Gulf Insurance v. Lane

53 F.R.D. 107, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 705, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12571
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 2, 1971
DocketCiv. No. 71-298
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 53 F.R.D. 107 (Gulf Insurance v. Lane) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gulf Insurance v. Lane, 53 F.R.D. 107, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 705, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12571 (W.D. Okla. 1971).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

EUBANKS, District Judge.

This diversity declaratory judgment action to interpret an automobile liability insurance policy issued by the plaintiff arises out of an automobile collision in which three persons were killed and three minor children were injured. The vehicles were being driven by Edward Lee Beard and Harold Roy Hawkins. Both were killed. Betty Lee Hawkins, wife of Harold Roy Hawkins was also killed and their three minor children were injured in the collision.

Defendant Jack Lane was appointed administrator of the estates of Harold Roy Hawkins and Betty Lee Hawkins and guardian of the person and the estate of the three minor children, Guy Matthew Hawkins, Terry Lynn Hawkins, and Roy Neal Hawkins. Defendant Tom S. Williams of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and one Hazel Beard, surviving spouse of Edward Lee Beard and a resident of Abilene, Texas, were appointed co-administrators of the estate of Edward Lee Beard. They signed the necessary oaths but Hazel Beard did not, as a non-resident administrator, appoint a resident agent for the service of process as required by law.

On April 8, 1971, defendant Jack Lane, in his capacity as administrator of the estates of Harold Roy Hawkins and Betty Lee Hawkins and as guardian of their aforesaid children, commenced two wrongful death actions and a personal injury action in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, Case Nos. CJ-71-1170, CJ-71-1171 and CJ-71-1172, naming as defendants in said actions Tom S. Williams and Hazel Beard, joint administrators of the estate of Edward Lee Beard, deceased. Each petition alleges that the aforesaid collision was solely and proximately caused by the negligence of Edward Lee Beard, deceased, and prays for money judgment against his estate.

[109]*109The complaint herein alleges that the estate of Edward Lee Beard has made demand upon the plaintiff herein to assume the defense and to pay any judgment which might be rendered against said estate in the aforesaid state cases. The complaint further alleges that defendant Westchester Fire Insurance Company had issued an automobile liability policy to Edward Lee Beard which was in full force and effect at the time of the aforesaid collision by reason of which said defendant Westchester is obligated to defend the estate of Edward Lee Beard in the state court actions but that said defendant Westchester has refused to acknowledge its coverage and to perform its obligations thereunder claiming that the duty to defend said state court actions and to pay any judgments rests upon the plaintiff herein. The complaint further alleges that plaintiff herein is not so obligated for the reason that Edward Lee Beard, deceased, was not an insured under its policy at the time and place of said collision. The plaintiff prays for a judgment declaring the rights and obligations of the parties herein and for a judgment declaring that plaintiff is not obligated to defendant or to pay any judgments which might be rendered against the estate of Edward Lee Beard in the state court actions.

Plaintiff herein is incorporated under the laws of the State of Missouri, but its principal place of business is in the State of Texas. Hazel Beard, co-administrator of the estate of Edward.Lee Beard, is a citizen of the State of Texas. She is not joined in this action. Thus the defendants herein challenge the jurisdiction of the Court alleging “indispensable” party under Rule 19 F.R.Civ.P., 28 U.S.C.A., Supplement, and that, since her joinder would defeat diversity jurisdiction, this Court is obligated to dismiss this action. The motion for dismissal was overruled on June 10, 1971, and defendants have now moved for reconsideration.

Rule 19 was amended in 1966. The Rule as amended is lengthy. Prior to amendment the Rule was styled “Necessary Joinder of Parties.” Upon amendment it was styled “Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication” The change was significant. Prior to the amendment, the Rule equated the word “indispensable” with the expression “having a joint interest.” The amended Rule eliminates the “joint interest” requirement.

The Notes of Advisory Committee on Rules, 28 U.S.C.A., Rule 19, read, in pertinent part as follows:

Whenever feasible, the persons materially interested in the subject of an action * * * should be joined as parties so that they may be heard and a complete disposition made. When this comprehensive joinder cannot be accomplished * * * the case should be examined pragmatically and a choice made between the alternatives of proceeding with the action in the absence of particular interested persons, and dismissing the action.
Even if the court is mistaken in its decision to proceed in the absence of an interested person, it does not by that token deprive itself of the power to adjudicate as between the parties already before it through proper service of process. But the court can make a legally binding adjudication only between the parties actually joined in the action. It is true that an adjudication between the parties before the court may on occasion adversely affect the absent person as a practical matter, or leave a party exposed to a later inconsistent recovery by the absent person. These are factors which should be considered in deciding whether the action should proceed, or should rather be dismissed; but they do not themselves negate the court’s power to adjudicate as between the parties who have been joined.
* * * Textual defects * * * (3) The use of “indispensable” and “joint interest” in the context of original Rule 19 directed attention to the tech[110]*110nical or abstract character of the rights or obligations of the persons whose joinder was in question, and correspondingly distracted attention from the pragmatic considerations which should be controlling.

The 1966 Amendment did away with the traditional categories of “indispensable” and “necessary”. It substitutes instead a pragmatic test for whether an action should be allowed to proceed in the absence of a party whose joinder would be desirable for a just adjudication.

The Committee observed that where a person cannot be joined, such as where his joinder would deprive the Court of jurisdiction of the subject matter,

* * * the Court is to determine whether in equity and good conscience the action should proceed among the parties already before it, or should be dismissed. That this decision is to be made in the light of pragmatic considerations has often been acknowledged by the courts. See Roos v. Texas Co., 23 F.2d 171 (2nd Cir. 1927), cert. denied, 277 U.S. 587 [48 S.Ct. 434, 72 L.Ed. 1001] (1928); Niles-Bement-Pond Co. v. Iron Moulders Union, 254 U.S. 77, 80 [41 S.Ct. 39, 65 L.Ed. 145] (1920). The subdivision sets out four relevant considerations drawn from the experience revealed in the decided cases. The factors are to a certain extent overlapping and they are not intended to exclude other considerations which' may be applicable in particular situations.

Rule 19 was explicated by the Supreme Court in Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Co. v. Patterson, (1968) 390 U.S. 102, 88 S.Ct. 733, 19 L.Ed.2d 936, which case, like the case at bar, had its origin in an automobile collision.

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Bluebook (online)
53 F.R.D. 107, 15 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 705, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gulf-insurance-v-lane-okwd-1971.