Great American Insurance Company v. Watts

1964 OK 130, 393 P.2d 236, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 347
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 9, 1964
Docket40143
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 1964 OK 130 (Great American Insurance Company v. Watts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great American Insurance Company v. Watts, 1964 OK 130, 393 P.2d 236, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 347 (Okla. 1964).

Opinion

DAVISON, Justice.

This is an appeal by Great American Insurance Company (plaintiff below) from an order and judgment sustaining the demurrer of M. C. Watts, d/b/a Watts Oil Company (defendant below) to plaintiff’s second amended petition (herein referred to as petition) and dismissing said petition. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the lower court.

Plaintiff’s petition alleged, inter alia, that on February 7, 1958, one Elbert Moore ordered a quantity of kerosene from defendant and defendant carelessly and negligently delivered gasoline or other highly inflammable liquid to Moore for his domestic use and that the following day, when it was used in a cooking stove, the liquid exploded and caught fire whereby Moore and his wife suffered personal injuries and totally destroyed certain personal property which had a cash value in excess of $1000; that prior thereto, and on April 22, 1955, plaintiff had issued to Moore and his wife, a fire insurance policy in the sum of $1000 insuring them against loss or damage to 'said personal property caused by fire or explosion and that on March 15, 1958, plaintiff paid the Moores $1000 for damages to the said property caused by defendant’s negligence; and further alleged:

“8. That on or about February 26, 1958, the defendant M. C. Watts, d/b/a Watts Oil Company, paid to Elbert Moore and Verdie Moore the sum of $3,345.00 for a conditional and partial release of their claims for personal injuries, property damages and losses, including loss of services; that said sum expressly represented their claims other than the said amount of $1,000.00 of property damages; that said pay-' ment and the conditional and partial release therefor is evidence by an instrument in writing, a copy of which is attached hereto, marked ‘Exhibit B’ and made a part hereof; that said release contained the following condition, to-wit: ‘This settlement does not prejudice the right of the undersigned to proceed against their insurance company for the $1,000.00 insurance coverage; neither is it an admission that M. C. Watts owes any sum of (sic) the insurance company by subrogation.’ ”

The petition further alleged that defendant had actual notice at and prior to February 26, 1958, of plaintiff’s subrogation claim and that by reason of defendant’s payment, and the above release, and the payment by plaintiff under its insurance policy, the Moores had no further pecuniary interest or claim in the matter and were not proper parties to the action; and that the Moores assigned to plaintiff their rights to recover the amount paid under the policy and such assignment was effected under the laws respecting subrogation. Plaintiff prayed it be subrogated to the rights of the Moores against defendant to the extent of $1000 and for judgment in that amount.

The order sustaining defendant’s demurrer is a general order and does not state on what ground the demurrer was sustained. The grounds pertinent to arguments in the briefs are (1) that there was a defect of parties plaintiff; (2) that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; (3) that the peition (second amended petition) contains new matter and shows on its face to be barred by applicable statutes of limitation.

Plaintiff contends .that under the allegations of the petition relating the facts and circumstances of the various transactions of the persons involved the insured (the Moores) have no further pecuniary interest or claim and, contrary to defendant’s contention, are not necessary plaintiffs in the action.

Plaintiff cites Harrington v. Central States Fire Ins. Co., 169 Okl. 255, 36 P.2d 738, 96 A.L.R. 859. In that case we said that an insurer, upon paying the loss for destruction of property, became without *239 formal assignment or express stipulation in the policy, subrogated, to the extent of the amount paid, to the insured’s right of action to recover such loss. We also held in that case that where a statute (Sec. 10557, O.S.1931) prescribed a standard form of insurance policy authorizing the insured to assign to the insurer his right of recovery against other parties to the extent of the loss paid by the insurer, such statute permits the assignment of a cause of action for the wrongful destruction of personal property by fire where the insurance company has paid the loss. The decision held further that such statute (Sec. 10557, O.S. 1931) modified or was an exception to Sec. 142, O.S.1931. (12 O.S.1961 § 221):

“Every action must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, except as otherwise provided in this article but this section shall not be deemed to authorize the assignment of a thing in action, not arising out of contract.”

The above mentioned portion of Sec. 10557, O.S.1931, is present in modified form in the prescribed standard form of fire insurance policy in 36 O.S.1961 § 4803.

In the Harrington case, supra, we further held that where the value of the property destroyed by the fire exceeds the amount paid by the insurance company, the insured may sue in his own name against 4he wrongdoer for himself and for the benefit of the insurance company for the .amount paid by it, and that:

“Where the value of the property destroyed does not exceed the loss paid, this rule does not apply, because the .assured, oivner zvould no longer have .any interest in the cause of action, and while the suit may be brought in the name of the assured for the use and benefit of the insurer, such assured is ■.not a necessary party, and a suit to .recover such loss may be maintained . by the insurer in its own name.” (Emphasis ours)

In McMahan v. McCafferty, 205 Okl. 656, 240 P.2d 443, the insured plaintiff, after having been fully paid for his loss by an insurance company, sued the tortfeasor for the loss. This court, after stating the rules in the Harrington case, supra, held that the action should have been brought, either by the insurance company in its own name or by the plaintiff as trustee for the insurance company.

In City of New York Ins. Co. v. Tice, 159 Kan. 176, 152 P.2d 836, 157 A.L.R. 1223, the court was faced with a situation very similar to that in the present appeal; in that the loss of the insured had been settled and satisfied by payment from both the wrongdoer and the insurer. The Kansas statutes were practically identical to those of Oklahoma. The decision cites prior holdings of the Kansas court in accord with the above rules set forth in our case of Harrington v. Central States Fire Ins. Co., supra. In determining that the insurance company could sue in its own name, as the real party in interest, to recover from the wrongdoer the amount paid to the insured, the Kansas court stated:

“ * * * The basis is that where the insured no longer has a claim he can assert there is no sound reason why the action may not be brought by the insurer, as the real party in interest. This is equally true whether the loss has been fully covered by insurance or partly covered by the insurance and partly by payment by the wrongdoer. The essential fact is that the insured no longer has a financial interest in the outcome. It also follows that in such a situation the consent of the insured to action by the insurer is not necessary.”

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Bluebook (online)
1964 OK 130, 393 P.2d 236, 1964 Okla. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-american-insurance-company-v-watts-okla-1964.