of the Staggers

Rail Act of 1980. See former 49 U.S.C. § 10707a(a)(2)(B)

(1980). In general, the purpose of the index was to create a

calculation methodology by which rail freight delivery rates in

long-term contracts could be adjusted for evolving costs and,

where required to be applied, such rates would be protected from

challenge as to their reasonableness. Railroad Cost Recovery

Procedures–Productivity Adjustment, Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No.

4), 5 I.C.C.2d 434 (1989).

Accordingly, the ICC initiated regulatory proceedings

designated “Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2)” in which it developed

first an interim, and later a final, RCAF index. See Railroad

Cost Recovery Procedures, Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2), 1

I.C.C.2d 207 (1984) (establishing the final index); Railroad

Cost Recovery Procedures, Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2), 364

I.C.C. 841 (1981) (creating the interim index). The RCAF index

established in Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2) did not use rail

2
The parties agree that when the United States Congress
abolished the ICC in 1995, the function of calculating and
publishing RCAF indices was transferred to the Surface
Transportation Board. See Pub. L. No. 104-88 § 102, 109 Stat.
803, 822-29 (1995), codified in part at 49 U.S.C. §§ 10101 et
seq.
3
productivity as an element of the calculation used for

determining the adjustment factor for rail rates. See Railroad

Cost Recovery Procedures–Productivity Adjustment, Ex Parte No.

290 (Sub. No. 4), 5 I.C.C.2d 434 (noting that in the original

rail cost adjustment factor the Commission “considered, but

rejected, proposals to . . . recogniz[e] the impact of improved

productivity on the cost of rail outputs”). This version of

RCAF became known as the Rail Cost Adjustment Factor-Unadjusted

(“RCAF–U”).

On March 22, 1989, the ICC adopted a modified RCAF index

that was based on RCAF-U, but further adjusted that index by

accounting for improvements in rail productivity. Railroad Cost

Recovery Procedures–Productivity Adjustment, Ex Parte No. 290

(Sub. No. 4), 5 I.C.C.2d 434. This cost adjustment factor

became known as the Rail Cost Adjustment Factor-Adjusted (“RCAF-

A”). RCAF-A was created in a separate sub-docket of Ex Parte

No. 290 from RCAF-U, and modifications to RCAF-U continued

independently from the calculation of RCAF-A. See, e.g.,

Railroad Cost Recovery Procedures, Ex Parte No. 290 (Sub. No.

2), 6 I.C.C.2d 956 (1990) (adopting change in materials and

supplies component of RCAF-U); see also Edison Electric Inst. v.

ICC, 969 F.2d 1221, 1222, 1230 (D.C. Cir. 1992) (holding that,

although the Act neither prohibited nor required a productivity

adjustment, the ICC was statutorily authorized and properly

4
exercised its discretion to prospectively improve RCAF by a

productivity adjustment).

Although RCAF-A is presently the only index permitted to be

used in regulated rail transportation contracts that must apply

a rate adjustment factor, Congress requires the Surface

Transportation Board, the successor to the ICC, to continue to

publish both the RCAF-U and RCAF-A indices, recognizing that

there are contracts remaining in force that use RCAF-U and

parties to unregulated contracts may continue to use RCAF-U as

the basis for rate adjustment provisions if they choose to do

so. See 49 U.S.C. § 10708 (2006); see also Burlington N. R.R.

Co. v. Nebraska Pub. Power Dist., 931 F. Supp. 1470, 1476 (D.

Neb. 1996) (noting that “[t]he ICC has remained neutral about

whether particular [unregulated] contracts required the use of

RCAF(U) or RCAF(A)”).

In the present case, the parties agree that at the time the

CTA was executed, they were free to select either RCAF-U or

RCAF-A to adjust the rates to be charged under the CTA. It is

also not disputed that because of the differences in the method

of calculating the two indices, use of RCAF-U for adjusting coal

transportation rates under the CTA would result over time in

significantly higher amounts being owed by the utilities to

Norfolk Southern than would be owed under rates adjusted by

RCAF-A.

5
 On June 29, 1989, William B. Bales, Norfolk Southern’s Vice

President for Coal and Ore Traffic, sent a memorandum to ODEC

detailing the quarterly rate adjustment for transportation of

coal under the CTA. In each subsequent quarter thereafter

through the third quarter of 2003, Bales or another Norfolk

Southern executive prepared and transmitted to ODEC a similar

memo detailing the adjusted coal transportation rates for the

Clover facility for the upcoming quarter. Although none of the

memoranda indicated specifically whether the adjustment factor

being used to determine the rates was RCAF-U or RCAF-A,

beginning with the fourth quarter of 1991, Bales referred in his

cover memo to the contract providing for “an adjustment of 50%

of the adjusted RCAF” as the basis for determining the coal

transportation rates for the Clover facility. (Emphasis added.)

In September 1993, VEPCO and Norfolk Southern held

negotiations in an effort to form a separate contract for

transportation of coal to the Clover facility. Among other

matters, VEPCO and Norfolk Southern specifically discussed

changing the rate adjustment factor under the CTA to “75% of the

Unadjusted RCAF.” Despite these negotiations, no new contract

was agreed upon, and all coal subsequently transported to the

Clover facility by Norfolk Southern remained subject to the

provisions of the CTA, and all adjustments to the coal

6
transportation rates under the CTA before December 1, 2003 were

made using RCAF-A to calculate the quarterly change in the rate.

In a letter dated October 17, 2003 which summarized

communications made in a meeting on October 14, 2003, Thomas E.

Rappold, Norfolk Southern’s Assistant Vice President for Utility

and Industrial Coal Marketing, advised Jeff Dowhan, the Coal

Contracts Manager for Dominion Resources, Inc., the parent

company of VEPCO, that Norfolk Southern intended to begin making

quarterly adjustments to the coal transportation rates under the

CTA using RCAF-U, and that all deliveries beginning on December

1, 2003 would be subject to these higher rates. In that letter,

Rappold “acknowledged that, when RCAF-A was first introduced,

[Norfolk Southern] applied this index for what was intended to

be the short-term benefit of [the] Clover [facility].” Rappold

maintained, however, that the CTA “contract language specifies

use of RCAF-U,” and that “due to [Norfolk Southern’s] attention

to other matters, the benefit of RCAF-A was extended to [the

utilities] far longer than anticipated” resulting in an

“extraordinary windfall” to the utilities.

The utilities rejected Norfolk Southern’s assertion that

RCAF-U could be used to adjust transportation rates under the

CTA and this litigation ensued.

PROCEEDINGS

7
 On November 26, 2003, the utilities filed in the circuit

court a bill of complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that

the CTA unambiguously specified use of “the Contract ratio” as

the rail cost adjustment factor and sought specific performance

of the contract for future transportation of coal to the Clover

facility applying rates adjusted by “the Contract ratio.” The

utilities argued that the “Contract ratio” referred to in the

Bill of Complaint was RCAF-A. The Bill of Complaint, however,

did not state that the CTA required the use of RCAF-A; rather,

it stated that the CTA contained a “Contract ratio” that was to

be applied. The utilities alleged that the representations made

by Norfolk Southern at the October 14, 2003 meeting constituted

an anticipatory breach of the CTA and that using RCAF-U to

adjust the future coal transportation rates “would wrongfully

inflate [the utilities’] rates by hundreds of millions of

dollars.”

