Cambre v. Travelers Indem. Co.

404 So. 2d 511
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 30, 1981
Docket12027
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 404 So. 2d 511 (Cambre v. Travelers Indem. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cambre v. Travelers Indem. Co., 404 So. 2d 511 (La. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

404 So.2d 511 (1981)

Daniel E. CAMBRE
v.
The TRAVELERS INDEMNITY COMPANY, John W. Dussouy and Company, Inc., and XYZ Insurance Company.

No. 12027.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

July 30, 1981.
Rehearing Denied October 20, 1981.

William M. Detweiler, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.

Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, Glenn G. Goodier, New Orleans, for The Travelers Indem. Co., defendant-appellee.

Porteous, Toledano, Hainkel & Johnson, Ralph R. Alexis, III, New Orleans, for John W. Dussouy & Co., Inc., defendant-appellee.

Before GULOTTA, GARRISON and CHEHARDY, JJ.

CHEHARDY, Judge.

Plaintiff, Daniel E. Cambre, appeals a district court decision in favor of defendants The Travelers Indemnity Company (Travelers) and John W. Dussouy & Company, Inc. (Dussouy), and against the plaintiff, dismissing his suit at his cost.

In his written reasons for judgment, the trial court made the following findings:

*512 "The Court finds that the plaintiff asked for full coverage on his boat, without enumerating the specific perils.
"The agency obtained a named Perils policy which was the best obtainable.
"The policy does not cover the theft of the vessel.
"The Court finds no liability on the Insurance Agent."

At a trial on the merits of the case the plaintiff testified that in May of 1978 he owned a 1977 "Lafitte skiff" for the purpose of commercial crabbing and shrimping, and for which he had secured, through Dussouy, an insurance policy (covering a period from March 1978 through March 1979), written by Travelers. Cambre testified he had called Arthur Caron, an employee of Dussouy, and asked him to get full coverage, enumerating "fire, theft, collision, liability," and using the words "just like an automobile." He added that when Caron called him back, although he stated he had had a little trouble getting the coverage, he said he had gotten it placed with Travelers and that "I had full coverage, not to worry about it." Two or three months later Cambre received a copy of the policy, and Dussouy also assisted him in getting the financing on the policy.

Cambre testified further that on May 17, 1978, he went out to run his crab traps and when he was coming in he had trouble with the boat's motor, which stopped running. He said he then tied up the boat to the bank of "Ship Channel," took the keys, and walked for about a half a mile before getting a ride back to the marina. He added the man who ran the marina was busy, and consequently, by the time he secured another boat with which he returned for his own boat, it was approximately an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes later, and his boat was gone. He subsequently reported its disappearance to the St. Bernard Parish Police and to Caron at Dussouy.

The plaintiff said Caron was "kind of surprised himself" when he told Cambre that Travelers had denied coverage on the claim. He testified he had sustained losses in crab sales due to the loss of the boat and his financial inability to secure a comparable craft.

Caron testified that upon making the claim for Cambre, Travelers told him the subject policy "did not cover disappearance by theft." He also said the plaintiff did not ask him for full coverage but only for boat coverage and that the application only called for "full marine coverage" which was the best coverage available. He added he did not get into the details with Cambre as to what was included in full marine coverage.

Caron also noted he had approached no less than six carriers (most of whom refused to insure a used Lafitte skiff under any circumstances) before he finally secured coverage on the vessel with Travelers. He also stated the unearned premium on the policy was returned to the plaintiff after the craft's disappearance.

Thomas H. Elliott, IV, owner of a wholesale marine insurance brokerage called Vessel Coverages Limited, who was accepted by the court as an expert in the marine insurance brokerage field, explained that the subject insurance policy is a "named risks" rather than an "all risks" policy. He also said the Travelers policy was the best and broadest coverage which could be obtained on a commercial vessel of the nature of the skiff in this case.

The application for marine insurance, dated March 27, 1978, and signed by the plaintiff, stated the cost to replace the vessel as $8,000 and also set the insured value at $8,000. Under the heading of "Coverage Desired" was checked "full marine coverage."

The actual insurance policy issued to Cambre by Travelers on the subject craft stated the following:

"PERILS

"Touching the Adventures and Perils which the Underwriters are contented to bear and take upon themselves, they are of the Waters named herein, Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Assailing Thieves, Jettisons, Barratry of the Master and Mariners and all other like Perils that shall *513 come to the Hurt, Detriment or Damage of the Vessel.

"ADDITIONAL PERILS (INCHMAREE)

"Subject to the conditions of this Policy, this insurance also covers loss of or damage to the Vessel directly caused by the following:
Accidents in loading, discharging or handling cargo, or in bunkering;
Accidents in going on or off, or while on drydocks, graving docks, ways, gridirons or pontoons;
Explosions on shipboard or elsewhere;
Breakdown of motor generators or other electrical machinery and electrical connections thereto, bursting of boilers, breakage of shafts, or any latent defect in the machinery or hull, (excluding the cost and expense of replacing or repairing the defective part);
Breakdown of or accidents to nuclear installations or reactors not on board the insured Vessel;
Contact with aircraft, rockets or similar missiles, or with any land conveyance;
Negligence of Charters and or Repairers, provided such Charterers and or Repairers are not an Assured hereunder;
Negligence of Masters, Officers, Crew or Pilots;
provided such loss or damage has not resulted from want of due diligence by the Assured, the Owners or Managers of the Vessel, or any of them."

Admittedly, it has been held by the courts, as in Jennings v. Louisiana & Southern Life Insurance Co., 280 So.2d 297, 300 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1973):

"A contract of insurance, like any other agreement, is the law between the parties, and every stipulation therein must be construed as written. The rules established for the interpretation of written instruments in general apply in the construction of insurance policies. Harmon v. Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Company, 247 La. 263, 170 So.2d 646.
"Courts must give legal effect to the provisions of an insurance policy according to the true intent of the parties, which intent must be determined in the light of the policy provisions when the policy terms are clear and unambiguous and lead to no absurd consequences. LSA-C.C. arts. 1901, 1945; Vidrine v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, La.App., 247 So.2d 660.
"The words used in insurance contracts are to be understood in their common and usual significance, without attending so much to grammatical rules, as to general and popular use. LSA-C.C. art. 1946; Harmon, above."

However, it was also held in

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

Related

Baldwin Crane & Equipment Corp. v. Riley & Rielly Insurance Agency, Inc.
687 N.E.2d 1267 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1997)
Peyton v. Bseis
680 So. 2d 81 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
Roger v. Dufrene
613 So. 2d 947 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1993)
Lemoine v. Herrmann
559 So. 2d 898 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
Opera Boats, Inc. v. La Reunion Francais
702 F. Supp. 1278 (E.D. Louisiana, 1989)
Munley v. Alvarez, Donnaway, Passons, Inc.
501 So. 2d 880 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1987)
Ingersoll-Rand Financial Corp. v. Employers Insurance
637 F. Supp. 642 (E.D. Louisiana, 1984)
Cambre v. Travelers Indemnity Co.
410 So. 2d 761 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
Aurillo v. Gressaffa
405 So. 2d 664 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
404 So. 2d 511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cambre-v-travelers-indem-co-lactapp-1981.