Deutsch v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

457 S.W.2d 823, 1970 Mo. App. LEXIS 564
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 28, 1970
DocketNo. 33518
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 457 S.W.2d 823 (Deutsch v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deutsch v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 457 S.W.2d 823, 1970 Mo. App. LEXIS 564 (Mo. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

DOWD, Judge.

This is an action on an automobile insurance policy issued by the defendant to the plaintiff to recover for a total loss to plaintiff’s automobile. Plaintiff’s theory of recovery is that plaintiff’s son stole plaintiff’s automobile and wrecked it. Plaintiff sued under the comprehensive coverage [824]*824provision of the policy insuring against loss to the automobile resulting from theft. The jury returned a verdict in plaintiff’s favor for $2,700.

The trial court sustained defendant’s after-trial motion for judgment in accordance with its motion for a directed verdict and in the alternative sustained defendant’s motion for a new trial and entered judgment in favor of defendant. Plaintiff appeals.

Defendant’s after-trial motion for a judgment in accordance with the motion for a directed verdict is based on two grounds:

“1. There was no proof adduced by the plaintiff that Jack Deutsch took the plaintiff’s vehicle with the intent to permanently deprive the plaintiff of that vehicle.
“2. The evidence conclusively showed that, by virtue of an exclusion contained in the insurance policy sued [on], no coverage under the policy extended to the insured automobile while that automobile was being operated by Jack Deutsch in the absence of the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s wife.”

The automobile insurance policy was the standard form which provided for: (1) bodily injury liability; (2) property damage liability; (3) medical payments; (4) $50.00 deductible collision; and, (5) comprehensive coverage. The pertinent part of the comprehensive coverage stated:

“(2) To pay for loss caused by fire, lightning, flood, falling objects, explosion, earthquake, or theft of the entire automobile, * *

On page 1 of the policy which contains the “DECLARATIONS” there is this notation: “6023.1 DRIVER EXCL ZACK DEUTSCH.” It is stipulated that Zack Deutsch should have read Jack Deutsch in the driver exclusion endorsement.

Attached to the policy was an endorsement which reads as follows:

“DRIVER EXCLUSION ENDORSEMENT
“In consideration of the premium at which the policy is written it is agreed that the Company shall not be liable and no liability or obligation of any kind shall attach to the Company for losses or damage sustained while any automobile insured hereinunder is driven or operated by
ZACK DEUTSCH
except when accompanied by the named insured or the named insured’s spouse. “Nothing herein contained shall be held to alter, vary, waive or extend any of the terms, conditions, agreements or limitations of the undermentioned policy other than as hereinabove stated. “Effective 12:01 A.M. Standard Time, 07-07-65. Attached to and forming a part of policy number 2552 388-A07-25
“Issued to DEUTSCH, ERIC by the STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, of Bloomington, Illinois.”

Plaintiff testified that he was married and had a son, Jack Deutsch, and that on July 7, 1965 he purchased an automobile insurance policy from the defendant to cover this automobile. Plaintiff asked that his son, who was 17 years old at the time, be included in the insurance but that the defendant refused.

Plaintiff also testified that he refused to give his son permission to drive the automobile because the company refused insurance and that the son was “a little bit too wild.” The son had a small motorcycle. The son had driven the automobile on previous occasions without plaintiff’s permission. Plaintiff took measures to prevent the son from driving by putting a chain with a lock on the steering wheel and shift but it was cut off. The plaintiff also reported the son’s use of the automobile to the police and to the juvenile authorities. The son had made a duplicate key to the [825]*825automobile without the knowledge of the plaintiff.

On June 24, 1966, at about 5:45 p. m., plaintiff parked his automobile in his back yard and locked it. At about 6:45 p. m., plaintiff was notified by the police of an accident in which his automobile driven by his son collided with an abutment on Highway 40. His son died in the collision and the automobile valued at $2,700 was a total wreck.

The son had not asked the plaintiff for permission to use the automobile that evening. The son had a girl passenger with him and they were on their way to White Castle (restaurant) when the accident occurred. White Castle is about two blocks from the Deutsch home. There were no suitcases or extra clothing or shaving articles in the automobile that evening. Jack Deutsch had made no statement about leaving town that night, stealing the automobile or that he was not going to return the automobile.

At the conclusion of the evidence, defendant’s motion for a directed verdict was overruled.

The court refused to give a proffered instruction by defendant submitting a defense based on the policy exclusion. The jury verdict was based on plaintiff’s verdict director hypothesizing a finding that plaintiff’s automobile was stolen.

Did the trial court err in sustaining defendant’s motion for judgment in accord-, anee with its motion for a directed verdict? We hold that it did not.

Defendant’s motion was based on two grounds: (1) There was no evidence to show that plaintiff’s son took the automobile with the intent to permanently deprive the plaintiff of the automobile. (2) The evidence conclusively showed that by virtue of the exclusion contained in the policy, there was no coverage under the policy while the automobile was being operated by plaintiff’s son in the absence of the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s wife.

If the trial court’s action can be sustained on either ground, we must affirm. We hold that the trial court’s action can be sustained on ground (2) of defendant’s motion.

Neither brief has cited nor has our own research revealed any Missouri decision on this kind of exclusionary provision. However, we believe that this exclusionary provision is similar in principle to the common exclusionary provision relating to the operation of an automobile by an underage driver which has been held to be valid and enforceable.1 Keck v. American Fire Ins. Co., 237 Mo.App. 308, 167 S.W.2d 664 [1]; Perkins v. Becker, 236 Mo.App. 786, 157 S.W.2d 550 [2]; Daniel v. State Farm Mutual Ins. Co., 233 Mo.App. 1081, 130 S.W.2d 244 [3].

In Burch v. Wargo, 378 Mich. 200, 144 N.W.2d 342, there was an exclusionary endorsement similar to the endorsement here in that it excluded coverage for the operation of the insured’s automobile by his minor son and specifically named the minor son. The court in Burch stated this was a valid exclusion. Again, in Bankers & Shippers Ins. Co. v. Phoenix Assurance Co. of New York, Fla., 210 So.2d 715, the court held that an exclusionary endorsement which provided no coverage under the policy for occurrences which took place while the insured’s automobile was being operated by the named husband of the insured was valid.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
457 S.W.2d 823, 1970 Mo. App. LEXIS 564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deutsch-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-moctapp-1970.