Norfolk Southern filed a demurrer to the bill of complaint,

asserting that the utilities had failed to state a claim upon

which relief may be granted because the CTA was unambiguous in

requiring the utilities to pay for the transportation of coal to

the Clover facility in accord with the application of RCAF-U in

the quarterly adjustment of coal transportation rates. Norfolk

Southern also filed an answer and cross-bill seeking a

declaratory judgment and specific performance of the CTA using

8
RCAF-U to adjust the future coal transportation rates. 3 Norfolk

Southern also sought damages for breach of contract “for all

amounts underpaid by [the utilities] since December 1, 2003” and

“interest on all such amounts.”

Following a hearing, limited to the issue of determining

whether the CTA specified the use of RCAF-U or RCAF-A as the

rate adjustment factor, the circuit court issued an opinion

letter dated December 22, 2004. In that opinion letter the

court found that “the language of [the CTA] is clear and

unambiguous” and that Article 25 “refers to the unadjusted Rail

Cost Adjustment Factor.” The court further opined that it was

“not convinced that a latent ambiguity exists, or that the RCAF-

A is an amendment to the RCAF-U as contemplated by the

contract.” An order embodying this ruling and granting Norfolk

Southern’s demurrer was entered nunc pro tunc March 9, 2005.

In an order entered February 11, 2005, the circuit court

denied the utilities’ motion for leave to amend their bill of

3
The pleading was styled as an “answer and counterclaim,”
but the style was subsequently amended to “answer and cross-
bill” to reflect that the action had been brought on the equity
side of the court’s docket. This action was brought before we
amended our rules, effective January 1, 2006, effectively
abolishing the division of trial court dockets into legal and
equity proceedings by providing that any civil suit, which
includes legal and equitable causes of action, is commenced by
filing a “complaint” and claims made in responsive pleadings are
either “counterclaims,” if against the original plaintiff, or
“cross-claims,” if against a co-defendant. See Rules 3:1, 3:2,
3:9 and 3:10.
9
complaint. The court found “that the proposed amendment would

accomplish nothing more than provide [an] opportunity [to the

utilities] for reargument of questions already decided and that

the proposed amendment seeks determination of disputed issues

rather than an adjudication of the parties’ rights and is

therefore an inappropriate use of declaratory judgment.”

However, the court granted the utilities leave to file an

amended answer to Norfolk Southern’s cross-bill, so long as the

amended answer did not allege “that [the CTA] is ambiguous, or

that the CTA provides for the use of RCAF-A, those issues having

been decided by this court.”

The utilities filed an amended answer to the cross-bill in

which they made extensive allegations regarding the parties’

dealings both before and after the execution of the CTA. Based

on these allegations, the utilities contended that Norfolk

Southern was estopped from asserting the application of RCAF-U,

that Norfolk Southern had implicitly accepted a modification or

novation of the CTA requiring the use of RCAF-A, and that

Norfolk Southern’s actions in this regard constituted fraud in

the inducement. The amended answer also reasserted that Norfolk

Southern’s claims were barred by the doctrines of laches and

waiver and, in whole or in part, by the statute of limitations.

Norfolk Southern filed a motion to strike various

allegations relating to actions occurring prior to the execution

10
of the CTA and allegations that Norfolk Southern had agreed to

the use of RCAF-A as the rate adjustment schedule under the

agreement. Norfolk Southern contended that these factual

allegations were contrary to the circuit court’s determination

that the CTA was not ambiguous with regard to the specification

of RCAF-U as the applicable rate adjustment factor. Thus,

Norfolk Southern asserted that these allegations and the

affirmative defenses of novation, modification, fraud in the

inducement, waiver and estoppel were barred by the doctrine of

judicial estoppel. Norfolk Southern also contended that even if

these defenses were not barred by judicial estoppel, the

allegations of the amended answer were insufficient to establish

these defenses as well as the defense of the statute of

limitations.

The utilities responded to Norfolk Southern’s motion to

strike their factual allegations relating to pre-contract events

by asserting that it was “facially absurd” to conclude that the

circuit court’s determination that the CTA was unambiguous in

requiring application of RCAF-U to coal transportation rate

adjustments at the time of its execution barred the utilities

from pleading allegations germane to its affirmative defenses.

The utilities next contended that judicial estoppel did not

apply because the record did not reflect that the court relied

on the assertion that the CTA had not been amended in reaching

11
its conclusion that RCAF-U was the specified rate adjustment

factor. Moreover, they contended that judicial estoppel only

bars a party from changing its position after having

successfully prevailed under the prior position in the same or

prior proceedings, whereas here, the position maintained by the

utilities under their bill of complaint had failed. The

utilities also asserted that their amended answer contained only

pleading in the alternative, and “there is no contradiction

between an allegation that a contract was not formally amended

and an allegation that it was modified for consideration, by

estoppel, or by waiver.” Finally, in response to Norfolk

Southern’s motion to strike the affirmative defenses on

alternate grounds, the utilities asserted that they “more than

sufficiently pled facts which create a jury question” and

therefore Norfolk Southern’s alternative motion to strike should

be denied.

On November 1, 2005, following additional briefing and oral

argument by the parties, the circuit court entered a decree in

which it stated that, in construing Article 25 of the CTA, it

had relied on the factual assertions in the bill of complaint

that the CTA contained the rate adjustment schedule and that

schedule had not been amended. The court also held that the

amended answer now alleged that the terms of the CTA “were

amended after all, whether through theories of estoppel,

12
modification, novation, fraud in the inducement, or waiver.”

Thus, the court held that the utilities were judicially estopped

from taking inconsistent positions in their amended answer from

those originally asserted in their bill of complaint and struck

the affirmative defenses of estoppel, modification, novation,

fraud in the inducement and waiver. The court also granted

Norfolk Southern’s motion to strike certain factual allegations

from the amended answer. 4 The circuit court also found that the

grounds stated in Norfolk Southern’s alternative motion to

strike the utilities’ affirmative defenses provided an

independent basis to support the court’s judgment. The court

rejected the statute of limitations defense because Norfolk

Southern did not seek damages for any underpayment before

December 1, 2003. Finally, the court concluded that the

equitable defense of laches would not apply to the legal claim

for breach of contract and that, in any case, the utilities had

not shown any actual harm caused by Norfolk Southern’s delay in

enforcing its rights under the contract.

Following entry of the November 1, 2005 decree, the

utilities and Norfolk Southern continued to dispute the proper

calculation of the rates for coal transportation to the Clover

facility. On July 7, 2006, Norfolk Southern filed a motion

requesting that the circuit court declare that, based on its

4
The utilities have not appealed this ruling.
13
previous orders, the calculation of the rate to be imposed be

based on RCAF-U applied from the inception of the CTA.

The utilities, in a memorandum opposing Norfolk Southern’s

motion, contended that the issue was not and could not be

resolved under the court’s prior rulings, that the adjustment of

the rates be based on an application of RCAF-U to the rate, as

previously adjusted by RCAF-A, in effect in the quarter prior to

the December 1, 2003, and requested the matter be set for trial.

