Great American Insurance Co. v. Golla

493 N.W.2d 602, 1992 Minn. App. LEXIS 1208, 1992 WL 365620
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 15, 1992
DocketC2-92-1057
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 493 N.W.2d 602 (Great American Insurance Co. v. Golla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great American Insurance Co. v. Golla, 493 N.W.2d 602, 1992 Minn. App. LEXIS 1208, 1992 WL 365620 (Mich. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

SCHUMACHER, Judge.

Appellant Great American Insurance Company paid property damage and uninsured motorist benefits to its insured and then asserted a subrogation claim against respondents Ted, Dale and Marguerite Gol-la. Great American’s original complaint alleged a tractor owned and operated by Dale Golla and a pickup truck owned and operated by Ted Golla were involved in the accident. Following investigation and discovery, Great American amended its complaint to allege the tractor was owned by Ted Golla and operated by Dale and Marguerite Golla and was the only motor vehicle involved in the accident.

Ted Golla moved for summary judgment. In response to Ted Golla’s motion, Great American asserted the pickup truck and the tractor were involved in the accident. The trial court granted Ted Golla’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

FACTS

Ted Golla is Dale Golla’s father. Marguerite Golla is Dale Golla’s wife. On October 4, 1987, Dale Golla and his family visited his parents’ farm, where Dale used Ted Golla’s tractor. In the late afternoon, after a few hours in the field, the tractor failed to start. Dale Golla assumed the tractor needed a jump-start, so he and Marguerite Golla drove back to the farm in Marguerite Golla’s car to get Ted Golla’s pickup truck and jumper cables. When Dale and Marguerite Golla were unable to get the tractor started using jumper cables, they decided to tow the tractor back to the farm using the pickup truck. Dale Golla drove the pickup while Marguerite Golla steered the tractor.

Dale and Marguerite Golla towed the tractor to the crown of a hill on Todd County Road 14, a two-lane highway. Dale Golla intended to roll the tractor down the hill and “pop” the clutch to get the tractor started. The tractor was one-half to three-quarters on the shoulder of the road, facing west, with one wheel on the pavement of County Road 14.

Dale Golla unhooked the tractor from the pickup truck to put the truck behind the tractor for additional security. He turned the pickup around and was heading east on County Road 14 to get behind the tractor when he saw a vehicle heading toward him from the east. He flashed his headlights at the approaching vehicle to warn the driver to slow down. The driver of the other vehicle, Leslie Bass, did not slow down, however, and struck the back of the tractor. At the time of the accident, Marguerite Golla was sitting on the tractor.

Leslie Bass’ wife was injured in the collision and the Basses’ insurer, Great American, paid $3,040.96 in property damage benefits and $15,000 in uninsured motorist benefits to the Basses. Great American sought subrogation against the Gollas.

In its initial complaint, Great American asserted:

That at all times pertinent hereto, Dale Lee Golla was the owner and operator of a 1960 Case Tractor.
* * * * * *
That at all times pertinent hereto, Defendant Ted Golla was the owner and operator of a pickup truck.
5ft * * * * *
That on or about October 4, 1987, the Defendants, and each of them, so negligently operated their motor vehicles so as to cause them to collide with a vehicle owned and operated by Plaintiff’s insured.

Great American subsequently moved to amend its complaint. In its motion, Great American stated that through discovery it had determined the tractor was involved in the accident, the pickup truck was not involved in the accident, the tractor was owned by Ted Golla, and Marguerite Golla was on the tractor at the time of the accident. The trial court granted the motion. Great American’s amended complaint made no mention of the pickup truck. Great American also moved for summary judg *604 ment on the issue of whether it was entitled to subrogation.

Ted Golla then moved for summary judgment, asserting the tractor was not a motor vehicle for purposes of the Safety Responsibility Act and Great American was not entitled to subrogation unless it could prove a duplicate recovery. In response to Ted Golla’s motion, Great American asserted that both the tractor and the pickup were involved.

The trial court granted Ted Golla’s motion for summary judgment. Great American’s claim that the pickup truck was involved was not addressed. Ted Golla’s motion to amend the order for judgment to include the language of Minn.R.Civ.P. 54.02 was granted. Great American appeals.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err in holding the Minnesota Safety Responsibility Act does not apply to Ted Golla’s tractor?

2. Did Great American adequately preserve ' its claim that Ted Golla’s pickup truck was involved in the accident?

ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and a party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Minn.R.Civ.P. 56.03. On review of a summary judgment, this court must determine whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the trial court correctly applied the law. Offerdahl v. University of Minn. Hosps. & Clinics, 426 N.W.2d 425, 427 (Minn.1988).

In the present case, the trial court determined that the tractor involved in the accident was not a motor vehicle within the meaning of the Safety Responsibility Act. Interpretation of a statute is a question of law which this court reviews de novo on appeal. Hibbing Educ. Ass’n v. Public Employment Relations Bd., 369 N.W.2d 527, 529 (Minn.1985).

1. Motor Vehicle

The Minnesota Safety Responsibility Act provides:

Whenever any motor vehicle shall be operated within this State, by any person other than the owner, with the consent of the owner, express or implied, the operator thereof shall in case of accident, be deemed the agent of the owner of such motor vehicle in the operation thereof.

Minn.Stat. § 170.54 (1988). The Safety Responsibility Act does not currently contain a definition of the term “motor vehicle.” The Act formerly defined the term “motor vehicle” to mean

every self-propelled vehicle which is designed for use upon a highway, including trailers and semi-trailers designed for use with such vehicles, except traction engines, road rollers, farm tractors, tractor cranes, power shovels, and well-drillers.

Minn.Stat. § 170.21, subd. 5 (1972) (emphasis added). This section of the Safety Responsibility Act was repealed in 1974 when the legislature adopted the No-Fault Act. 1974 Minn.Laws ch. 408, § 33. The No-Fault Act contains the following definition:

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Bluebook (online)
493 N.W.2d 602, 1992 Minn. App. LEXIS 1208, 1992 WL 365620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-american-insurance-co-v-golla-minnctapp-1992.