Griffith v. American Indemnity Co.

45 S.W.2d 645
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 24, 1931
DocketNo. 9641
StatusPublished

This text of 45 S.W.2d 645 (Griffith v. American Indemnity Co.) 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
Griffith v. American Indemnity Co., 45 S.W.2d 645 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

LANE, J.

On September 1, 1926, American Indemnity Company, a Texas corporation engaged in the writing of automobile insurance of various kinds, including public liability insurance, entered into a contract in writing with F. W. Griffith and Oscar Fields, doing business as Griffith & Fields, empowering said defendants to write such insurance in the city of Terrell and vicinity. In said contract, defendants agreed'that they would “be governed in every respect by the rules, instruction and requirements of the Company.” Said agents, defendants, also agreed that “any and all suits for any and every breach of said agreement may be instituted and maintained in any court' of competent jurisdiction in Galveston County, Texas.”

American Indemnity Company instituted this suit to a district court of Galveston county against F. W. Griffith and Oscar Fields, residents of Terrell in Kaufman county, Tex. In its jjetition, it alleged the instructions given by the plaintiff to said agents, in writing, specifically prohibited the writing of insurance for negroes. Notwithstanding these instructions, the said defendants executed on behalf of plaintiff a policy of insurance, dated December 27, 1927, insuring one Fred Harris, a negro, as follows:

Against loss by collision, against legal liability for damage to property of other persons not' to exceed the sum of $1,000, and against liability for personal injuries to third parties, in the sum of $5,000, where only one person should be injured, and in the maximum sum of $10,000 where more than one person should be injured. Said agents transmitted the premium on said policy to the said plaintiff at its home office in Galveston, and never informed plaintiff that the assured was a negro; that said policy provided, among other things, that the insurance thereof should extend to any person driving said car other than the assured, when said person was driving with" the consent and/ or permission of said assured; that a suit was instituted against Fred Harris and Will Fair and American Indemnity Company in the district court of Dallas county, Tex., Sixty-Eighth judicial district, cause No. 80563-0 by Mrs. Irma Malone, individually, [646]*646and as next friend for iier minor children, Charles T. Malone, • Evelyn Malone, and Bobbie Malone, suing for damages for the death of the husband of the said plaintiff, Mrs. Irma Malone, and the father of said other plaintiffs, caused by the negligent driving of the automobile belonging to Fred Harris, insured under said policy, driven by Will Fair, in the city of Dallas with the permission of said Fred Harris on July 15, 192S, said negligence resulting in a collision with the automobile in which the said husband of Mrs. Irma Malone was riding, causing his death; that American Indemnity Company obtained its dismissal from said cause; and Texas Employers Insurance Association intervened in said cause, seeking to obtain subrogation and reimbursement of the sums paid to Mrs. Irma Malone under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the state of Texas; that judgment was entered in said cause on the 26th day of July, A. D. 1929, awarding recovery to the plaintiffs in said cause against the defendants ■ Fred Harris and Will Fair, which sum American Indemnity Company, under the said contract of insurance aforesaid, was forced to pay, and did pay on July 30, 1929; that the defendants were given every opportunity to defend said suit and to participate therein, but failed and refused to do so; that by reason of the premises, the defendants have caused loss to your petitioner by reason of this breach of, said contract in writing in the sum of $1,500 as alleged and in the further sum of $185.05 which plaintiff has had to pay for costs and for attorney’s fees, which sum was paid on August 29, 1929, and that defendants, though often requested, have failed and refused and still fail and refuse to pay said amount of damages to your petitioner to its great damage in the sum of $2,000.

Defendants each duly filed their plea of privilege to be sued in the county of their residence; such plea being in manner and form as required by law. The plaintiff duly filed its plea, controverting the respective pleas of privilege filed by the defendants as follows:

“1. Plaintiff has filed a petition herein alleging that defendants herein made, executed and delivered to plaintiff a written contract by which they agreed to represent American Indemnity Company in the writing of various forms of insurance, and further agreed that they would ‘be governed in every respect by the rules, instructions and requirements of the Company.’ Defendants also agreed:
. “ ‘All payments contemplated to be made by the Agent to the Company under this agreement shall be made to the Company at its office in the City and County of Galveston, Texas, and any and all suits for any and every breach of said agreement may be instituted and maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction in Galveston County, Texas.’
“2. Plaintiff alleges that in truth and in fact defendants entered into said written obligation and did in fact violate instructions which they had contracted to obey, namely, by writing automobile liability insurance for a negro, one Fred Harris, said act constituting breach of contract and rendering the defendants liable to pay American Indemnity Company all damages sustained by said breach in Galveston County, Texas.
“3. The court has venue of this suit because defendants, O. P. Fields and F. M. Griffith, have obligated and bound themselves to perform all obligations incurred by them by reason of breach of said written contract, aforesaid, in Galveston County, in accordance with the provisions of Article 1995, Section 5, of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.
“Wherefore, premises considered, plaintiff prays that such plea of privilege be overruled.”

Upon a hearing of the respective pleas of the parties, the plaintiff introduced in evidence the contract entered into between it and the defendants, wherein it was provided that the territory alloted to said agents shall consist of Terrell and vicinity.

Plaintiff also introduced in evidence its original petition, the pertinent parts of which we have above set out.

It also introduced in evidence the contract entered into between it and Griffith & Fields, which was made a part of its original petition. Those parts of said contract material to the issues here involved are as follows:

“The Agent shall be governed in every respect by the rules, instructions and requirements of the Company, and it is understood and agreed that such rules and instructions as are contained in the agency manual of the Company, together with such changes as may be made therein from time to time, as well as any instructions which may be givqn said agent iby letter or otherwise by the Company are hereby made a part of this contract as fully as if they were set out at length herein.
“The agent shall keep an accurate record of all bonds and policies written or renewed by the Company through them and all premiums collected and said records, accounts and all other documents and correspondence, pertaining to the Company’s business shall be considered the property of the Company, and shall be turned .over to it on demand. ⅜ * *

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177 S.W. 1188 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1911)

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Bluebook (online)
45 S.W.2d 645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griffith-v-american-indemnity-co-texapp-1931.