The circuit court rejected the utilities’ position and

entered an order granting Norfolk Southern’s motion. The court

directed the utilities to “calculat[e] the rates paid under the

[CTA] as if the RCAF had been properly applied from the [CTA’s]

inception.” The utilities were further ordered to pay the

arrearage from December 1, 2003 along “with interest at the rate

provided by the [CTA],” and to pay for all future deliveries of

coal to the Clover facility in accord with the court’s

determination that RCAF-U applied to the rates to be charged

from the inception of the CTA. 5

On June 11, 2007, the utilities filed a motion to vacate

the September 1, 2006 order, while on June 27, 2007, Norfolk

Southern filed a motion to schedule a status conference to

5
The utilities noted an appeal from this order. This Court
dismissed the appeal without prejudice, finding that there was
not yet a final, appealable order in the case. VEPCO v. Norfolk
Southern Railway Co., Record No. 062501 (May 11, 2007) (order).
14
resolve all pending matters and to enter a final judgment. The

parties filed memoranda supporting their respective positions as

to whether the judgment, as expressed in the circuit court’s

prior orders, should be confirmed by a final judgment, or if the

court should set aside its prior determinations and set the

matter for trial. Ultimately, the parties agreed to file a

joint submission to the court setting out the matters they

agreed had been resolved and those issues that the utilities

contended remained in dispute.

On April 17, 2008, the circuit court entered a final order

and decree concluding the proceedings on the cross-bill. In

that order, the court, without express comment, denied the

utilities’ motion for setting aside the prior determinations of

the court. In accord with the stipulations of the parties, the

court entered judgment for Norfolk Southern in the amount of

$77,708,000 for underpayment of coal delivery rates between

December 1, 2003 and November 30, 2007, along with pre-judgment

interest of $8,476,222.44 based on the short term prime rate

published by J.P. Morgan Bank as provided for in the CTA. The

court also imposed post-judgment interest based on the then

applicable statutory rate of 7.5%. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

We awarded the utilities an appeal from the circuit court’s

judgment based upon eight separate assignments of error. The

15
first two assignments of error address the circuit court’s

rulings regarding the interpretation and ambiguity of the

contact. In its third assignment of error the utilities contend

that the circuit court erred in striking its affirmative

defenses and denying its motion to file an amended bill of

complaint. The remaining assignments of error address the

court’s actions enforcing those rulings and the entry of the

judgment with interest against the utilities. We begin with a

discussion of the first two assignments of error relating to

contract interpretation.

1. Contract Interpretation

The utilities’ first assignment of error challenges the

circuit court’s ruling that Article 25 of the CTA specifies that

RCAF-U, rather than the RCAF-A, is to be used as the rate

adjustment factor for transportation of coal to the Clover

facility. In the second assignment of error, the utilities

contend that if Article 25 of the CTA does specify RCAF-U as the

coal transportation rate adjustment factor, then the court erred

in ruling that there is not a latent ambiguity in that article

that would permit the utilities to present parol evidence that

the parties had intended a different meaning of the rate

adjustment factor under the CTA.

In considering the issues raised by the first two

assignments of error, we are guided by the well-settled

16
principle that “[t]he interpretation of a contract presents a

question of law subject to de novo review.” PMA Capital

Insurance Co. v. US Airways, Inc., 271 Va. 352, 357-58, 626

S.E.2d 369, 372 (2006). Moreover, it is equally settled that

the primary focus in considering disputed contractual language

is for the court to determine the parties’ intention, which

should be ascertained, whenever possible, from the language the

parties employed in the contract. Flippo v. CSC Assocs. III,

L.L.C., 262 Va. 48, 64, 547 S.E.2d 216, 226 (2001); Langman v.

Alumni Ass’n of the Univ. of Va., 247 Va. 491, 498-99, 442

S.E.2d 669, 674 (1994).

The utilities first contend that the circuit court erred in

failing to find that Article 25 of the CTA unambiguously

specifies that RCAF-U is to be used as the coal transportation

rate adjustment factor. This is so, they contend, because the

definition of RCAF in the CTA makes clear that the parties

understood that there was only one official rate adjustment

factor designated by the ICC for coal transportation contracts

and, at the time of the execution of the CTA, that was RCAF-A.

They point to the language of Article 25 that incorporates into

the CTA “the applicable procedures described by the ICC in Ex

Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 2) and published in Title 49 C.F.R.,

Part 1102, Section 1102.1 and Interstate Commerce Act, Section

10707, as may be amended,” contending, as they did in the

17
circuit court, that RCAF-A was created by an amendment of the

ICC regulations and superseded RCAF-U. (Emphasis added.) The

utilities concede that under the ICC, and subsequently the

Surface Transportation Board, RCAF-U continues to be calculated

and published, but they contend that this is done only because

RCAF-U is a component of RCAF-A and to accommodate contracts

that were executed before RCAF-A became the official rate

adjustment factor. We disagree.

The circuit court correctly determined that the language of

Article 25 expressly and unambiguously incorporates into the CTA

“the applicable procedures prescribed by the ICC in Ex Parte No.

290 (Sub. No. 2) and published in Title 49 C.F.R., Part 1102,

Section 1102.1 and Interstate Commerce Act, Section 10707.”

There can be no question that the RCAF-U index is the basis of

the “applicable procedures” for determining adjustments to rail

freight delivery rates “described by the ICC in Ex Parte No. 290

(Sub. No. 2),” which is the only index described in the reports

of those regulatory proceedings. To the extent that the term

“as may be amended” can be applied to the entire clause, it is

nonetheless clear that this would refer to an amendment of the

procedures for calculating and applying RCAF-U under Ex Parte

No. 290 (Sub. No. 2).

It is equally clear that had the parties intended for the

CTA to incorporate RCAF-A, they could have specified the

18
applicable index as being that “prescribed by the ICC in Ex

Parte No. 290 (Sub. No. 4),” which established the procedure for

calculating and applying the RCAF-A index. Creation of RCAF-A

had been under consideration by the ICC for some time and that

the regulations for its calculation and application had been

promulgated before the CTA was executed, albeit only by a matter

of weeks. Thus, had ODEC and Norfolk Southern intended for the

CTA to specify the use of RCAF-A, they could have done so

expressly and without the need of any reference to the

regulatory process that plainly prescribes RCAF-U. Accordingly,

we hold that the circuit court did not err in finding that

Article 25 of the CTA unambiguously specifies RCAF-U as the rate

adjustment factor for transportation of coal to the Clover

facility.

The utilities next contend that if Article 25 of the CTA

must be construed as requiring the use of RCAF-U, the circuit

court nonetheless erred in failing to find that there was a

latent ambiguity in the CTA. They contend that the existence of

the latent ambiguity is established by the fact that RCAF-A

rather than RCAF-U was used as the rate adjustment factor for

the first fourteen years of the contract, and that this course

of dealing between the parties reflects their true intent.

An ambiguity exists when the contract’s language is of

doubtful import, is susceptible of being understood in more than

19
one way or of having more than one meaning, or refers to two or

more things at the same time. Tuomala v. Regent Univ., 252 Va.

368, 374, 477 S.E.2d 501, 505 (1996); Galloway Corp. v. S.B.

Ballard Constr., 250 Va. 493, 502, 464 S.E.2d 349, 355 (1995).

Normally, an ambiguity in a contact is “patent,” that is, the

language of the contract itself reveals that it can be

interpreted in more than one way. A latent ambiguity exists

where language “while appearing perfectly clear at the time the

contract[] [is] formed, because of subsequently discovered or

developed facts, may reasonably be interpreted in either of two

ways.” Galloway, 250 Va. at 503, 464 S.E.2d at 355; Zehler v.

E.L. Bruce Co., Inc., 208 Va. 796, 799 n.5, 160 S.E.2d 786, 789

n.5 (1968).

