Edwards v. Bestway Trucking, Inc.

569 S.E.2d 443, 212 W. Va. 196, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 85
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 2002
DocketNo. 30122, 30123
StatusPublished

This text of 569 S.E.2d 443 (Edwards v. Bestway Trucking, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edwards v. Bestway Trucking, Inc., 569 S.E.2d 443, 212 W. Va. 196, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 85 (W. Va. 2002).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by Matthew Edwards, Personal Representative of the Estate of Jeremy Matthew Edwards; Donald Ray Wood, Personal Representative of the Estate of Jennifer Dawn Wood; James D. Wood, Personal Representative of the Estate of Deborah Sue Mays; and Jessica Lynn Spradling, from an order entered by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County in a personal injury action.1 The circuit court ruled that a general umbrella liability insurance policy issued by John Deere Insurance Company, the predecessor of the appellee Sentry Insurance Company, did not cover a vehicle driven by Albert Victor Mays at the time of a vehicle accident which killed Jeremy Matthew Edwards, Jennifer Dawn Wood, and Deborah Sue Mays, and which severely injured Jessica Lynn Spradling. On appeal, the appellants claim that the circuit court’s ruling was eironeous and that the court should have ruled that the policy did cover Mr. Mays at the time of the accident in question.

I.

FACTS

Albert Victor Mays, one of the parties in the present'action, was a manager of Vision Automotive Group, LLC, and also sold vehicles outside the Elkins, West Virginia, area for the operation. To assist M\ Mays in selling its automobiles, Vision Automotive Group, LLC, provided him with demonstrator vehicles.

Vision Automotive Group, LLC, maintained a commercial umbrella/excess liability insurance policy with John Deere Insurance Company, the predecessor of appellee Sentry Insurance Company, a mutual company. The commercial umbrella/excess liability insurance policy provided:

If the following are employed by you or are acting on your behalf in the conduct of [198]*198your business to which this insurance applies, they are also insureds:
Hi ❖ H« * * *
10. Any person ... using an “auto” which you own ... providing the actual ... use is by you or with your permission.

The phrase “conduct of your business” was not defined in the policy.

On January 30, 2000, Albert Victor Mays, while driving a demonstrator vehicle which had been provided by Vision Automotive Group, LLC, was involved in an accident near the Nitro-St. Albans 1-64 bridge outside of Nitro, West Virginia. At the time, Mr. Mays was driving a group of individuals to church. Jeremy Matthew Edwards, Jennifer Dawn Wood and Deborah Sue Mays, who were in the vehicle, were killed. Jessica Lynn Spradling, another passenger, sustained severe personal injuries.

Following the accident, a question arose as to whether the general umbrella liability insurance policy issued by John Deere Insurance Company covered Albert Victor Mays at the time of the accident. To resolve the question, the personal representatives of the Estates of Jeremy Matthew Edwards, Jennifer Dawn Wood, and Deborah Sue Mays, as well as Jessica Lynn Spradling, in the present personal injury action prayed that the Circuit Court of Kanawha County issue a declaratory ruling relating to coverage. Following the filing of the action, various briefs, exhibits and depositions were submitted to the court and the case was orally argued. Ultimately, the court ruled that the coverage under the commercial general umbrella policy did not cover Albert Victor Mays’ vehicle at the time of the accident since he was not, in fact, “on his way to sell or meet with a potential customer on the day of the accident.”

In reaching its decision, the court noted that Mr. Mays had testified in his deposition that he did not have a potential specific customer for the vehicle at the church on the day of the accident. The court noted that the testimony proceeded as follows:

Q. Now, do I understand your testimony earlier that you didn’t have a particular customer on the jeep that you were operating on the day of the accident?
A. [Mr. Mays] Not the day of the accident.
Q. What I’m getting at is, you weren’t taking that vehicle to church for the purpose of providing it to show to somebody or try to sell?
A. No, sir.
Q. And you were going to church at the time of the accident?
A. Yes, sir.

The court concluded from this:

The record is clear that what we have here factually is a father/husband taking his family to church at the time of the accident. This purely private endeavor does not rise to the level of acting in the “conduct of [his] business” [within the meaning of the policy in question].

In the present proceeding, the appellants claim that the trial court erred in concluding that the coverage of the general commercial umbrella liability policy in question was not available to Albert Victor Mays at the time of the accident in question.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In Syllabus Point 4 of Burgess v. Porterfield, 196 W.Va. 178, 469 S.E.2d 114 (1996), the Court stated: “This Court reviews the circuit court’s final order and ultimate disposition under an abuse of discretion standard. We review challenges to findings of fact under a clearly erroneous standard; conclusions of law are reviewed de novo.”

III.

DISCUSSION

Reduced to its essentials, the Court believes that the issue in this case is whether the policy issued by John Deere Insurance Company covers the accident in the present case. The specific language of the policy provides: “If the following ... are acting on your behalf in the conduct of your business ... they are also insureds: ... Any person ... using an ‘auto’ which you own ... pro[199]*199viding the actual ... use is ... with your permission.”

According to the operating agreement of Vision Automotive Group, LLC, the purpose of Vision Automotive Group was: “To develop, acquire and operate automobile sales operations in West Virginia and other states and to engage in any lawful business or activity which may be conducted by a limited liability company organized under the Act.”

The undisputed evidence developed showed that Vision Automotive Group, LLC, was in the business of selling automobiles, and further that Albert Victor Mays was regularly given demonstrator automobiles to drive as a means of marketing and selling vehicles outside the Elkins, West Virginia area. Mr. Mays normally drove each demonstrator automobile until it had 5,000 miles on it, at which time he returned it to Vision’s operation at Elkins, and received a new demonstrator vehicle. Mr. Mays had sold as many as 60 to 70 Vision Automobile vehicles prior to the accident which gave rise to this ease. One sale was the sale of a vehicle to the pastor of his church.

There is no question, and, in fact, the trial court found that Vision Automotive Group, LLC, regularly allowed and encouraged Mr. Mays, as well as other members of the operation, to drive demonstrator vehicles to market and generate sales outside the Elkins, West Virginia, area. In effect, the evidence showed that on the day of the accident, Mr. Mays was using the vehicle involved in the accident with the permission of Vision Automotive Group, LLC.

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Bluebook (online)
569 S.E.2d 443, 212 W. Va. 196, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edwards-v-bestway-trucking-inc-wva-2002.