Davis v. Ashlock

338 S.W.2d 816, 1960 Mo. LEXIS 686
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedSeptember 12, 1960
DocketNo. 47281
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 338 S.W.2d 816 (Davis v. Ashlock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Ashlock, 338 S.W.2d 816, 1960 Mo. LEXIS 686 (Mo. 1960).

Opinion

LEEDY, Judge.

Garnishment proceeding (on execution) brought by Gerald L. Davis against Exchange Insurance Association as garnishee of Plarry G. Ashlock and W. L. Chowning, Jr., copartners doing business as “Argentine Transit Lines” and as “Quivira Bus Line.” Tried without a jury, the court made findings of fact and gave conclusions of law, and in conformity therewith entered judgment dismissing the proceeding and releasing the garnishee, and the execution creditor appealed.

Davis, as plaintiff in the principal action, had obtained judgment in the Circuit Court of Jackson County against the defendants (Ashlock and Chowning, as copartners doing business under the firm names and styles above mentioned) in the sum of $25,-000 for personal injuries sustained by him as a result of a collision between a motorcycle upon-which he was riding and a 1946 Yellow Coach bus owned and operated by defendants, and carrying the designation “Argentine Transit Lines” upon it. The casualty occurred in Kansas City, Kansas.

At all times referred to herein, the defendants were engaged in the bus business, as copartners; that is, in transporting passengers for hire over certain city streets and public highways in particular areas hereinafter described. They did business under the two distinctly different firm or trade names indicated above. Their operations were both interstate and intrastate; in the former category, between the states of Kansas and Missouri, and in the latter, in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

The garnishee was the insurance carrier of defendants. It had issued to them two separate public liability policies, one in their names as partners doing busi[818]*818ness as Argentine Transit Lines, and the other in their names as partners doing business as Quivira Bus Line, both of which policies were outstanding, and in-effect at the time of the casualty, June 10, 1954. The first mentioned, No. X-85758, the “Argentine Transit Lines” policy (covering 5 regularly operated 29-passenger buses, and 4 extra buses of similar capacity, including the 1946 Yellow Coach bus just referred to) limited the garnishee’s liability for bodily injuries to $5,000 per person; in the other policy, No. X-85773 (covering “Qui-vira Bus Line”), the limit of such liability was fixed at $10,000 for each person. The only vehicle specifically mentioned or described in this latter policy was a 1947 Dodge, Airport 7-passenger Sedan, bearing a certain motor number. The bus involved in the accident was specifically described in the “Argentine Transit Lines” policy, but not in the “Quivira Bus Line” policy. The garnishee had paid plaintiff the sum of $5,000 (the full extent of its liability under the “Argentine Transit Lines” policy) plus $370 interest thereon, making a total of $5,370 with which the $25,000 judgment had been credited. The object of the instant proceeding is to establish that the garnishee is liable for an additional sum of $10,000 under the “Quivira Bus Line” policy issued by it, and to enforce payment thereof. Jurisdiction is in this court under Senate Bill No. 7 (approved May 18, 1959), 70th General Assembly, § 477.040, RSMo 1949 and V.A.M.S., as amended, which increased the monetary jurisdiction of the several courts of appeals to $15,000, but provided that the supreme court should continue to have exclusive appellate jurisdiction in those cases where, as here, notices of appeal were filed prior to the effective date of said act, January 1, 1960.

. Plaintiff’s theory of recovery is that Argentine Transit Lines and Quivira Bus Line were not separate businesses, separately conducted, but constituted one overall operation, by reason of which the “waiver of description” (of vehicles insured) endorsements placed upon Quivira Bus Line’s policy No. X-85773 (as required by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the State Corporation Commission of Kansas under rules made pursuant to applicable statutes, Chap. 8, Title 49, § 315 U.S.C.A., and 66-1,128 General Statutes of Kansas) extended the coverage of said policy to the bus involved in the casualty.

The endorsement required by the Interstate Commerce Commission made the garnishee liable to pay any final judgment rendered against the insured (with exceptions not here pertinent) for personal injuries “resulting from negligence in the operation, maintenance, or use of motor vehicles under certificate of public convenience and necessity or permit issued to the insured by the Interstate Commerce Commission * * * regardless of whether such motor vehicles are specifically described in the policy or not.” That endorsement further provided that the liability of the insurer “extends to such bodily injuries * * * whether occurring on the route or in the territory authorized by the insured or elsewhere, except as follows: No exceptions.”

The pertinent provisions of the endorsement placed on the policy under the requirements of the State Corporation Commission of Kansas read as follows: “It is further understood and agreed that the company waives a description of the motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers insured hereunder and the policy is hereby amended and extended so as to cover any and all motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers operated or used by the assured pursuant to the certificate, permit or license issued by the State Corporation Commission of Kansas.”

The critical facts were found by the court to be that the “routes of Quivira Bus Line were not identical or the same as the routes covered by defendants d/b/a Argentine Transit Lines”; that defendants “kept separate records concerning the operations of Quivira Bus Line and Argentine Transit Lines, made separate reports to the regulating agencies on each operation and op[819]*819erated the Quivira Bus Line and the Argentine Transit Lines as separate operations”; that “Quivira Bus Line and Argentine Transit Lines were operated separately * * * and said operations did not coincide but were separate and apart from each other * * The court further found that the bus involved in the collision “was not engaged in any operation of the Quivira Bus Line under or pursuant to any authority or permit issued by the Kansas Corporation or the Interstate Commerce Commission at the time of said collision”; that said bus was described in “garnishee’s policy No. X-8S758 issued to defendants d/b/a Argentine Transit Lines, as the [an] insured vehicle but was not described or referred to in garnishee’s policy No. X-85773 issued to defendants d/b/a Quivira Bus Line, a 1947 Dodge Airport seven passenger sedan being described in that policy.”

Appellant’s first point is that these findings are not supported by substantial •evidence, and are contrary to the evidence. The trial having been “upon the facts without a jury,” review on appeal is “upon both the law and the evidence as in suits of an equitable nature. The judgment shall not be set aside unless clearly' erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witnesses.” § 73.01, Rules of Civil Procedure, V.A.M.R. As said in Turner v. Mitchell, Mo., 297 S.W.2d 458, 465: “While we are not bound by the trial court’s findings and have the authority as well as the duty to consider the evidence and make our own findings, we will not set aside the judgment unless we find it to be clearly erroneous and will give due regard to the better opportunity of the trial judge to pass on the credibility of witnesses who orally testified before him.”

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Bluebook (online)
338 S.W.2d 816, 1960 Mo. LEXIS 686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-ashlock-mo-1960.