Quoting from footnote 5 in Zehler, the utilities contend

that “[i]f two RCAFs exist, the term ‘RCAF’ would be ‘a term

which, upon application to external objects, is found to fit two

or more of them equally.’” Thus, they contend that the circuit

court should have found that there was a latent ambiguity in the

CTA and looked to the parties’ subsequent dealings to determine

that, regardless of the apparent meaning of the language of

Article 25, the parties’ intention at the time of the execution

of the CTA was to use RCAF-A as the rate adjustment factor.

This is so, they maintain, because “the construction placed upon

the ambiguous term by the parties is practically conclusive.”

20
 The difficulty with the utilities’ position on this issue

is that it necessarily presumes that at the time of the CTA’s

execution, the parties were unaware that there was a distinction

between RCAF-U and RCAF-A based on an erroneous belief that

RCAF-A had superseded RCAF-U as “the RCAF.” The parties’

subsequent dealings, however, demonstrate that this was not the

case. The utilities focus solely on those portions of the

parties’ subsequent dealings with regard to the CTA that show

Norfolk Southern actually used RCAF-A to adjust the rates for

coal transportation to the Clover facility until late 2003.

However, it is equally clear, especially from the September 1993

negotiations between VEPCO and Norfolk Southern, that the

parties knew that RCAF-U was available as to rate adjustment

factors for calculating adjustments to the coal transportation

rates under the CTA.

The mere fact that RCAF-A was used to calculate the rate

adjustments for transportation of coal to the Clover facility

for an extended period of time is insufficient to establish that

Article 25, which plainly refers to RCAF-U as the rate

adjustment factor, must have resulted from a mutual

misunderstanding of the parties as to the import of that

language. Norfolk Southern’s assertion that it applied RCAF-A

in making rate adjustments for transportation of coal to the

Clover facility initially through forbearance and subsequently

21
by lack of diligence is contrary to the utilities’ position that

the parties intended for Article 25 of the CTA to specify RCAF-A

as the rate adjustment factor. The mere fact that the parties

disagree about the meaning of the CTA’s terms is not evidence

that the CTA language is ambiguous. Pocahontas Mining Ltd.

Liab. Co. v. Jewell Ridge Coal Corp., 263 Va. 169, 173, 556

S.E.2d 796, 771 (2002); Galloway, 250 Va. at 502, 464 S.E.2d at

354.

For these reasons, we hold that the circuit court did not

err in failing to find that the CTA contained a latent ambiguity

and in holding that the CTA unambiguously specifies RCAF-U as

the coal transportation rate adjustment factor for the Clover

facility.

2. Judicial Estoppel

In their third assignment of error, the utilities claim

that the circuit court erred in striking certain affirmative

defenses on the basis of judicial estoppel and also claim that

the alternative reasons given for striking those defenses were

error. We begin with the circuit court’s ruling that the

affirmative defenses of waiver and estoppel are barred by

judicial estoppel. 6

6
The affirmative defenses of novation, modification, fraud
in the inducement, estoppel and waiver were struck on the basis
of judicial estoppel. However, in this appeal the utilities
22
 The doctrine of judicial estoppel prevents a party from

assuming successive positions in the course of a suit or series

of suits with regard to the same fact or set of facts if those

facts are inconsistent or mutually contradictory. Bentley

Funding Group, L.L.C. v. SK&R Group, L.L.C., 269 Va. 315, 325,

609 S.E.2d 49, 53-54 (2005). The purpose of the doctrine is to

protect the integrity of the judicial process. Parson v.

Carroll, 272 Va. 560, 564, 636 S.E.2d 452, 454 (2006). While

this doctrine is widely recognized, it is an equitable doctrine,

not amenable to an “exhaustive formula” for determining its

applicability. Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 325-26, 609

S.E.2d at 54 (quoting New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 751

(2001)).

In considering this doctrine we have identified certain

conditions as prerequisites for its application. The

inconsistent or contradictory assertions must be assertions of

fact, not law, Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 326, 609 S.E.2d

at 54 (quoting Lowry v. Stovall, 92 F.3d 219, 224 (4th Cir.

1996)), the parties must be the same if the inconsistent

positions involve different proceedings, Lofton Ridge, LLC v.

Norfolk S. Ry. Co., 268 Va. 377, 382, 601 S.E.2d 648, 651

(2004), and the prior inconsistent position must have been

address only the affirmative defenses of estoppel and waiver.
Accordingly, we limit our review to those two defenses.
23
relied upon by the court or prior court in rendering its

decision. See Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 327, 609 S.E.2d

at 54-55.

The inconsistent positions in this case stem from the

circuit court’s ruling on the utilities’ bill of complaint for a

declaratory judgment interpreting provisions of the CTA. In

that proceeding the utilities alleged that the CTA was the

contract agreed upon by the parties, that the contract contained

the contractually agreed upon rate adjustment ratio for the

transportation of coal to the Clover Facility, and that the

parties had never amended the contract to change the rate

adjustment ratio from that contained in the contract. The

circuit court relied on these factual assertions and held that

the parties had agreed to be bound by the terms contained in the

CTA and that those terms had not been amended. The circuit

court held that the CTA required the use of the RCAF-U rate

adjustment ratio. That was a legal conclusion that differs from

the position advocated by the utilities. Nevertheless, the

circuit court’s reliance on the utilities’ factual assertions in

reaching this decision is beyond question.

In the affirmative defenses in their amended answer to

Norfolk Southern’s cross-bill, the utilities pled that “[t]he

parties agreed to use the RCAF-A under the Agreement” and that

Norfolk Southern “ratified the parties’ agreement to use the

24
RCAF–A under the Agreement.” The circuit court held that these

assertions of an amendment to the CTA were inconsistent with or

contrary to the assertion previously made that the CTA had not

been amended.

The utilities argue that the assertion that the CTA had not

been amended was not an assertion of fact but an assertion of

law and the amended answer only contained “alternative legal

theories.” 7 However under our case law, the issue of contract

amendment is a finding of fact, not of law. 8 See Reid v. Boyle,

259 Va. 356, 368, 527 S.E.2d 137, 144 (2000)(whether contract

was amended reviewed applying the clear error standard.)

Therefore, the allegations asserting that the CTA was amended

are factual assertions inconsistent with the factual assertions

made by the utilities in their bill of complaint.

The utilities next argue, citing Bentley Funding Group,

that judicial estoppel should not have been applied because

judicial estoppel requires “a successful judgment in favor of

the non-moving party on any such positions of fact” and the

utilities “did not prevail . . . on their purportedly

7
The utilities abandoned the argument made in the circuit
court that their allegation that the CTA had not been amended
meant only that the CTA had not been amended in writing.
8
The utilities attempt to distinguish their pleading from
an “amendment” of a contract by using words such as “alter” or
“modify.” These semantic differences do not change the nature
of the action alleged which is nothing more or less than an
amendment of the contract.
25
inconsistent prior position.” However neither Bentley Funding

Group nor any other case has required that the non-moving party

secure a favorable judgment based on the prior inconsistent

position as a prerequisite for the application of judicial

estoppel. Rather, our cases only require that the court relied

upon the prior inconsistent position in rendering a prior

judgment or ruling. 9 In Bentley Funding Group the circuit court

found that judicial estoppel should be applied to the

defendant’s claim that he owned certain escrow accounts because

the defendant had not listed those accounts as an asset in a

prior bankruptcy proceeding. 269 Va. at 323, 609 S.E.2d at 52.

