Bennett v. Matthews Delivery Service

157 N.E.2d 907, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 103, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 1005
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 6, 1959
DocketNo. 5967
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 157 N.E.2d 907 (Bennett v. Matthews Delivery Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bennett v. Matthews Delivery Service, 157 N.E.2d 907, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 103, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 1005 (Ohio Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

OPINION

By HORNBECK. J.

This is an appeal from a judgment for the defendant entered upon [104]*104a directed verdict for the defendant, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, a corporation, on its motion at the conclusion of plaintiff’s case. The plaintiff secured a judgment against Matthews Delivery Service, defendant, for damages for persona! injuries in the sum of $75,000.00, which was entered after the plaintiff had accepted a remittitur to that sum from the verdict of $90,000.00 as returned by a jury. Thirty days having elapsed, the judgment remaining unsatisfied, the plaintiff filed a supplemental petition against defendant insurance company, which was the successor to Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, in which Matthews Delivery Service, Inc. was the insured on a policy of liability, covering certain trucks and trailers of Matthews Delivery Service, and by the conditions of which the insurer indemnified Matthews from damages for which it was liable to the amount of $50,000.00. Plaintiff, after the necessary averments as to the recovery of the judgment against Matthews, that it had not been paid for thirty days succeeding the judgment, averred that Nationwide was obligated under its liability insurance policy with Matthews to pay the sum of $50,000.00 that it had defaulted on its obligation.

Nationwide, answering, set up three defenses: the second defense pleaded certain paragraphs of the policy which was held by Matthews .under headings:

1. Notice of Accident.

2. Notice of Claim or Suit.

3. Limits of Liability.

4. Limits of Liability (Coverages E, F and G).

In this defense, Nationwide also pleaded that the accident occurred on April 24, 1953, and that the defendant, Matthews, through its officer and agent had been informed of and knew of said accident and the bodily injuries of the plaintiff upon the date of the occurrence; that neither the insured nor anyone on its behalf gave any notice of said accident to the defendant insurance company or any of its duly authorized agents, “as soon as practicable,” as provided “under the conditions of the policy”; that when notice was given to the company, approximately eighteen months after the occurrence of the accident, it did not contain particulars sufficient to identify the driver of the insured vehicle and reasonable, obtainable information respecting the time, place and circumstances of the accident with the names and addresses of the injured and all available witnesses, as provided “under the conditions of the policy.”

As a third defense, Nationwide pleaded a paragraph of Section 6, “Action Against Company * * * (Coverages E and F),” as follows:

“No action shall lie against the Company unless, as a condition precedent thereto, the Insured shall have fully complied with all the terms of this policy, nor until the amount of the Insured’s obligation to pay shall have been finally determined either by judgment against the Insured after actual trial or by written agreement of the Insured, the claimant and the Company.”

The plaintiff, replying to the answer of Nationwide, admitted the provisions of the policy as pleaded, but alleged that notice of the accident was given to the insurance company “as soon as practicable.”

[105]*105Appellant assigns four errors: the third, error in refusal to admit testimony; the fourth, other errors apparent upon the face of the record. These are not especially urged. The first and second raise the same question.

1. That the Common Pleas Court erred in sustaining the motion of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company to direct the jury to return a verdict in its favor; to the sustaining of which motion the Plaintiff-Appellant at the time excepted.

2. That the Common Pleas Court erred in entering up a judgment upon the verdict of the jury which had been directed by it.

We hereinafter refer to Matthews Delivery Service as Matthews or the insured, to the defendant, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, as the insurer or the insurance company.

■ The principal and controlling issue in this court arises upon a construction of the provision in the policy requiring notice and that part of Section 6, which we have heretofore quoted, to the effect that “No action shall lie against the company, unless as a condition precedent thereto, the insured shall have fully complied with all the terms of this policy, * * *.*’

The provision of the policy affecting notice is as follows:

“When an accident occurs written notice shall be given by or on behalf of the insured to the Company or any of its authorized agents as soon as practicable. Such notice shall contain particulars sufficient to identify the Insured and also reasonably obtainable information respecting the time, place and circumstances of the accident, the names and addresses of the injured and of available witnesses.”

Two questions are presented upon the issues drawn by the pleadings:

1. Was the notice of the accident given to the defendant insurance company as soon as practicable?

2. Did such notice as was given conform to the last sentence of the paragraph relating to notice as to certain particulars required to be given by this clause of the policy?

The plaintiff having introduced its evidence and rested, defendant insurance company moved for a directed verdict, which was sustained.

In determining the correctness of this action, we are required to accord to the testimony produced by the plaintiff its most favorable intendment for him. So doing, is it such that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion. If so, and that conclusion is adverse to the plaintiff, the trial judge was correct in directing a verdict for the insurance company. If reasonable minds could come to different conclusions on the evidence adduced, then the court erred to the prejudice of plaintiff. Third and fourth syllabus, Hamden Lodge, etc. v. The Ohio Fuel Gas Co., 127 Oh St 469.

We shall state the evidence, as we read it, in the most favorable light to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff, Sylvan Bennett, was on April 24, 1953, in the employ of the Kroger Grocery & Baking Company as a meat cutter. Robert Reed, on that date, was in the employ of defendant Matthews, as a trucker and a delivery man. ■ He was making a delivery for Matthews [106]*106to Kroger, either in the morning or afternoon of that day and, while carrying a quarter of beef into the meat department of Kroger, slipped, causing the beef to be thrown against plaintiff. The floor of the Kroger Company was slippery from grease. At the time that the plaintiff was struck by the quarter of beef, inquiry was made of him by Mr. Reed if he was hurt, and he said that it knocked the wind out of him. Reed completed his deliveries elsewhere in the city of Columbus and in the evening between five and six o’clock, reported the occurrence to a dispatcher for Matthews and to Leon E. Matthews, President of the Matthews Company.

Reed testified that he told Mr. Matthews, “ T hit a man with a shoulder of beef out there today,’ and he said, ‘Was the man hurt?’ And, I said, ‘He didn’t act like it,’ and he (Mr. Matthews) said, ‘See me tomorrow and we will make an accident report.’ ” He did not tell Mr.

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

Related

Conley v. Viezer
162 N.E.2d 883 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 N.E.2d 907, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 103, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 1005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bennett-v-matthews-delivery-service-ohioctapp-1959.