Employers Casualty Co. v. Tilley

484 S.W.2d 802, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2952
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 1972
DocketNo. 7356
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 484 S.W.2d 802 (Employers Casualty Co. v. Tilley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Employers Casualty Co. v. Tilley, 484 S.W.2d 802, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2952 (Tex. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

DIES, Chief Justice.

Employers Casualty Company as plaintiff brought this petition for a declaratory judgment against Joe Tilley, d/b/a Joe’s Rental Tools and/or Oil City Casing Crews, Joe’s Rental Tools Company, and Oil City Casing Crews Company as defendants. The parties will be referred to herein as they were below.

Plaintiff alleged the following: That effective February 17, 1967, it had issued a general liability policy to defendants. That on or about November 25, 1967, one Douglas R. Starky received an injury on a job site in which defendants had equipment and personnel. That defendant Joe Tilley, president of corporate defendants, had knowledge through a foreman of such injury. That Starky filed suit against defendants herein in the District Court of Jefferson County on September 19, 1969. That the first notice plaintiff received of this accident was on September 26, 1969.

Plaintiff, in seeking a determination that because defendants had violated the policy, it (plaintiff) should be relieved of any responsibility to defend the defendants and a determination that plaintiff had no liability under the policy, plead the following policy provision:

“4. INSURED’S DUTIES IN THE EVENT OF OCCURRENCE, CLAIM OR SUIT: (a) /fn the event of an occurrence, written notice, containing particulars sufficient to identify the insured and also reasonably obtainable information with respect to the time, place and circumstances thereof, and the names and addresses of the injured and of available witnesses, shall be given by or for the insured by the company or any of its authorized agents as soon as practicable.”

Defendants replied they had no knowledge of any claim being made against them until the filing of the suit in Jefferson County and that because of certain actions by plaintiff and its attorney, plaintiff was es-topped and had waived the right to refuse coverage. Both sides filed for summary judgment and the defendants prevailed, from which plaintiff perfects this appeal.

The defendants’ motion for summary judgment alleged the following:

(a) Neither Joe Tilley nor any officer of the corporation was ever aware of the accident until suit was filed.

(b) Even had Tilley or authorized agents been aware of the accident, the circumstances were such that no reasonable person would have believed a claim would have been filed.

(c) Plaintiff, by assuming defense of the suit for a period of a year and a half, was estopped from and had waived the defense asserted.

(d) The non-waiver agreement taken from Tilley by plaintiff was of no effect because it (1) was too broad; (2) did not cover estoppel; and (3) constitued a waiver because plaintiff requested Tilley to furnish his employees for statements after plaintiff had taken the non-waiver agreement.

(e) During the period plaintiff was defending its lawsuit, through its agents and attorneys it was breaching its fiduciary [804]*804duty by the following: (1) A statement was taken from defendants’ foreman to establish that Tilley had notice through the foreman of the accident. (2) Its attorney (and the one employed to defend defendants) took four other statements from employees to establish that Tilley had been informed of the accident. (3) This attorney briefed the legal question of late notice for plaintiff. (4) Two other persons were interviewed by this attorney at the request of plaintiff to establish notice. (5) This attorney over a period of a year and a half advised with plaintiff to develop this coverage defense. (6) “Other activity . . . contrary to the interests of Joe Tilley.”

Defendants alleged that Tilley was never informed of this activity by his attorney or of a possible conflict of interest.

The Order on Summary Judgments denied the motion of plaintiff and decreed that:

“. . . the motion . . . [of defendants] is granted, and judgment is therefore entered that the policy of insurance issued by Employers Casualty Company . . . was and is in full force and effect; that the Employers Casualty Company is obligated to defend Joe Tilley, et al., . . . ; that any judgment entered in the suit must be paid by Employers Casualty Company up to the limits of its policy.”

In its brief, plaintiff assigned three points of error upon which the appeal is predicated:

(a) Error of trial court in overruling its motion for summary judgment because the proof established as a matter of law that Tilley’s supervisor had notice of the accident which was notice to “the corporate defendant,” which constituted a breach of the policy.

(b) Conduct of an attorney employed by plaintiff to represent defendants in the original suit could not, as a matter of law, constitute a waiver or estoppel to assert its policy defense of late notice.

(c)The trial court erred in granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment “for the reason that the summary judgment proof at most only raised a fact issue on the question of waiver or estoppel by appellant to assert its policy defense of late notice.”

It can be readily seen that plaintiff has not assigned as error or discussed several of defendants’ allegations for a summary judgment, any one of which might have been the basis of the court’s decision. These are: (a) that the non-waiver agreement in question was too broad and not a valid non-waiver agreement and (b) that the agreement by its terms does not cover an estoppel but only a waiver.

In view of our decision on this aspect of the case, we find it unnecessary to discuss the conduct complained of by Employers Casualty Company and its attorney. We hold that plaintiff’s failure to dispute each ground of defendants’ motion for summary judgment requires an affirmance of the court order.

In Malooly Brothers, Inc. v. Napier, 461 S.W.2d 119, 121 (Tex.1970), our Supreme Court, speaking through Justice McGee, said:

“The judgment must stand, since it may have been based on a ground not specifically challenged by the plaintiff and since there was no general assignment that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment.” (citations omitted)

See also LeJeune v. Gulf States Utilities Company, 410 S.W.2d 44, 49 (Tex.Civ.App., Beaumont, 1966, error ref. n. r. e.). In Olivier v. Life and Casualty Insurance Co. of Tenn., 440 S.W.2d 398, 400 (Tex.Civ.App., Beaumont, 1969, error ref. n. r. e.), this court held as follows:

“However, in the motion for peremptory instruction filed below, there were other and additional grounds set forth. The trial court granted the motion without [805]*805specification of the ground, or grounds, upon which the action was taken. The failure to assign error as to all of the grounds upon which the court’s action might have been based amounts to a waiver thereof.” (440 S.W.2d at p. 400-401)

In citing the Olivier Case, the Dallas court in Independence Ins. Co. v. Republic Nat. Life Ins. Co., 447 S.W.2d 462, 470 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas, 1969, error ref. n. r. e.), said:

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Related

Employers Casualty Company v. Tilley
496 S.W.2d 552 (Texas Supreme Court, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
484 S.W.2d 802, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/employers-casualty-co-v-tilley-texapp-1972.