In reversing the circuit court’s application of judicial

estoppel, this Court’s inquiry was directed to whether the prior

factual position reflecting non-ownership of the escrow accounts

was relied upon by the bankruptcy court in rendering the

decision approving a contract for the purchase of property. See

id. at 327-29, 609 S.E.2d at 54-55. The Court made no mention

or inquiry regarding whether the non-moving party received a

favorable judgment based on the prior inconsistent position.

The utilities’ assertion that application of the doctrine

requires that the non-moving party must obtain a “successful

judgment” based on the inconsistent position apparently stems

9
As stated above, the doctrine can be applied in the course
of a single action or a series of actions.
26
from certain language used in the Bentley Funding Group opinion

to describe the elements and rationale for the application of

judicial estoppel. In this portion of the opinion, the Court in

Bentley Funding Group quoted the following passage from New

Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 750-51 (2001):

Courts regularly inquire whether the party has
succeeded in persuading a court to accept that party’s
earlier position, so that judicial acceptance of an
inconsistent position in a later proceeding would
create the perception that either the first or the
second court was misled. Absent success in a prior
proceeding, a party’s later inconsistent position
introduces no risk of inconsistent court
determinations, and thus poses little threat to
judicial integrity.

Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 327, 609 S.E.2d at 54-55.

Although this passage uses the phrase “success in a prior

proceeding,” the context shows that the phrase refers to the

prior sentence which addresses the persuasion of the court to

accept the nonmoving party’s earlier position. 10 The Court in

Bentley Funding Group then went on to say that “[w]ithout the

requirement that the prior court accepted the earlier

inconsistent position, facts not material or relevant in the

prior proceeding could be asserted as a bar to a party’s cause

10
The statement from New Hampshire v. Maine was also quoted
in Matthews v. Matthews, 277 Va. 522, 529, 675 S.E.2d 157, 161
(2009), in the context of reciting the elements of judicial
estoppel. The doctrine was not applied in that case because the
alleged prior inconsistent position was one of law, not fact.
Id. at 530, 675 S.E.2d at 161.
27
of action in a later proceeding.” Id. at 327, 609 S.E.2d at 55

(emphasis added). Nothing in Bentley Funding Group states or

implies that the non-moving party must have succeeded in

obtaining a favorable judgment based on the prior inconsistent

factual position.

Based on our prior consideration of judicial estoppel, we

conclude that application of the doctrine requires only that the

prior inconsistent factual position must have been relied upon

by the court in reaching its decision. In this case, the

circuit court, as reflected in its order, relied on the

utilities’ position that the CTA was binding on the parties and

had not been amended. Therefore that element of judicial

estoppel has been met.

Finally, the utilities, citing Lofton Ridge, 268 Va. at

382, 601 S.E.2d at 651, argue that judicial estoppel should not

be applied because Norfolk Southern prevailed in its

interpretation of the CTA and therefore was not prejudiced by

the prior inconsistent position. The utilities’ reliance on

Lofton Ridge for the proposition that prejudice is a

prerequisite for the application of judicial estoppel is

misplaced. “Prejudice” is mentioned only three times in the

opinion in discussing judicial estoppel. The word first appears

in a parenthetical description of another case cited to support

the statement that judicial estoppel may bar a litigant from

28
taking inconsistent actions within a single proceeding. Id. at

381-82, 601 S.E.2d at 650-51. The second use of the word

“prejudice” is found in a statement discussing inconsistent

legal theories, 11 and the third appears in a recitation of the

appellant’s reasons for asserting that judicial estoppel was

improperly applied in that case. Id. at 382, 601 S.E.2d at 651.

The Court’s holding that the doctrine was improperly applied in

Lofton Ridge was based on the lack of identity of parties, not

the lack of prejudice. Id. at 383, 601 S.E.2d at 651-52. In

sum, Lofton Ridge does not incorporate prejudice as a condition

for the application of judicial estoppel.

The doctrine of judicial estoppel, as stated above, is a

doctrine addressing the integrity of the court and its decrees,

preventing litigants from “playing fast and loose” with court

rules and litigation strategy. Wilroy v. Halbleib, 214 Va. 442,

445, 201 S.E.2d 598, 601 (1974) (quoting Rohanna v. Vazzana, 196

Va. 549, 553, 84 S.E.2d 440, 442 (1954)). It is not a doctrine

primarily directed to the interests of the litigants.

Nevertheless it is an equitable doctrine and the United States

Supreme Court in New Hampshire v. Maine identified prejudice as

11
“However, ‘[a] person who has taken an erroneous position
on a question of law is ordinarily not estopped from later
taking the correct position, provided his adversary has suffered
no harm or prejudice by reason of the change.’ ” Lofton Ridge,
268 Va. at 382, 601 S.E.2d at 651 (quoting The Pittston Co. v.

29
a “third consideration” that can be used in determining whether

the doctrine should be applied. 532 U.S. at 751 (considering

“whether the party seeking to assert an inconsistent position

would derive an unfair advantage or impose an unfair detriment

on the opposing party if not estopped”). The Supreme Court did

not, however, consider this factor, along with others, as

establishing “inflexible prerequisites or an exhaustive formula

for determining the applicability of judicial estoppel.” Id.

Thus, neither this Court nor the United States Supreme Court has

made a showing of prejudice a prerequisite to the application of

judicial estoppel. Nevertheless, in this case the circuit court

found that Norfolk Southern would suffer an unfair detriment if

the inconsistent position was advanced because it would incur

the expense and delay of relitigating the meaning of the CTA,

which the circuit court had already determined in Norfolk

Southern’s favor.

For these reasons, we conclude that the circuit court did

not err in striking the utilities’ affirmative defenses because

the elements of judicial estoppel were established in this case.

Based on this holding, we also reject the utilities’ challenge

to the circuit court’s order entering a protective order with

O’Hara, 191 Va. 886, 904, 63 S.E.2d 34, 43 (1951))(emphasis
added).
30
regard to any discovery on communications prior to the execution

of the CTA or alleged amendments subsequent to its execution.

In light of this holding we need not address the circuit

court’s alternative grounds for striking the defenses of waiver

and estoppel. 12 We turn now to the circuit court’s ruling

striking the utilities affirmative defense of the statute of

limitations.

3. Statute of Limitations

The utilities contend that the circuit court erred in

striking their assertion of a plea in bar of the statute of

limitations. The utilities advance two separate theories for

the application of the statute of limitations to this case.

First, they contend that because the CTA was not a divisible

contract, the circuit court should have found that the first

breach of the CTA occurred in 1989 when Norfolk Southern first

used the RCAF-A to adjust the coal transportation rate and,

12
The utilities did not argue below and do not assert here
that, even if the application of judicial estoppel is correct,
the affirmative defenses of estoppel and waiver nevertheless
remain viable. Therefore, the issue of whether these
affirmative defenses remain viable even after the utilities are
precluded from relying on the inconsistent position asserted in
those defenses has not been preserved or raised in this appeal
and is not before us for review. Furthermore, the utilities did
not assign error to the trial court’s ruling striking from the
amended answer certain factual allegations upon which the
utilities’ waiver and estoppel defenses are based. Therefore,
those factual allegations, which are recited in the dissent,
cannot be considered in resolving the utilities’ legal arguments
regarding estoppel and waiver.
31
thus, Norfolk Southern’s breach of contract action is barred as

untimely under Code § 8.01-246(2), the applicable five year

statute of limitations. We disagree.

