Allstate Insurance Co. v. Neumann

435 N.E.2d 591, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1232
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 27, 1982
Docket3-1080A306
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 435 N.E.2d 591 (Allstate Insurance Co. v. Neumann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allstate Insurance Co. v. Neumann, 435 N.E.2d 591, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1232 (Ind. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

GARRARD, Judge.

On September 29,1973 Jenny Rivera took a Grand Prix automobile owned by Harry Bates to drive to a local shopping mall. While enroute she lost control and collided with an automobile that was owned and operated by Wallace Neumann. Neumann and his passengers were injured. At the time Bates had automobile liability insurance with United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (USF & G) and Neumann was insured by Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate).

Neumann sued Rivera for damages. After securing a summary judgment on the question of liability, Neumann accepted an offer of judgment for the injuries to Neu-mann' and his passengers in the total amount of $23,500. Neumann then instituted proceedings supplementary against USF & G claiming coverage under Bates’ policy. After hearing, the court determined that Rivera’s operation of the vehicle was not insured. 1 Neumann then sought to recover from Allstate pursuant to uninsured motorist provisions in his own policy. The trial court granted summary judgment against Allstate but reduced the judgment amount by $1853 as a setoff of Allstate’s subrogation claim for collision and towing payments.

On appeal Allstate contends that USF & G was liable on the Bates policy. It also contends that in any event the summary judgment entered against it was improper.

USF & G and Neumann allege that the court improperly set aside its original entry of judgment against Allstate with the consequence that Allstate’s motion to correct errors was filed too late. In addition, Neu-mann claims the court erred in allowing Allstate the setoff in the summary judgment for uninsured motorist protection.

I. Owner’s Coverage

Bates’ policy with USF & G provided that:

“The following are insureds under Part 1:
(a) with respect to the owned automobile,
(i) the named insured and any resident of the same household ... . ”

The question argued is whether the court properly determined that Rivera was not a resident of Bates’ household at the time of the collision.

The facts in evidence disclosed that at the time in question Jenny Rivera was Bates’ girlfriend. She was a recipient of C.E.T.A. funds and was attending Ivy Tech vocational school in South Bend. In June 1973 she secured a room at the Y.W.C.A. in South Bend. She paid her rent weekly and retained the room until January 1974. Although the evidence was contradictory as to the length of her relationship with Bates, it clearly appears that it preceded the date of the collision by at least two months and continued thereafter for at least a month. During this period on weekdays she would attend classes at Ivy Tech. When she returned to the Y.W.C.A. in the evening Bates would usually pick her up and they *593 would go to his home in Elkhart. 2 . Although she might have stayed overnight on a few of these occasions, Bates would normally return her to the Y.W.C.A. the same night so that she would be ready to attend her classes the following morning. The testimony was, however, without conflict that during this period she spent the weekends with Bates. She testified that she kept clothing both at the Y.W.C.A. and at Bates’ house. Bates also testified that when she was with him she would sometimes cook their meal. At trial Rivera testified that she considered she was living at Bates’ house. Other evidence was introduced that after the collision both she and Bates had given statements to the effect that she was not a resident of Bates’ house.

In its findings the trial court concluded that on the date of the collision Rivera was a resident of the Y.W.C.A. and Bates was the sole member of his household. Accordingly, the court determined that USP & G was not liable on its policy.

Initially, we note our agreement with appellant’s assertion that the term “resident” had no fixed or precise meaning in the law. It is an amorphous term that, as one court observed, has as many colors as Joseph’s coat. Weible v. United States (9th Cir. 1957), 244 F.2d 158.

At one end of the scale it may be used to refer to domicile. In such instances, once acquired it may be maintained although physical presence is elsewhere. Bd. of Medical Registration v. Turner (1960), 241 Ind. 73, 168 N.E.2d 193.

At the opposing extreme the term refers to actual presence and is broad enough to include transients. Bd. of Medical Registration, supra; 25 Am.Jur.2d Domicile § 4.

When used as a term to distinguish from both transient status and domicile, “resident” may be said to refer to one having a fixed abode but only for the time being. As such the term involves a subjective element of intent. Guessefeldt v. McGrath (1952), 342 U.S. 308, 72 S.Ct. 338, 96 L.Ed. 342; Stadtmuller v. Miller (2nd Cir. 1926), 11 F.2d 732, 45 A.L.R. 895.

It follows that at least for some purposes a person may have more than one residence.

As a consequence of these considerations courts have long held that to determine the meaning of the term “resident” we must look to both the context in which the term is used and the purpose of the statute (or instrument) in which it is employed. Stadtmuller v. Miller (2nd Cir. 1926), 11 F.2d 732, 45 A.L.R. 895; 25 Am.Jur.2d Domicile § 4.

As a corollary, decisions construing the term in insurance policies have applied to it the rule of construction which favors coverage of the insured. 3 Thus, the term is to be given its broad meaning in the so-called “extension” cases, and is construed narrowly in “exclusion” cases. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Miller (D.C.Kan.1967), 276 F.Supp. 341; Tencza v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. (1974), 21 Ariz.App. 552, 521 P.2d 1010; Mazzilli v. Accident & Cas. Ins. Co. (1961), 35 N.J. 1, 170 A.2d 800; Cal-Farm Ins. Co. v. Boisseranc (1957), 151 Cal.App.2d 775, 312 P.2d 401. We agree in the soundness of this doctrine with the traditional caveat that in choosing a broad or narrow construction of a word or phrase the choices are limited to the reasonable interpretation of the term as used.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Quiring v. Geico General Insurance Co.
953 N.E.2d 119 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2011)
State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Nokes
776 F. Supp. 2d 845 (N.D. Indiana, 2011)
Marriage of Basileh v. Alghusain
890 N.E.2d 779 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2008)
Armstrong v. Federated Mutual Insurance Co.
785 N.E.2d 284 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)
Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Group v. Blaskie
727 N.E.2d 13 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)
Bosecker v. Westfield Insurance
699 N.E.2d 769 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1998)
Jones v. Western Reserve Group/Lightning Rod Mutual Insurance
699 N.E.2d 711 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1998)
Progressive Ins. Co. v. Estate of Wesley
702 So. 2d 513 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)
Chance v. State Auto Insurance Companies
684 N.E.2d 569 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1997)
Westfield Insurance v. Axsom
684 N.E.2d 241 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1997)
Erie Insurance Exchange v. Stephenson
674 N.E.2d 607 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1996)
Indiana Gas Co., Inc. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co.
951 F. Supp. 790 (N.D. Indiana, 1996)
Grange Insurance v. Stumpf
915 P.2d 1033 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1996)
Rzeszutek v. Beck
649 N.E.2d 673 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
435 N.E.2d 591, 1982 Ind. App. LEXIS 1232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allstate-insurance-co-v-neumann-indctapp-1982.