Ederer v. Milwaukee Automobile Insurance

265 N.W. 694, 220 Wis. 635, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 294
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 265 N.W. 694 (Ederer v. Milwaukee Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ederer v. Milwaukee Automobile Insurance, 265 N.W. 694, 220 Wis. 635, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 294 (Wis. 1936).

Opinion

Nelson, J.

On December 4, 1934, Kitzerow, who owned a garage in Milwaukee and who was engaged in the business of servicing automobiles, was driving an automobile belonging to Massopust from Kitzerow's garage to Marquette University, where he intended delivering it to Massopust. [637]*637On the way he negligently, as the jury found, struck and injured Robert Ederer. Kitzerow had serviced Massopust’s automobile for four or five years. Whenever Massopust’s automobile required repairs or servicing, it was his custom to stop at Kitzerow’s garage and, after making known his request for service, to pick up either Kitzerow or one of his employees and then drive to Marquette University where he turned his automobile over to Kitzerow or to his employee who drove it back to the garage where the repairs were made or the servicing done. It was customary for Kitzerow, or one of his employees, after completing the servicing work, to deliver Massopust’s automobile to him at the university. Massopust would then drive Kitzerow or his employee back to the garage. Kitzerow made no specific charge for accompanying Massopust to the university or for delivering the automobile to him there upon the completion of the servicing work. On the day in question Massopust’s public-liability risk was covered by a policy issued by the Milwaukee Automobile Insurance Company. The policy contained the following so-called omnibus or extended coverage clause:

“(F) The insurance provided under section II hereof is extended to apply in the same manner and under the same conditions and provisions as it is applicable to the assured named in statement II of the schedule of statements, to any person while riding in or operating any automobile described in this policy when such automobile is being used for purposes and in the manner described in said policy, and with the permission of the named assured, or if such assured is an individual, with the permission of an adult member of such assured’s household other than a chauffeur or domestic servant. Such insurance shall also extend to any person, firm or corporation legally responsible for the operation of such automobile provided, however, that no coverage afforded by this paragraph shall apply to a public automobile garage or an automobile repair shop, sales agency, service station and/or the agents or employees thereof.”

[638]*638That clause was incorporated into the policy pursuant to the provisions of sec. 204.30 (3), Stats. 1933. That section contains -the following proviso :

“Provided, however, that no insurance afforded by this paragraph shall apply to a public automobile garage or an automobile repair shop, sales agency, service station and/or the agents or employees thereof.”

The proviso contained in the policy and the proviso contained in the statute are practically identical. The word “coverage” contained in the policy clause was in the statute prior to the adoption of ch. 487; Laws of 1933, which chapter simply enacted a revisor’s bill and obviously intended no change in the law. By that chapter, the word “insurance” was substituted for the word “coverage.” The meaning of sec. 204.30 (3), particularly the proviso contained therein, is not clear. To ascertain the legislative intention is our particular task.

Did the legislature intend by the proviso to provide that the extended insurance coverage provision need not be contained in a policy issued in this state to a public automobile garage, automobile repair shop, sales agency, or service station? That is perhaps not its obvious meaning when the whole section is considered. However, that was the construction which this court in effect gave to the proviso in Mauel v. Wisconsin Automobile Ins. Co. 211 Wis. 230, 248 N. W. 121, influenced as the court was by the fact that the insurance commissioner of this state had so practically construed sec. 204.30. This court followed the practical construction of the commissioner of insurance and held that policies issued to a public garage, etc., need not contain the extended insurance provision. That construction did not give particular weight to the language “and/or the agents or employees thereof.” When the decision in the Mauel Case was handed down in 1933, the legislature was in session and [639]*639continued in session for several months thereafter. If the presumption may be indulged that the legislature promptly takes note of the decisions of this court which construe its acts, it might with reason be asserted that the court correctly expressed its intention, since sec. 204.30 (3) was not amended by that legislature. Such assertion might be further fortified by the fact that the legislature met in regular session in 1935 and did not then amend sec. 204.30 (3). However, the legislature may have considered that the decision in the Mauel Case was correct in so far as it held that policies issued to public garages, etc., need not contain the extended insurance provision.

The insurance commissioner has continued to approve of the issue to public automobile garages, etc., of policies which do not contain the extended insurance provision.

Did the legislature also intend by the proviso to provide that the extended insurance provision, which clearly must be-contained in the ordinary owner’s policy, should not cover the automobile described therein, while it is being operated by a public garage, etc., or the agent or employees thereof? It was so held in Paine v. Finkler Motor Car Co., ante, p. 9, 264 N. W. 477. While either the construction given to the statute in the Mattel Case or that given to it in the Paine Case is permissible, the holdings are not necessarily inconsistent. The law is obviously ambiguous and much may be said in support of each construction.

In the absence of insurance coverage, it is elementary that the owner of an automobile is liable only for his own negligence or that of his agent or employee while the latter is acting within the scope of his employment. Crossett v. Goelzer, 177 Wis. 455, 188 N. W. 627; Zeidler v. Goelzer, 191 Wis. 378, 211 N. W. 140; De Forest Dairy Co. v. Friedrich, 202 Wis. 251, 232 N. W. 543; Kruse v. Weigand, 204 Wis. 195, 235 N. W. 426. He is not liable for the negligence of [640]*640the owner of a garage, or his agent or employee, while operating his automobile, not as his agent but as an independent contractor. The risk which the law puts upon the owner of an uninsured automobile is, upon principles of justice and good sense, no longer his when he turns his automobile over to a garage, repair shop, or service station for repairs or servicing. Woodcock v. Sartle, 84 Misc. 488, 146 N. Y. Supp. 540; Perry v. Fox, 93 Misc. 89, 156 N. Y. Supp. 369; Thorn v. Clark, 188 App. Div. 411, 177 N. Y. Supp. 201; McCloskey v. Nagel, 206 App. Div. 467, 202 N. Y. Supp. 34; Rich v. Holmes, 104 Vt. 433, 160 Atl. 173; Sweetnam v. Snow, 187 Mich. 414, 153 N. W. 770; Woods v. Bowman, 200 Ill. App. 612; Marx v. Cornish, 11 N. J. Misc. 637, 167 Atl. 739; Rogers v. Boyers, 114 W. Va. 107, 170 S. E. 905; Wooley v. Doby, 19 Ga. App. 797, 92 S. E. 295; Segler v. Callister, 167 Cal. 377, 139 Pac. 819; Freeman v. Southern Life & Health Ins. Co. 210 Ala. 459, 98 So. 461; Ouellette v. Superior Motor & Machine Works, 157 Wis. 531, 147 N. W. 1014.

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Bluebook (online)
265 N.W. 694, 220 Wis. 635, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ederer-v-milwaukee-automobile-insurance-wis-1936.