Brown v. Kennedy

49 N.E.2d 417, 38 Ohio Law. Abs. 134, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 792
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 1942
DocketNo. 133
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 49 N.E.2d 417 (Brown v. Kennedy) 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
Brown v. Kennedy, 49 N.E.2d 417, 38 Ohio Law. Abs. 134, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 792 (Ohio Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

OPINION

By ROSS, J.

By this appeal on questions of law, which was duly filed, the motion of appellee to dismiss the appeal being therefore overruled, the appellant, who is the plaintiff, seeks to set aside a judgment in favor of defendant Insurance Company.

The basis for the plaintiff’s contention that error has intervened is predicated upon a claim that the trial court do not justify the conclusions of law based upon such findings of fact.

From these last it appears that a policy of automobile insurance was issued to W. E. Kennedy, who was, by chance, the agent lor the company issuing the policy. This policy included, among other things, a clause providing:

“The unqualified word ‘Insured’ wherever used includes not only the named insured but also any person while using the automobile and any person or organization legally responsible for the use thereof, provided the disclosed and actual use is with the permission of the named insured, or if the named insured is an individual, with the permission of an adult member of the named insured’s household etc.”

The named insured gave his daughter permission to use his automobile.

The Court finds:

“The Court finds that said Dorothy. Kennedy was nineteen years old in January, 1938. That she was a member of the household of the said W. E. Kennedy. That she had permission of her said father to use and drive said automobile. That she was attending Wilmington College- at said time, and using said automo[136]*136bile to go to and from her home in Hamersville, Brown County, Ohio.”

Now, it further appears from the facts found by the trial court that the daughter used the automobile to drive to and from school, that upon a certain day while riding in the vehicle, she permitted Bennett White to drive the automobile and that while so doing the plaintiff received the injuries, which were made the basis of an action resulting in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff against both the daughter Dorothy Kennedy and Bennett White. No appeal was taken from this judgment and the plaintiff now seeks to recover from the defendant insurer upon the theory that Dorothy Kennedy being a member of the insured owner’s household was using his insured automobile with his permission and consent, and that the plaintiffff received injuries because of the negligent operation of the vehicle while so used.

It was also found by the Court that the Insurance Company defended the action against Dorothy Kennedy and Bennett White.

The Court also found that White frequently rode with Dorothy Kennedy in the automobile, and White was permitted by the daughter to drive the car, but without the knowledge of the insured owner.

The plaintiff claims the insurer is estopped to deny liability because the insurer defended the suit against the daughter and White. The policy requires such defense, whether the action is valid or otherwise. Such action by the insurer does not constitute estoppel. The basis for the contention of such insurer that no liability accrues to the plaintiff is that the daughter being a minor had no authority to delegate to White the right to operate or drive the vehicle. That although the insured gave his daughter, who is a judgment debtor to the plaintiff, permission to use the car, and she was, at the time the injuries were received by the plaintiff, actually using it, she was not operating it, and hence, the policy does not extend to covering the instant judgment of plaintiff.

Such a contention can only be tenable if the words, using, used, and actual use, employed by the insurer in writing the policy have the limited meaning of operating, operated, or actual operation.

Now the policy in the clauses in question does not use the words drive or operate as many policies do. nor was the permission of the owner limited to operation or driving the car. In each instance, the broad term use was employed. The policy protected use of the car and the owner gave his daughter permission to use it.

The general rule is, that language used in a policy of insurance being selected by the insurer should be construed most favorably to the insured, giving the language used its fair and reasonable meaning. 5 Am. Jur., 806, §534; Couch on Insurance, §1175, Vol. 5, p. 4175; 22 O. Jur. 339, 340, [137]*137§§184, 185; Duncan v John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co., 137 Oh St, 441, 445.

This rule as applied to a case where the insurer claims a limited interpretation of the terms “use” or “using” would seem to mean that where the terms “use” or “using” are employed in the policy, and there are included within their fair definition and interpretation words or meanings which would attach liability or defeat it, the terms employed should be given the recognized fair and reasonable meaning which causes liability under the policy to attach.

In the instant case the terms in question are “use” and “using”. Now a car would be used by a person, whether it was operated personally or through the services of another. If the insurer meant that liability should only attach when it was being operated or driven by the owner or some one with his consent, and it is claimed the word “used” includes the term “operated” — then the insurer should have employed the word carrying in its meaning the narrower limitation of liability.

The word “use” is defined as the “Purpose served — a purpose, object or end for useful or advantageous nature.” (Oxford English Dictionary.)

This implies that the person receives a benefit from the employment of the factor involved. It is this benefit, purpose, or end which defines the use. I use a chisel to chip out a piece of wood. The removal of the wood is the use to which I put the tool. I use a book, for the purpose of transmitting the thought of the author to my brain. It is used as a vehicle for thoughts or ideas. I use a pen or pencil to draw a sketch or write a letter. The pen or pencil is thus an instrument by which I receive the benefit of having the diagram or thought in my brain impressed upon the paper. I employ an automobile for the purpose of transportation. I use it for the purpose of going from here to there. It is immaterial as far as this use. this benefit, this purpose, this end is concerned, whether in so acquiring this benefit. I actually operate the driving mechanism of the vehicle or employ another to do it.

Certainly, no one would say the owner himself was not using his automobile because his chauffeur operated the vehicle. How then does use by a permitter become limited to a case only where such permitter operates the driving mechanism of the vehicle?

In the instant case, the owner of the car, according to the findings of fact, gave his daughter permission to use the car. This permission was not limited to operation merely. A judgment was obtained against her for injuries caused by the operation of the car when she was using it for her own purposes, it being driven by another.

How can it be said, fairly interpreting the words used, giving the terms not a restricted unusual meaning, but the full width of definition, that the daughter was not using the vehicle? Evidently a jury must have so found, or there would be no judgment against [138]*138her, upon which to predicate the instant action against the insurer, who defended the action against her.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 N.E.2d 417, 38 Ohio Law. Abs. 134, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-kennedy-ohioctapp-1942.