Folmar v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.

363 A.2d 1304, 242 Pa. Super. 350, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2829
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 27, 1976
Docket881
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 363 A.2d 1304 (Folmar v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Folmar v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 363 A.2d 1304, 242 Pa. Super. 350, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2829 (Pa. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

VAN der VOORT, Judge:

There ate two issues in this case, one being did the plaintiffs present sufficient evidence to warrant submitting to the jury the question of whether or not an automobile was “non-owned”; the other being are the plaintiffs estopped from asserting their claims as third party beneficiaries.

On September 2, 1966, Aaron D. Shaffer, Jr., (Shaffer, Jr.) was involved in a collision which caused the deaths of the plaintiffs-decedents on that date. William H. Liddic, (Liddic) the step-father of Shaffer, Jr., (with whom said Shaffer, Jr., lived) had a contract of automobile liability insurance with the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., *352 (Hartford) the appellee. The appellants entered suit against Shaffer, Jr., and on May 28, 1968, received a verdict in their favor in the amount of $23,125.00. Judgment on that verdict was entered on August 13/1968.

In the meantime, on July 11, 1968, Shaffer, Jr., sued Hartford in the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County claiming damages resulting from the said verdicts against him in the total sum of $28,125.00. Hartford contested this suit and defended on the grounds that the. insurance policy did not provide coverage for Shaffer. The Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County agreed and entered summary judgment against Shaffer, Jr.

On July 7,1972, the appellants issued a Writ of Attachment Execution on the original lawsuit and served Hartford as garnishee. Appellee Hartford also contested this action on the grounds that as a result of the order of October 27, 1970, when summary judgment was entered against Shaffer, Jr., it owed them nothing. Therefore there was no fund in the hands of Hartford which appellants could attach. Appellants appealed this to our Court and we affirmed at 232 Pa.Super. 22, 332 A.2d 821 (1974).

Subsequent to our decision appellants instituted this action against Hartford claiming as third party beneficiaries under the insurance contract. After trial before a judge and jury a verdict was returned for the plaintiffs in the amount of $23,000.00. Appellee moved for a judgment n. o. v., which motion the trial court granted and entered judgment for the appellee notwithstanding the verdict. This appeal followed.

The insurance policy in question contained the following provisions with respect to what persons were insured by it.

“3. PERSONS INSURED: The following are insureds under Section I:
(a) With respect to the owned automobile,
(1) the named insured and any resident of the same household,
*353 (2) any other person using such automobile with the permission of the named insured, provided his actual operation or (if he is not operating) his other actual use thereof is within the scope of such permission, and
(3) any other person or organization but only with respect to his or its liability because of acts or omissions of an insured under (a) (1) or (2) above;
(b) With respect to a non-owned automobile,
(1) the named insured,
(2) any relative, but only with respect to a private passenger automobile or trailer, provided his actual operation or (if he is not operating) the other actual use thereof is with the permission or reasonably believed to be with the permission of the owner and is within the scope of such permission, and
(3) any other person or organization not owning or hiring the automobile, but only with respect to his or its liability because of acts or omissions, of an insured under (b)(1) or (2) above.
The insurance afforded under Section 1 applies separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought, but the inclusion herein of more than one insured shall not operate to increase the limits of the company’s liability”.

The policy defined a “non-owned” automobile as follows:

“4. Definitions . . .
‘non-owned automobile’ means an automobile or trailer not owned by or furnished for the regular use of either the named insured or any relative, other than a temporary substitute automobile”.

The facts that appellants had a judgment against Shaffer, Jr., that Liddic had the insurance policy in question, and that Shaffer, Jr., was a relative of Liddic and a member of his household, were not contested by appellee. Ap-pellee does contest the claim that Shaffer, Jr., was a “per *354 son insured” under the policy because he was not operating a “non-owned” automobile or one not furnished for his regular use, a fact or circumstance which plaintiffs-appellants in order to recover have the burden of proving. Cf. O’Neill v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 345 Pa. 232, 26 A.2d 898 (1942).

In considering whether or not the appellants produced sufficient evidence to warrant submission of an issue'to the jury, [it] the evidence must be regarded in a light most favorable to the verdict winner. Moyer v. Ford-Motor Co., 205 Pa.Super. 384, 386, 209 A.2d 43 (1965), in which we said:

“It is well established that in granting a judgment n. o. v., the evidence must be considered in the light hiost favorable to the verdict winner. Rogers v. Binkham, 200 Pa.Super. 312, 315, 188 A.2d 821, 822 (1963). Moreover, the court must seek out and cónsider only that testimony which supports the verdict. Ksiazek v. Pelle, 174 Pa.Super. 304, 306-307, 101 A.2d 428, 429 (1953); Johnston v. Dick, 401 Pa. 637, 639, 165 A.2d 634, 635 (1960). Judgment n. o. v. may be entered, however, where sufficient proof was not adduced at trial to justify the submission to the jury of each factual question. Kuhns v. Brugger, 390 Pa. 331, 336,135 A.2d 395, 399 (1957); Ashcraft v. C. G. Hussey and Company, 359 Pa. 129, 134, 58 A.2d 170, 173 (1948); Johnston, v. Dick, supra, p. 639, 165 A.2d 634.”

The evidence which appellants produced was that Shaffer, Jr.’s father, Aaron D.

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Bluebook (online)
363 A.2d 1304, 242 Pa. Super. 350, 1976 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/folmar-v-hartford-accident-indemnity-co-pasuperct-1976.