Even accepting the utilities’ premise that the CTA is an

indivisible contract, it is self-evident that as Norfolk

Southern was responsible for calculating the quarterly

adjustments to the coal transportation rates, its application of

RCAF-A to that calculation prior to December 1, 2003, whether

through forbearance or error, would not constitute a breach of

the CTA by either Norfolk Southern or the utilities. Moreover,

Norfolk Southern has consistently acknowledged that it is

entitled to seek damages for underpayment only from December 1,

2003, the date on which it first made the demand that the

utilities begin paying for the transported coal applying the

RCAF-U rate. It is only by virtue of the utilities’ failure to

accede to that demand that an actionable breach of the CTA could

have occurred. Thus, we hold that the circuit court did not err

in rejecting the utilities’ assertions that the statute of

limitations barred Norfolk Southern’s breach of contract claim

entirely. 13

13
In light of our disposition of the various issues on this
appeal, we need not address the utilities’ further contention
that the statute of limitations would bar Norfolk Southern from
retroactively applying RCAF-U to adjust the coal transportation
rates from the inception of the CTA even if Norfolk Southern has
not waived its ability to do so.
32
 4. Amended Bill of Complaint

The utilities assert that the circuit court erred in

refusing to allow the utilities to file an amended bill of

complaint following the circuit court’s ruling on Norfolk

Southern’s demurrer. The utilities argue that in the proposed

amended bill of complaint they pled “additional facts and

theories regarding new matters not contained in the original

Bill of Complaint.” Specifically, the utilities argued that

they “alleged new facts to establish estoppel, waiver, and other

theories” in support of their claims and that none of these

facts or theories were raised in the original bill of complaint.

According to the utilities, the circuit court abused its

discretion in denying the utilities leave to amend because the

utilities were entitled to pursue them “as independent claims to

insure that their rights were fully and finally declared, rather

than be relegated to the status of cross-bill defendants.”

Concluding, the utilities aver that absent any prejudice to

Norfolk Southern, and absent any finding that the new theories

were legally deficient, the circuit court abused its discretion

in denying leave to amend.

After reviewing the proposed amended bill of complaint, the

circuit court concluded that it “would accomplish nothing more

than provide opportunity for reargument of questions already

decided.” The circuit court also concluded that the proposed

33
amendment was not an appropriate use of the declaratory judgment

mechanism because it sought determination of disputed issues

rather than adjudication of the parties’ rights.

The new factual allegations and legal theories in the

proposed amended bill of complaint were essentially identical to

those contained in the amended answer to the cross-claim. Many

of the new factual allegations related to Norfolk Southern’s

actions which the utilities asserted modified the terms of the

agreement, an issue already decided as noted by the circuit

court. Claims of estoppel, modification, novation, and fraud in

the inducement contained in the proposed amended complaint are,

as noted by the circuit court, not determinations of rights, and

thus are not appropriate for a declaratory judgment proceeding.

Accordingly, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in

denying the utilities’ motion to file an amended bill of

complaint.

5. Calculation of Damages

Assignments of Error Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are based on

essentially one issue: the circuit court’s conclusion that

Norfolk Southern was entitled to calculate the damages it

claimed – underpayments by the utilities since December 1, 2003

– by applying the RCAF-U rate adjustment schedule from the

inception of the agreement in 1989. Utilizing the RCAF-U rate

adjustment schedule as ordered by the circuit court resulted in

34
underpayments of $77,708,000, as stipulated by the parties.

Utilizing the RCAF-U rate to adjust the rates beginning in

December 1, 2003 results in under payments of $3,816,000,

according to the utilities. 14

In July 2006, Norfolk Southern filed a motion for further

relief and enforcement of orders, asserting that the circuit

court’s prior orders granting Norfolk Southern’s demurrer to the

utilities’ bill of complaint, holding that the CTA required the

application of the RCAF-U rate adjustment schedule, denying the

utilities’ motion to file an amended bill of complaint, and

striking the utilities’ affirmative defenses left “nothing to be

done in the case except to superintend ministerially” the

circuit court’s orders. Norfolk Southern sought an order

compelling the utilities to make the payments due Norfolk

Southern “from December 1, 2003 forward in accordance with the

rate adjustments provided by the [CTA].” The utilities opposed

this motion arguing that the circuit court’s prior orders did

not resolve the measure of Norfolk Southern’s claimed damages,

specifically how the RCAF-U should be used in calculating those

damages. The utilities relied on the prospective nature of the

non-waiver provision and Paragraph 25 of the CTA. Paragraph 25

14
The parties presented a stipulation to the court
regarding the damage calculation based on application of RCAF-U
from the inception of the contract and the utilities proffered

35
provides that the rate per ton shall be set for each calendar

quarter by adjusting the previous quarter’s rates. The

utilities argued that the RCAF-U rate schedule should have been

utilized for determining underpayments beginning with rates

existing in the calendar quarter prior to December 1, 2003, the

date Norfolk Southern chose to assert the application of the

RCAF-U rate schedule.

The circuit court, by order entered September 1, 2006,

agreed with Norfolk Southern and ordered that the RCAF-U rate

adjustment schedule be utilized to calculate the underpaid

amounts from December 1, 2003 as if the RCAF-U schedule had been

used since the inception of the CTA. In appealing this ruling,

the utilities claim the circuit court erred in allowing Norfolk

Southern to apply the RCAF-U schedule from the inception of the

CTA in determining its damages, in refusing to vacate its

September 1, 2006 order, and in refusing to allow certain

discovery and submission of evidence.

We find that the circuit court’s order was erroneous. The

court’s prior orders did not address the amount of damages to

which Norfolk Southern was entitled under its cross-claim and

did not address the manner in which those damages should be

calculated. Only when the manner of calculating damages is

the evidence regarding the amount of damages resulting from
applying RCAF-U from December 1, 2003.
36
determined would further action be merely the ministerial

superintending of the calculation.

The manner in which the underpayments should be calculated

is, under the CTA, a matter of contract interpretation. As the

utilities assert, two provisions of the CTA are relevant to this

determination. Paragraph 25 provides in part that the specific

rates contained in the agreement “shall be retained or adjusted

up or down on a quarterly basis.” The adjustments are to be

made on the first day of each quarter. This provision requires

adjustment of rates every quarter. In this case, the rates were

adjusted every quarter, applying the RCAF-A adjustment ratio.

Thus, the contract term requiring rate adjustment every quarter

was satisfied.

The second provision, Paragraph 5, is a non-waiver

provision. That provision provides that the “failure of either

Party to demand strict performance of any or all of the terms of

this Agreement . . . shall not be construed as a waiver or

relinquishment of that Party’s right to assert or rely upon any

such right in the future.” This section allows a contracting

party to forego application of a term of the agreement but

assert the term and demand compliance with it in the future.

Therefore, the provisions of the CTA specifically allowed

Norfolk Southern to accept an adjustment rate other than RCAF-U

and then require the use of the contract specified rate, RCAF-U,

37
for future rate adjustments. The CTA does not, however, permit

readjusting an already completed rate adjustment when a party

later seeks to enforce a right which it did not previously

enforce. To the contrary, the contract terms preclude

retroactive enforcement of a previously unclaimed right.

For these reasons, we will reverse the decision of the

circuit court requiring the application of RCAF-U to the CTA

from its inception in determining the amount of underpayment to

which Norfolk Southern is entitled and order that RCAF-U be

applied beginning December 1, 2003, in determining the amount of

underpayment to which Norfolk Southern is entitled.

