American Liberty Life Ins. Co. v. Baird

1936 OK 178, 57 P.2d 829, 176 Okla. 132, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 123
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 25, 1936
DocketNo. 24646.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1936 OK 178 (American Liberty Life Ins. Co. v. Baird) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Liberty Life Ins. Co. v. Baird, 1936 OK 178, 57 P.2d 829, 176 Okla. 132, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 123 (Okla. 1936).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This case comes before this court on appeal from the court of common pleas of Tulsa county, Okla., wherein the defendant in error, Wilson D. Baird, recovered a judgment against the plaintiff in error, the American Liberty Life Insurance Company, a corporation. The parties will *133 be referred to as they appeared in the lower court.

The facts material for a proper determination of this appeal are these : In June, 1931, the plaintiff, Wilson D. Baird, purchased an, automobile from the Simpson Auto Company of Oklahoma City, paying therefor $675 at the time of the purchase of said car, and the balance thereof, in the amount of $919.19', to be paid in 12 monthly installments of $76.66 per month. On July 6, 1931, O. A. Hughes, an agent of the defendant company, solicited the plaintiff at his office, and as a result of such solicitation, the plaintiff signed an application for an insurance policy with the defendant company under the terms of which the defendant company agreed to ¡pay to the Simpson Auto Company, from whom the plaintiff purchased said automobile, the amount of such installment payments as might accrue thereon during any total disability that plaintiff might sustain as a result of illness or accidental cause, and on the Sth day of July. 1931, plaintiff issued his check to said 0. A. Hughes covering premium payment on said policy for a period of one year from date, and simultaneous therewith said agent delivered to the plaintiff said insurance policy. Under the terms of said policy the insurance com-any agreed that in the event plaintiff should become totally disabled within a period of 12 months from date of said policy, either through illness or accidental injury, said company would pay to said Simpson Auto Company said monthly installments of $76.66 each during the continuance of saicl period of disability.

On August 15, 1931, while said policy was in force and effect, plaintiff became totally disabled and remained so from said date until October 15, 1931,' and was thereafter totally disabled from November 6, 1931, to November 17, 1931.

Immediately upon becoming so disabled, plaintiff notified the J. Herbert Moore Agency of said insurance company, as required by said policy, and made a demand on said insurance company to make said payments of $76.66 per month to the Simpson Auto Company, which demand was refused and any and all liability under said policy denied by said insurance company.

Thereafter the plaintiff instituted its action against said insurance company for the sum of $191.65, representing the amount of installments on said automobile that matured and were paid by plaintiff during the period of his total disability.

The defendant insurance company answered in said action denying any contractual relations with the plaintiff and denying that the plaintiff was entitled to any rights of subrogation for the reason that the defendant and the Simpson Auto Company had no contractual relations that would entitle plaintiff to such subrogation; that the policy was issued on account of fraud and misrepresentation, and that before any liability could arise under said policy, it would be necessary that the Simpson Auto Company first sign a blanket policy; that a blanket policy was not signed by the Simpson Auto Company, and that the policy sued upon herein was null and void.

The Simpson Auto Company, also joined as a defendant herein, filed its answer admitting the sale of said automobile to the plaintiff; that all payments on said car have been made by the plaintiff; and denying any interest in the proceeds of said insurance policy, and alleging that no liability existed in favor of said Simpson Auto Company under said policy insurance.

Upon the issues so joined, the cause was tried to the court and jury resulting in a verdict lor the plaintiff for the full amount sued for in his petition. A motion for a new trial was thereupon filed by the insurance company, which motion was overruled, and from the order overruling said motion, the defendant insurance company prosecutes this appeal.

Defendant’s several assignments of error are briefed collectively upon the proposition that the defendant insurance company is not and could not be liable to the plaintiff herein for the reason that both the pleadings and the evidence show that the only contractual relations the defendant company had, if any, were with the Simpson Auto Company and not with the plaintiff. In this connection the trial court instructed the jury as follows:

“You are further instructed that the defendant claims that there was no liability to the plaintiff at all; that if there was any liability, it would have been to the Simpson Auto Company at Oklahoma City, in case the blanket policy which has been introduced in evidence had been executed and not until such blanket policy had been executed could this payment that was sent to the Oklahoma City agent of the company, until it was included under such blanket policy, would it have been liable to the Simpson Auto Company. Defendant’s further contention is that this policy was procured by the plaintiff through fraud on the defendant. In this connection you are instructed that' if you *134 believe from the evidence in this case that the duly authorized agent of the defendant solicited the plaintiff for insurance and took the plaintiff’s application and premium for that insurance, and led the plaintiff to believe that this policy was issued to the plaintiff and for his benefit, and that the plaintiff relying on the representation of the agent of the company paid the premium and took this policy, then your verdict must be for the plaintiff for the amount sued for.
“Xou are instructed that if you believe from the evidence in. this case that the plaintiff knew that before this policy would be operative, that the blanket policy would have to he taken by the Simpson Auto Company, and if you further believe in this connection that there was any fraud on the part of the plaintiff to procure this policy, then your verdict must be for the defendant. If your verdict is for the plaintiff, it must be for the full amount sued for.”

The insurance policy in question contained, among other provisions, the following:

“All benefits payable under this certificate shall be payable to the dealer named herein as specified in the agreement heretofore, and in the event of a total disability of the purchaser under this agreement, the company on such purchaser’s behalf, agrees to make prompt payment to the dealer on the undue, unpaid installments of said purchase for the number of days of such disability.”

The defendant’s contention briefly is that inasmuch as the defendant insurance company did not agree, in the insurance policy, to pay any money to the plaintiff herein, the defendant company, if liable at all, was liable only to the Simpson Auto Company and not to the plaintiff, and that, therefore, the plaintiff, having paid the debt for which he was liable to the motor company, could mot be subrogated to the rights of the motor company as against the defendant, and cite in support thereof Pox v. Dunning, 124 Okla. 228, 255 P. 582, to the effect that:

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Related

Smiley v. Wheeler
1979 OK 143 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1979)
Scott v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
1964 OK 211 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1936 OK 178, 57 P.2d 829, 176 Okla. 132, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-liberty-life-ins-co-v-baird-okla-1936.