General Ins. Corp. v. Hughes

249 S.W.2d 231, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2151
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 1, 1952
DocketNo. 12368
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 249 S.W.2d 231 (General Ins. Corp. v. Hughes) 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
General Ins. Corp. v. Hughes, 249 S.W.2d 231, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2151 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

In cause No. 9011 upon the docket of the District Court of Trinity County, J. R. Hughes, for himself and as next friend of his minor child, recovered judgment in the total principal sum of $17,750 for the death of Mrs. J. R. Hughes, which resulted from a collision bfetween the automobile which was' being driven by Mrs. Hughes, and a truck which was being driven by an employee of C. P. Hughes, who was engaged in the lumber business under the name of C. P. Hughes Lumber Company. At the time of the collision C. P. Hughes held' the General Insurance Corporation’s Policy NA 68023. — Following said collision said insurance company investigated its liability and obtained from C. P. Hughes the affidavit, copy of which is appended to this opinion, and concluded that it was liable on the collision coverage of the policy and has paid said coverage off, but that it was not liable under the public liability and property damages coverages of its policy, and notified C. P. Hughes that it would not defend him from liability in Cause No. 9011.

After J. R. Hughes recovered the aforesaid judgment against C. P. Hughes, the said J. R. Hughes filed this suit, being Cause No. 9182 upon the docket of aforesaid District Court, to recover under the terms of aforesaid insurance policy the amount of his aforesaid judgment, with interest, etc. C. P. Hughes intervened to recover costs incurred in defending Cause No. 9011, including attorneys’ fees, etc. The issues made by the pleadings of plaintiff, intervenor and defendant insurance company were by the Court tried to a jury, and at the conclusion of the evidence the insurance company moved for a directed verdict which was refused. The cause was then submitted upon special issues. Upon the coming in of the verdict, the defendant insurance company moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which was refused, and the Court rendered judgment for plaintiff J. R. Hughes for the amount of his aforesaid judgment, interest, etc. and rendered judgment, for intervenor C. P. Hughes for his costs, etc., all upon the verdict of the jury and upon the court’s supplemental findings.

The defendant insurance company predicates its appeal upon 13 points and with the exception of one point, which complains of the court’s refusal to define a term used in the court’s charge, the defendant complains in effect that there was no competent evidence before the jury to raise any issue of fact and that the court should have rendered judgment for defendant as a matter of law.

As indicated above, it was undisputed that C. P. Hughes owned the tractor truck which was in the collision and said truck was expressly described in the policy of insurance in the schedule of the fleet of automobiles contained in said policy. It was also undisputed that said t-ractor truck was towing a Nabors -trailer at the time of the collision, which said trailer is not expressly described in the policy of insurance. And defendant plead in its answer that liability [233]*233for public liability and property damages coverages was expressly excluded under the following language of the policy, under the heading “Exclusions”, "This policy does not apply: * * * (c) under coverages A and B while the automobile is used for the towing of any trailer owned or hired by the insured and not covered by like insurance in the company; * * Defendant further plead that the Nabors trailer which was being towed by the tractor truck was not insured by like insurance in the company and that' consequently there was no obligation on the part of defendant “to afford any of the protection benefits or furnish any defense or in any manner become liable to these plaintiffs or the plaintiff in intervention in any manner, shape or form whatsoever.”

Defendant further alleged that the affidavit furnished by C. P. Hughes established that he owned the Nabors trailer which was not insured, and by causing same to be towed by ah insured tractor, he excluded any coverage tinder public liability or property damage provisions of the policy of insurance and that it is a requirement of the policy of insurance “The insured shall cooperate with the company and, upon the company’s request, * * * shall assist in * * * securing and giving evidence, * * And defendant plead that if said affidavit were false, the furnishing of false information did not constitute “cooperation” and defendant alleged that C. P. Hughes was estopped to deny the truth of the affidavit, and so with respect to plaintiff J. R. Hughes.

By supplemental petition plaintiff alleged that the Nabors trailer was insured under the “Temporary Substitute Automobile” provision of the policy, which provides that the word “automobile” as used in the policy means “Under coverages A, B, and X, an automobile not owned by the named insured while temporarily used as a substitute for the described automobile while withdrawn from normal use because of its break down, repair, servicing, loss or destruction” and Plaintiff alleged that the Nabors trailer was being used as a substitute for the insured Lufkin trailer while said Lufkin trailer “was withdrawn from normal use 'because of its break down, repair, servicing, loss or destruction.” Plaintiffs further alleged that C. P. Hughes did not own the trailer at the time, etc.

Plaintiffs further alleged that in the giving of all information to the defendant relative to any matters pertaining to the collision “including all information contained in the statement typed by an agent of the insurance company and signed by the said Charles P. Hughes, the assured, that he has carefully and fully informed defendant of the true facts, circumstances and conditions, and has in no way done other than to give to the defendant his full and complete cooperation, and that in the references suggesting that said Charles P. Hughes owned the said Nabors trailer involved herein, the said Charles P. Hughes fully informed the defendant as to the manner of the acquisition of said Nabors trailer and of each and all of the steps taken in the way of acquiring title to said trailer, and defendant was, therefore, as fully informed as was the said Charles P. Hughes relative to the title to the aforesaid Nabors trailer * *

Based upon the pleadings of the parties • and upon the evidence, some of which is hereafter quoted, the court submitted to the. jury special issues Nos. 1, 2 and 3, which, as answered, by the jury, read as follows:

“Issue No. 1

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Nabors trailer involved in the collision out of which this case arose, was, at the time and place of said collision, temporarily used as a substitute for 'Charles P. Hughes’ Lufkin, trailer listed as entry 2 in the fleet schedule attached to Policy NA 68023?”

Answered “Yes.” .

“Issue No. 2

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Charles P. Hughes’ Luf-kin trailer listed as entry 2 in the fleet schedule attached to Policy NA 68023, was at the time and place of collision out of which this suit arose withdrawn from normal use because of its breakdown, or repair, or servicing, or loss or destruction ?”

Answered “Yes.”

[234]*234“Issue No. 3

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Nabors’ trailer involved in the collision out of which this cause arose, at the time of said collision, was not owned by Charles P. Hughes?”

Answered “It was not owned by Charles P. Hughes.”

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Related

General Insurance v. Hughes
255 S.W.2d 193 (Texas Supreme Court, 1953)

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Bluebook (online)
249 S.W.2d 231, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 2151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-ins-corp-v-hughes-texapp-1952.