6. Interest

In their last assignments of error the utilities challenge

the circuit court’s orders imposing pre- and post- judgment

interest. They argue that they should not be required to pay

pre-judgment interest because Norfolk Southern did not make a

specific claim for unpaid amounts until December 2007 or

otherwise present invoices showing any underpayment. The

utilities also argue that pre-judgment interest is only

authorized under the CTA if the utilities are late in paying.

Because Norfolk Southern never presented invoices for the

amounts now claimed until the “eve of trial,” the utilities

contend that their payments could not have been late.

38
 The utilities argue that post-judgment interest should not

have been imposed because Paragraph 30 of the CTA provides that

interest is payable if a party fails to comply with the contract

by delaying payment. They also assert that the contract sets

the interest rate as the Chase Manhattan Bank short-term prime

rate in effect the first day after payment was due until the day

the delay is cured. The utilities claim that Norfolk Southern

provided no evidence as to the requisite Chase Manhattan rate

and therefore post-judgment interest should not be 7.5% but the

6.0% rate specified in Code § 6.1-330.54.

The award of pre-judgment interest is a matter of judicial

discretion. See Code § 8.01-382; Upper Occoquan Sewage Auth. v.

Blake Constr. Co., 275 Va. 41, 63-64, 655 S.E.2d 10, 23 (2008);

City of Richmond v. Blaylock, 247 Va. 250, 253, 440 S.E.2d 598,

599 (1994). Under the circumstances of this case, we cannot

conclude that the circuit court abused its discretion in the

pre- and post- judgment interest rates awarded. Furthermore,

with regard to post-judgment interest, the utilities

acknowledged the Chase Manhattan rate in the stipulations it

presented to the circuit court. While the amount of interest

would vary from that stated in the order in light of our

conclusion regarding the basis for calculating damages,

nevertheless, we affirm the circuit court’s imposition of pre-

and post- judgment interest rates.

39
 CONCLUSION

To summarize, we will affirm the judgment of the circuit

court holding that the CTA is unambiguous and requires the use

of RCAF-U rate adjustment schedule; striking the affirmative

defenses of waiver and estoppel because they are barred by the

doctrine of judicial estoppel; striking the affirmative defense

of the statute of limitations; and denying the utilities’ motion

to file an amended bill of complaint. We reverse the circuit

court’s ruling regarding the calculation of damages and hold

that the damages to which Norfolk Southern is entitled shall be

calculated by applying the RCAF-U adjustment rate beginning

December 1, 2003. Finally, we will affirm the circuit court’s

decision to impose pre- and post-judgment interest.

Accordingly, we will remand the matter to the circuit court for

further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Affirmed in part,
reversed in part,
and remanded.

JUSTICE KOONTZ, with whom CHIEF JUSTICE HASSELL and JUSTICE
MILLETTE join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I respectfully dissent. Article I, Section 11 of the

Constitution of Virginia provides, in pertinent part: “That in

controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and

man, trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be

held sacred.” Today, in my view, a majority of this Court

40
effectively permits a circuit court to deny a party to a

contract dispute the right to a trial by jury on the merits of

that party’s assertion of the affirmative defenses of equitable

estoppel and waiver. I cannot join a decision that results in

the denial of such a fundamental right based upon what I believe

to be the inappropriate application by the circuit court of the

equitable doctrine of judicial estoppel in the factual and

procedural context of this case.

The pertinent procedural facts from which the issue arises

are undisputed and may be fairly distilled to the following

summary. The utilities initially filed in the circuit court a

bill of complaint against Norfolk Southern seeking a declaratory

judgment that the parties’ contract regarding the transportation

of coal to the utilities’ electricity generating facility in

Clover, Virginia required the application of the Rail Cost

Adjustment Factor – Adjusted (“RCAF-A”) for calculating

quarterly adjustments to the coal transportation rates. At the

time this contract was executed, the parties had been free to

select either RCAF-A or the Rail Cost Adjustment Factor –

Unadjusted (“RCAF-U”); the latter rate factor would result in a

higher rate for the transportation of coal. The utilities

maintained in the bill of complaint that the rate factor to be

applied under the contract was RCAF-A and that the contract had

not been amended to provide for the application of any other

41
rate factor. Norfolk Southern filed a demurrer to the bill of

complaint asserting that the contract unambiguously required the

application of RCAF-U. The circuit court granted the demurrer.

Norfolk Southern also filed a cross-bill seeking specific

performance of the contract using RCAF-U to adjust the future

coal transportation rates under the contract and damages for

breach of contract for all amounts allegedly underpaid by the

utilities resulting from the application of RCAF-A rather than

RCAF-U. The utilities filed an amended answer to the cross-bill

asserting, among other things, that Norfolk Southern’s breach of

contract claims were barred by equitable estoppel and/or waiver.

The circuit court held that the utilities were judicially

estopped from taking “inconsistent positions” in their amended

answer from those originally asserted in their bill of complaint

and, accordingly, struck the utilities’ affirmative defenses of

equitable estoppel and waiver.

The majority now concludes that “the circuit court did not

err in striking the utilities’ affirmative defenses [of

equitable estoppel and waiver] because the elements of judicial

estoppel were established in this case.” In reaching that

conclusion, the principal focus of the majority’s analysis is

that the circuit court relied upon the utilities’ position that

the parties’ contract had not been amended and, thus, that the

42
utilities had asserted inconsistent factual positions in their

bill of complaint and their amended answer.

In my view, when these pleadings are considered in context

there is no inconsistency in the assertions made by the

utilities so as to support the application of judicial estoppel

in this case. It is simply not inconsistent to assert, on the

one hand, that the contract required the application of RCAF-A

and had not been amended and, on the other hand, to assert that

under the facts of the case Norfolk Southern is nevertheless

estopped from relying upon the application of RCAF-U and/or has

waived the application of RCAF-U in favor of the application of

RCAF-A. In short, even though the utilities erroneously

maintained in their bill of complaint that the parties’ contract

required the application of RCAF-A rather than RCAF-U, their

affirmative defenses of estoppel and waiver addressed an

entirely different legal issue which was whether Norfolk

Southern could recover damages based on the application of RCAF-

U after the utilities had paid and Norfolk Southern had accepted

payments under the contract derived from the application of

RCAF-A for fourteen years. Clearly, in the absence of judicial

estoppel, the utilities had a right to submit the merits of

those defenses to a jury for resolution.

“ ‘[J]udicial estoppel forbids parties from assuming

successive positions in the course of a suit, or series of

43
suits, in reference to the same fact or state of facts, which

are inconsistent with each other, or mutually contradictory.’”

Bentley Funding Group, L.L.C. v. SK&R Group, L.L.C., 269 Va.

315, 325, 609 S.E.2d 49, 53-54, (2005) (quoting Lofton Ridge,

LLC v. Norfolk S. Ry. Co., 268 Va. 377, 380-81, 601 S.E.2d 648,

650 (2004)); see also Matthews v. Matthews, 277 Va. 522, 529,

675 S.E.2d 157, 160 (2009) (same). “The fundamental element of

judicial estoppel is that ‘the party sought to be estopped must

be seeking to adopt a position that is inconsistent with a

stance taken in a prior litigation. And the position sought to

be estopped must be one of fact rather than law or legal

theory.’ ” Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 326, 608 S.E.2d at

54 (quoting Lowery v. Stovall, 92 F.3d 219, 224 (4th Cir.

1996)); accord Lofton Ridge, 268 Va. at 382, 601 S.E.2d at 651.

I agree, as noted by the majority here in citing Wilroy v.

