Crist v. Hunan Palace, Inc.

89 P.3d 573, 277 Kan. 706, 2004 Kan. LEXIS 264
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 14, 2004
Docket89,326
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 89 P.3d 573 (Crist v. Hunan Palace, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crist v. Hunan Palace, Inc., 89 P.3d 573, 277 Kan. 706, 2004 Kan. LEXIS 264 (kan 2004).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Luckert, J.:

This is a garnishment action arising out of a personal injury lawsuit filed by Sunny Crist against Hunan Palace, Inc. (Hunan) and its delivery driver. The matter was tried upon stipulations resulting in judgment in Crist’s favor, and Crist instituted garnishment proceedings against Hunan’s commercial general liability insurance carrier which had refused to defend the suit. The district court granted Crist’s motion for summary judgment and denied the insurer’s motion for summary judgment. The insurer appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished opinion. Crist v. Hunan Palace, Inc., No. 89,326, unpublished opinion filed July 25,2003. This court granted the insurer’s petition for review pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3018.

Three issues are presented on appeal: (1) Did the Court of Appeals correctly uphold the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Crist on the ground that Crist’s automobile accident personal injury claims were covered by the insurer’s commercial general liability policy? (2) Should this court reverse the four-to-three decision in Marquis v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 265 Kan. 317, 961 P.2d 1213 (1998)? and (3) Did the Court of Appeals [708]*708correctly uphold the district court’s judgment as comporting with due process?

The case arises from an accident which occurred in July 1999 when De Tong Chen, acting within the scope of his employment as a delivery driver for Hunan, crossed over the centerline and struck Crist’s vehicle. Crist filed suit against Hunan and Chen for (1) Chen’s negligent operation of his vehicle; (2) negligence imputed to Hunan under the theory of respondeat superior; and (3) Hunan’s negligent training and supervision of Chen. Hunan’s business automobile liability policy had lapsed. Hunan requested a defense and coverage from its commercial general liability insurance carrier, Utica National Insurance Group, Utica National Assurance Company (Utica). Utica refused to provide a defense or indemnify Hunan because of an automobile exclusion in the general liability policy.

Chen and Hunan reached an agreement with Crist resolving the matter through the presentation of stipulations and testimony of Crist. Chen and Hunan agreed to factual stipulations demonstrating their negligence, and Crist agreed not to execute on the real or personal property of Chen, Hunan, or Hunan’s owner, Yuhua Bai. As relevant to this appeal, the journal entry of judgment set out the following stipulations:

“6. The parties stipulate that on or about July 9,1999, Defendant De Tong Chen was operating his motor vehicle on the Fort Riley Military Reservation within the scope of his employment with Defendant Hunan Palace, Inc. and crossed over the center line thereby striking Plaintiff s motor vehicle.
“8. The parties stipulate that Plaintiff would provide testimony from military policemen who were then assigned to the Fort Riley Military Reservation that Defendant De Tong Chen had been observed on many occasions to operate Defendant De Tong Chen’s motor vehicle in an unsafe manner and to [sic] fast for conditions.
“9. Neither Defendant stipulates to the fact that Defendant Hunan Palace, Inc. negligently retained or supervised Defendant De Tong Chen. However, the parties do stipulate that a finder of fact would find by a preponderance of evidence that Defendant Hunan Palace, Inc. knew or should have known Defendant De Tong Chen operated his vehicle in an unsafe manner on many occasions and, therefore, an undue risk of harm to others existed as a result of Defendant De [709]*709Tong Chen’s employment by Defendant Hunan Palace, Inc. Therefore, a finder of fact would find Defendant Hunan Palace, Inc. was negligent in its retention and supervision of Defendant De Tong Chen.”

The district court found that Hunan had breached its duty of care and was negligent in failing to provide proper training and supervision of Chen, as alleged in Count III of Crist’s petition. The court entered judgment in favor of Crist.

Crist then initiated garnishment proceedings against Utica. Utica moved to set aside the underlying judgment and moved for summary judgment on the basis of the automobile exclusion in the general liability policy. The district court denied both of Utica’s motions. Instead, the court granted Crist summary judgment on her garnishment claim against Utica, ruling that the general liability policy provided coverage for Hunan under the authority of Marquis, 265 Kan. 317 and Upland Mutual Insurance, Inc. v. Noel, 214 Kan. 145, 519 P.2d 737 (1974).

The Court of Appeals, in affirming the district court, ruled that Utica could not collaterally attack the validity of the underlying civil judgment as a defense in the garnishment proceeding. The Court of Appeals also found that the district court did not err in denying Utica summary judgment and in granting Crist summary judgment. In so ruling, the court relied on Marquis for the premise that an automobile exclusion does not exclude coverage for claims of negligent supervision, hiring, or retention because “ ‘the theory of liability rather than the cause of the accident governs coverage.’ ” Slip op. at 10 (quoting Marquis, 265 Kan. at 328-29).

We granted review of all issues.

Did the Court of Appeals Correctly Uphold the District Court’s Grant of Summary Judgment to Crist on the Ground That Crist’s

Automobile Accident Personal Injury Claims Were Covered by the Insurer’s Commercial General Liability Policy ?

Utica argues the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Crist on the ground that Crist’s claims were covered under Utica’s general liability policy.

The Court of Appeals correctly noted that the facts relating to the coverage issue were not in material dispute and that the district [710]*710court’s decision hinged on interpretation of a written insurance contract, which is a question of law over which appellate courts have unlimited review, citing Marquis, 265 Kan. at 324. Slip op. at 9.

The automobile exclusion in Utica’s commercial general liability policy read as follows:

“2. Exclusions.
“This insurance does not apply to:
“g. Aircraft, Auto or Watercraft
“ ‘Bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use or entrustment to others of any aircraft, ‘auto’ or watercraft owned or operated by or rented or loaned to any insured. Use includes operation and ‘loading or unloading.’ ”

The Court of Appeals held that under the mandatory authority of Marquis, although Crist’s injuries were caused by an automobile accident, the above exclusion did not apply to Crist’s claim that the accident occurred because Hunan negligently trained and supervised Chen. Slip op. at 10.

The facts of Marquis were similar to the facts of the case at bar.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 P.3d 573, 277 Kan. 706, 2004 Kan. LEXIS 264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crist-v-hunan-palace-inc-kan-2004.