Gantt v. L & G AIR CONDITIONING

680 P.2d 348, 101 N.M. 208
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 1984
Docket5953
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 680 P.2d 348 (Gantt v. L & G AIR CONDITIONING) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gantt v. L & G AIR CONDITIONING, 680 P.2d 348, 101 N.M. 208 (N.M. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

WOOD, Judge.

Plaintiff’s claim for worker’s compensation is based on injuries received when struck by a motor vehicle, driven by an uninsured motorist, about midnight of March 13, 1981. The appeal does not involve the question of a compensable injury under NMSA 1978, § 52-1-28. The appeal involves summary judgment proceedings concerned with the avoidance of compensation. There are two questions: (1) whether plaintiff was covered under the compensation policy issued by Transamerica Insurance Company; and (2) whether plaintiff’s acceptance of a settlement under uninsured motorist coverage bars compensation under NMSA 1978, § 52-l-56(C).

Whether Plaintiff was Covered

L & G Air Conditioning is a partnership consisting of plaintiff and Ortiz. Plaintiff is a “working partner”. Defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis that “Plaintiff was not an employee within the meaning of the Workman’s Compensation Act.” This motion was denied; defendants’ cross-appeal challenges the propriety of the ruling. Four arguments are presented on this issue.

(a) The deposition testimony of plaintiff raises factual issues as to whether the worker’s compensation policy was intended to cover plaintiff as a working partner. If, in fact, the policy failed to provide compensation coverage for a working partner, plaintiff may have a claim against the insurance agent for failure to obtain the intended coverage. Jernigan v. New Amsterdam Casualty Company, 69 N.M. 336, 367 P.2d 519 (1961); Topmiller v. Cain, 99 N.M. 311, 657 P.2d 638 (Ct.App.1983). This argument cannot sustain the denial of summary judgment because no such claim is made in this lawsuit, and the insurance agent is not a party to this lawsuit.

(b) Defendants assert that summary judgment should have been granted because a working partner is not eligible for compensation as an employee. Jernigan v. Clark and Day Exploration Company, 65 N.M. 355, 337 P.2d 614 (1959); see NMSA 1978, § 52-1-16 (Cum.Supp.1982). While this statement is correct, it is not true, as defendants assert, that “[t]he only issue is whether Plaintiff was an employee”. The compensation policy may have been issued to cover working partners. Jernigan v. New Amsterdam Casualty Company, supra. The fact that plaintiff, as a working partner, was not an employee was not a sufficient showing entitling defendants to summary judgment.

(c) Defendants recognize that our compensation statute provides, in NMSA 1978 § 52-l-6(B) (Cum.Supp.1982): “An election to be subject to the Workmen’s Compensa-, tion Act * * * by a partner * * * may be made by filing in the office of the superintendent of insurance * * * an insurance * * * undertaking as required by Section 52-1-4 NMSA 1978.”

Defendants assert that once it showed that plaintiff was a working partner it was entitled to summary judgment unless plaintiff raised a factual issue as to filing of an insurance undertaking covering a partner. We do not agree. Defendants, as the movant, had the burden of making a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of fact existed in the case, and that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. This “burden cannot be discharged unless the record upon which * * * [defendants] moved reflected the lack of a genuine issue of material fact.” (Emphasis added.) Fidelity Nat. Bank v. Tommy L. Goff, Inc., 92 N.M. 106, 583 P.2d 470 (1978). Defendants made no showing of an absence of the filing of an insurance undertaking covering a working partner.

Defendants’ brief points out: “There was no evidence before the Court * * * that any policy * * * was ever filed with the superintendent of insurance as required by the Act.” It is undisputed that a compensation policy was in fact issued. Whatever the coverage under the policy, if defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis of no coverage for lack of filing, it was defendants’ burden to show an absence of filing. They did not meet this burden. Thus we need not consider what consequences, if any, there may have been to plaintiff’s claim due to lack of filing and need not consider plaintiff’s improper attempt to raise a factual issue as to filing by attaching a document to his brief. Baca v. Swift & Company, 74 N.M. 211, 392 P.2d 407 (1964).

(d) Defendants assert the compensation policy issued by Transameriea excluded coverage for a partner. They rely on an exhibit to plaintiff’s deposition entitled “Worker’s Compensation Application”. Although the name of the applicant is the same as the name of the insured in the policy that was issued, the application indicates that the applicant was a corporation; the policy identifies the insured as a partnership. Neither plaintiff nor Ortiz, his partner, signed the application; the agent signed as “producer”.

There is an inference that the agent wrote the phrase “exclude partners” on the application. The showing is that the number of “employees” listed in the application, whether 3 or 4, included the plaintiff. We do not know whether this application was the basis of the policy that was in fact' issued, but we do know that if the “corporate” application is the basis for the premium charged, the premium included plaintiff’s work as an “employee”. See Jernigan v. New Amsterdam Casualty Company, supra.

The showing that an insurance agent, in filling in the answers on an application for a corporation, excluded partners, is insufficient to show that defendants were entitled to summary judgment on the question of coverage. In so holding, we have not considered the following “condition” in the policy that was issued: “If the insured is a partnership * * * such insurance as is afforded by this policy applies to each partner * * * as an insured only while he is acting within the scope of his duties as such partner * * *.” This condition insures a partner as well as the partnership, however, there is nothing indicating the meaning of “such insurance as is afforded by this policy applies to each partner * *.”

Defendants did not make a showing entitling them to summary judgment on the coverage issue. There being factual issues as to coverage, the motion for summary judgment was properly denied.

Uninsured Motorist Settlement as a Bar to Compensation

After plaintiff got out of the hospital, the insurance agent provided plaintiff with a compensation claim form which, when executed, was submitted to Transamerica by the agent. Subsequently, the agent informed plaintiff that Transamerica’s position was that there was no compensation coverage.

The partnership had other insurance with Transamerica. One policy provided liability coverage for certain of the partnership’s vehicles. It is undisputed that this policy also provided uninsured motorist coverage. The showing is that the operator of the vehicle that struck plaintiff was uninsured. Transamerica paid plaintiff $33,000.00 under the uninsured motorist coverage.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mountain States Mutual Casualty Co. v. Vigil
918 P.2d 728 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1996)
Camino Sin Pasada Neighborhood Ass'n v. Rockstroh
889 P.2d 247 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1994)
Erie Insurance Co. v. Curtis
623 A.2d 184 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1993)
Ulibarri v. Homestake Mining Co.
815 P.2d 1179 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1991)
Stinbrink v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Arizona
803 P.2d 664 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1990)
Hancock Construction Co. v. Cummins
791 P.2d 1208 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1990)
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Maidment Ex Rel. Maidment
761 P.2d 446 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1988)
Continental Insurance v. Fahey
747 P.2d 249 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1987)
Stewart v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
726 P.2d 1374 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1986)
Spain v. Valley Forge Insurance
731 P.2d 80 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1985)
Jaramillo v. Fisher Controls Co., Inc.
698 P.2d 887 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1985)
Ranville v. JTS Enterprises, Inc.
689 P.2d 1274 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
680 P.2d 348, 101 N.M. 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gantt-v-l-g-air-conditioning-nmctapp-1984.