Halbleib, 214 Va. 442, 445, 201 S.E.2d 598, 601 (1974), that

“[t]he doctrine of judicial estoppel . . . is a doctrine

addressing the integrity of the court and its decrees,

preventing litigants from ‘playing fast and loose’ with court

rules and litigation strategy.” The record in the present case,

however, does not support a conclusion that the utilities were

engaged in such conduct by asserting their affirmative defenses.

Certainly in view of the facts as stated in their amended

44
answer, the assertion of these defenses was not facially

frivolous.

In Peerless Insurance Co. v. County of Fairfax, 274 Va.

236, 246, 645 S.E.2d 478, 484 (2007), we recently stressed that

the fundamental element of judicial estoppel is that the party

sought to be estopped is seeking to adopt a factual position

inconsistent with a stance it took in the course of a particular

suit. Judicial estoppel does not apply to a position of law or

legal theory. Bentley Funding Group, 269 Va. at 326, 608 S.E.2d

at 54. Here, the utilities were not seeking to adopt an

inconsistent factual position by the assertion of their

affirmative defenses to Norfolk Southern’s breach of contract

claims. Rather, the utilities were maintaining that the fact

the utilities paid and Norfolk Southern accepted payments based

on RCAF-A rates for fourteen years supported the legal theory of

their defenses. If proven, this course of dealing between the

parties is a matter entirely independent from the dispute over

the interpretation of the contract language and, therefore, was

properly asserted by the utilities as an alternate legal theory

to that asserted in their bill of complaint.

Moreover, the record does not support the circuit court’s

conclusion, with which the majority apparently agrees, that

Norfolk Southern would suffer an unfair detriment if the

utilities were permitted to submit their affirmative defenses

45
for resolution on their merits to a jury because Norfolk

Southern would incur the expense and delay of relitigating the

meaning of the parties’ contract. In my view, this conclusion

misses the point. The utilities have never been afforded the

opportunity to have their defenses to Norfolk Southern’s breach

of contract claim resolved on the merits by a trial by a jury.

Because the circuit court denied the utilities the

opportunity to develop a factual record by the introduction of

evidence, the question then becomes whether the amended answer

to the cross-bill adequately pled the affirmative defenses of

equitable estoppel and/or waiver. “[A] party seeking to invoke

the doctrine of estoppel must prove by clear, precise, and

unequivocal evidence the following elements: (1) A material

fact was falsely represented or concealed; (2) The

representation or concealment was made with knowledge of the

facts; (3) The party to whom the representation was made was

ignorant of the truth of the matter; (4) The representation was

made with the intention that the other party should act upon it;

(5) The other party was induced to act upon it; and (6) The

party claiming estoppel was misled to his injury.” Boykins

Narrow Fabrics Corp. v. Weldon Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc., 221

Va. 81, 86, 266 S.E.2d 887, 890 (1980).

In the allegations supporting their affirmative defense of

equitable estoppel, the utilities alleged, among other things,

46
that the utilities were induced to locate the Clover facility

where it could be serviced by Norfolk Southern, rather than by

another railway company with which the utilities were also

negotiating for coal transportation, based on an alleged

representation by Norfolk Southern that RCAF-A would be used as

the rate adjustment factor permanently, rather than as a

temporary accommodation as Norfolk Southern later maintained.

Similarly, the utilities alleged that VEPCO agreed to acquire

its interest in the Clover facility based on express

representations by Norfolk Southern that RACF-A would be the

permanent rate adjustment factor. The utilities alleged that

the Clover facility was constructed at considerable expense and

in reliance on these representations. Furthermore, the

utilities alleged that Norfolk Southern’s actions and

representations over the next fourteen years were consistent

with these representations.

The circuit court ruled that the allegations in the amended

answer were not sufficient to support the claim of equitable

estoppel because the utilities’ reliance on any statements by

Norfolk Southern, in light of the unambiguous specification of

RCAF-U as the coal transportation rate adjustment factor

contained in the parties’ contract, would be “wholly

unreasonable.” I disagree. Even when a contract is

unambiguous, a party nevertheless may be misled by the

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deliberate misrepresentations of another as to the intended

application of its terms and be induced to enter into the

contract or make other changes in position as a result of those

misrepresentations. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the

utilities’ claim in this case that the contract specified RCAF-A

and not RCAF-U as the rate adjustment factor was not frivolous

and, as alleged in their amended answer, their reliance on

statements and actions by Norfolk Southern that supported that

view would not be unreasonable. If the utilities can establish

that their misapprehension of the contract’s specification for

the rate adjustment factor was in fact the result of deliberate

misrepresentations by Norfolk Southern, then they could

establish the necessary elements of equitable estoppel.

Accordingly, I would hold that the circuit court erred in

striking the utilities’ affirmative defense of equitable

estoppel.

Similarly, the circuit court’s determination that the

contract’s “non-waiver” provision ∗ barred the utilities from

asserting that Norfolk Southern had waived its right to apply

RCAF-U as the rate adjustment factor erroneously short circuited

∗
Article 5 of the contract provides that: “The failure of
either Party to demand strict performance of any or all of the
terms of this Agreement, or to exercise any or all rights
conferred in this Agreement, shall not be construed as a waiver
or relinquishment of that Party’s right to assert or rely upon
any such right in the future.”
48
the fact finding process. The utilities contend that a party to

a contract may, expressly or by its conduct, waive any provision

of the contract, including a “non-waiver” provision, and that

they sufficiently alleged that Norfolk Southern, by its

representations, actions, and course of dealing had done so with

regard to its right under the contract to apply the RCAF-U rate

adjustment factor.

As counterintuitive as the assertion initially may appear,

it is a correct statement of the law. Generally, a party to a

contract may waive any right conferred by the contract. Because

the right is to the benefit of the party, the right may be

waived by the party either expressly or impliedly by conduct,

acts, or course of dealing inconsistent with the conferred

right. When it is clearly established that the party charged

with relinquishment of a right conferred by the contract had

knowledge of the right and intended to waive it, the waiver will

be enforced. Roenke v. Virginia Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 209

Va. 128, 135, 161 S.E.2d 704, 709 (1968); Woodmen of the World

Life Ins. Soc. v. Grant, 185 Va. 288, 299, 38 S.E.2d 450, 454

(1946). Thus, a party may waive a non-waiver provision of a

contract such as the one contained in the contract in this case.

The utilities’ allegations that Norfolk Southern waived its

right to apply RCAF-U as the rate adjustment factor entirely or

to apply it retroactively to the calculation of the rate

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beginning in December 2003, necessarily included the assertion

that Norfolk Southern did so with the intention of waiving both

that right and the right to assert the non-waiver provision of

the contract. While this may be difficult for the utilities to

establish to the satisfaction of the trier of fact after a full

development of the record, the allegations in their amended

answer to the cross-bill are sufficient to permit the utilities

the opportunity to do so. Accordingly, I would hold that the

circuit court erred in striking the utilities’ assertion of the

affirmative defense of waiver.

For these reasons, I would reverse the judgment of the

circuit court applying the doctrine of judicial estoppel and

striking the utilities’ affirmative defenses of equitable

estoppel and waiver. I would remand the case to the circuit

court to permit the utilities the opportunity, as requested in

their amended answer, to have the merits of those defenses

determined in a trial by jury. In all other respects, excepting

that a finding of estoppel or waiver would bar any recovery by

Norfolk Southern, I concur with the majority opinion on the

issues presented and for the reasons stated.

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