Guidry v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co.

213 So. 3d 406, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0562, 2017 WL 658735, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 236
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 16, 2017
DocketNO. 2016 CA 0562
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 213 So. 3d 406 (Guidry v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guidry v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co., 213 So. 3d 406, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0562, 2017 WL 658735, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 236 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

PETTIGREW, J.

lain this case, defendant insurer appeals from the trial court’s February 10, 2016 judgment granting summary judgments in favor of plaintiffs and ordering that defendant insurer owed plaintiffs uninsured motorist (“UM”) coverage. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In June 2006, pursuant to an Independent Contractor Service Agreement (“Service Agreement”), plaintiff, Denise Guidry, leased her 1998 Ford pickup truck to Venture Transport Logistics, LLC (“Venture”) as a hotshot vehicle. It was agreed to by Denise and Venture that Denise’s husband, plaintiff, Calvin Guidry, would be hired by Denise and designated as the driver of the truck. With regard to insurance on Denise’s truck, the Service Agreement provided, in pertinent part, as follows:

[DENISE P. GUIDRY] shall carry “bobtail” insurance in the amount of $1,000,000.00 per occurrence. The “bobtail” insurance required herein shall be endorsed to provide coverage to VENTURE as additional insured.... Should [DENISE P. GUIDRY] for any reason not have “bobtail” insurance, VENTURE, is not obligated to, but may at its own option, arrange for and obtain “bobtail” insurance ..., for the benefit of [DENISE P. GUIDRY], and bill [DENISE P. GUIDRY] .... The cost of said insurance will be provided to [DENISE P. GUIDRY] on a weekly ... basis at a rate of $12.00.

Concerning compensation, the Service Agreement stipulated that Venture would pay Denise 75 percent of “line haul revenue”. “Line haul revenue” was defined as “the portion of revenue derived by transporting a shipment from the consignor’s origin to the consignee’s destination as related on VENTURE’S shipping documents.”

On July 14, 2006, the Guidrys received a dispatch order from Venture to pick up a load of oil field supplies and deliver the load to the Chevron base in Leeville, Louisiana. After delivering the load, the Gui-drys were involved in an automobile accident with Patricia Mousseau on Highway 90 in Des Allemands, Louisiana. At the time of the accident, Calvin was driving the hotshot vehicle, and Denise was an authorized passenger.

Following the accident, the Guidrys filed suit on July 12, 2007, against Patricia Mousseau, her husband Glenn Mousseau, their liability insurer, USAgencies Casualty Insurance Company, Inc. (“USAgencies”), Venture, and Venture’s trucking liability insurer, | .¡Zurich American Insurance Company (“Zurich”). In May 2008, plaintiffs settled their claims with the Mous-seaus and USAgencies and subsequently filed a partial motion to dismiss the Mous-seaus and USAgencies, with prejudice. The trial court signed an order granting the motion on August 12, 2008. Plaintiffs, however, specifically reserved their right to pursue their claims against Venture and [411]*411Zurich and any other unnamed party. Thereafter, on December 11, 2009, plaintiffs amended their petition to assert an uninsured motorist claim against Hudson Insurance Company (“Hudson”), the insurer from whom the required “bobtail” coverage was obtained.2

In December 2010, Hudson moved for summary judgment arguing that because plaintiffs were acting in the course and scope of their employment with Venture at the time of the accident, no coverage existed under the Hudson policy.3 Plaintiffs filed an opposition to that motion, along with a cross-motion for summary judgment asking the court to issue a judgment declaring that they were not in the business of Venture at the time of the accident and that the Hudson policy applied. The trial court denied Hudson’s motion for summary judgment on February 24, 2011, noting in reasons for judgment, “Based upon the specific facts presented in the record of this case, the trial court concludes that the covered auto was no longer ‘in the business’ of [Venture] and the exclusion in the [Hudson] policy does not apply.” Hudson applied to this court for supervisory review, which was ultimately denied by another panel of this court. Guidry v. US Agencies, 2011-0764 (La. App. 1 Cir. 10/14/11) (unpublished writ action). On | .(December 22, 2011, counsel for plaintiffs received a tender check in the amount of $100,000.00 from Hudson, to which no reservation of rights was attached.

Thereafter, in March 2012, Venture and Zurich moved for summary judgment seeking dismissal of all of plaintiffs’ claims against them. They argued that because the trial court had already determined that plaintiffs were not acting in the business of Venture at the time of the accident and that the Hudson exclusion provision did not apply, any further review of the coverage issue was precluded by the law of the case doctrine. They also maintained that the Hudson policy provided the primary coverage for the loss at issue. Hudson did not file any opposition to this motion.

The matter proceeded to hearing in September 2012, at which time counsel for all parties were present, including Hudson’s counsel. The following colloquy occurred:

[COUNSEL FOR VENTURE AND ZURICH]:
—nobody seems to contest this that the Hudson policy per its terms, is the primary policy to provide UM coverage for [plaintiffs].
So I won’t address those any further unless the Court has any questions or concerns.
THE COURT:
No, sir.
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THE COURT:
Okay. Okay. I don’t believe, [counsel for Hudson], you filed anything?
[COUNSEL FOR HUDSON]:
No, Your Honor.

[412]*412After hearing argument from the parties, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Venture and Zurich, stating as follows: “The Court will grant the Motion for Summary Judgment. ... The Court earlier ruled in a prior Motion for Summary Judgment that Mr. Calvin Guidry, at the time of this accident, was not in the business of [Venture], Therefore, the policy provided by [Hudson] provides [UM] coverage.” The trial court signed a judgment on October 23, 2012, granting summary judgment in favor of Venture Rand Zurich and dismissing plaintiffs’ claims against them, with prejudice. No appeal was taken from this final judgment.

Plaintiffs amended their petition to add claims against Hudson for bad faith damages and penalties. Hudson filed a motion for partial summary judgment in January 2013, seeking dismissal of these claims, which the trial court granted. However, in response to plaintiffs’ writ application to this court, the trial court’s judgment was reversed. Guidry v. US Agencies, 2013-0780 (La.App. 1 Cir. 8/29/13), 2013 WL 12122516 (unpublished writ action). Hudson applied to the Louisiana Supreme Court for a supervisory writ, which was denied. Guidry v. US Agencies, 2013-2317 (La. 12/2/13), 126 So.3d 1288 (unpublished writ action).

In February 2014, Hudson filed an exception raising the objection of prescription asserting that regardless of whether coverage was owed under its policy, plaintiffs’ claims against Hudson were prescribed on their face. Hudson argued that plaintiffs’ suit against the Mousseaus and their liability insurer, USAgencies, could not serve to interrupt prescription as to Hudson because plaintiffs had voluntarily dismissed those defendants.

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213 So. 3d 406, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0562, 2017 WL 658735, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guidry-v-usagencies-casualty-insurance-co-lactapp-2017.