Hofland v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.

907 S.W.2d 597, 1995 WL 457596
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 21, 1995
Docket13-93-703-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 907 S.W.2d 597 (Hofland v. Fireman's Fund Insurance 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
Hofland v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 907 S.W.2d 597, 1995 WL 457596 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

YÁÑEZ, Justice.

This ease arises out of a dispute over insurance coverage. The trial court held that La Joya Gin, Inc. (La Joya) was not covered by the insurance policy; therefore, the insurance company had no duty to defend or indemnify La Joya. By three points of error, La Joya and Larry Hofland appeal from this declaratory judgment. We affirm.

Appellants, Hofland and La Joya, initiated this lawsuit against Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company (FFIC) as a result of FFIC’s refusal to defend and indemnify La Joya for a judgment entered against it in a separate lawsuit filed by Filiberto and Maria Garza. In that lawsuit, the Garzas alleged that Robert Clyde Smith, acting as an agent of La Joya, was driving a pickup truck in the course and scope of his employment with La Joya when a flatbed trailer he was towing became disengaged and collided with Mr. Garza’s vehicle. The Garzas sued, among others, La Joya and its owner, Larry Hof-land. The trial judge concluded that Smith acted as an agent of La Joya and negligently attached the trailer to his vehicle. Thereupon, the trial judge entered a judgment against La Joya in the amount of $1,000,-000.00.

In the present lawsuit, the breach of contract claim was severed from the other claims and tried by the court without a jury. The parties stipulated to limit the issues to the proper interpretation of the policy provisions, specifically Exclusion 2(b) of the policy, and its applicability to the Garza lawsuit. The parties further stipulated that the court’s interpretation shall control the issue of FFIC’s duty to defend or indemnify La Joya. La Joya is the only named insured of the insurance policy. Exclusion 2(b) provides that the insurance does not apply

to bodily injury or property damage arising out of the ownership, maintenance, operation, use, loading or unloading of (1) any automobile or aircraft owned or operated by or rented or loaned to any insured, or (2) any other automobile or aircraft operated by any person in the course of his employment by any in-sured_ (Emphasis in original).

At the conclusion of the bench trial, the court entered a take-nothing declaratory judgment against appellants. The court made the following findings:

(1) FFIC had no duty to defend La Joya in the Garza lawsuit;
(2) FFIC had no duty to indemnify La Joya for the $1,000,000.00 judgment;
(3) the provisions of the insurance policy are unambiguous; and
(4) the relationship between Robert Clyde Smith and La Joya was adequately adjudicated by the court in the Garza lawsuit.

Hofland and La Joya appeal from this judgment.

By three points of error, appellants complain that there is no evidence to support the court’s findings that FFIC had no duty to defend or indemnify and assert that, as a matter of law, the policy provisions were *599 ambiguous. We address these three points together.

Conclusions of law will be upheld on appeal if the judgment can be sustained on any legal theory supported by the evidence. Westech Eng’g, Inc. v. Clearwater Constructors, Inc., 835 S.W.2d 190, 196 (Tex.App.—Austin 1992, no writ); Kotis v. Nowlin Jewelry, Inc., 844 S.W.2d 920, 922 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, no writ). Conclusions of law will not be reversed unless they are erroneous as a matter of law. Westech Eng’g, Inc., 835 S.W.2d at 196; Mercer v. Bludworth, 715 S.W.2d 693, 697 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986), rev’d on other grounds, 801 S.W.2d 890 (Tex.1991).

The dispositive issue is whether Exclusion 2(b) applies, and thus, results in La Joya not being covered by its insurance policy. Appellants urge that the plain meaning of Exclusion 2(b) precludes its applicability, or alternatively, the provision is ambiguous and should be construed against the insurer. Appellants contend that as worded, the exclusion is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation. The interpretation appellants advocate in claiming the exclusion does not apply is twofold: 1) although the trailer was “used,” it was not being “operated” at the time it was hitched and 2) although Smith may have been acting “in the course of his employment,” he was not an “employee” of La Joya. A second reasonable interpretation, according to appellants and the one urged by FFIC, is that Smith “used” and “operated” the trailer and that the term “employment” applies not only to “employees” but to other persons as well.

Whether a contract is ambiguous is a question of law for the court to decide by looking at the contract as a whole in light of the circumstances present when the contract was entered. Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 394 (Tex.1983); R & P Enters. v. LaGuarta, Gavrel & Kirk, Inc., 596 S.W.2d 517, 518 (Tex.1980). If the contract can be given a certain or definite legal meaning or interpretation, then it is not ambiguous and the court will construe the contract as a matter of law. Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 393; Corriveau v. 3005 Investment Corp., 697 S.W.2d 766, 767 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.). The contractual provision, however, is ambiguous if its meaning is uncertain and doubtful and it is reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation. Coker, 650 S.W.2d at 393; RGS, Cardox Recovery, Inc. v. Dorchester Enhanced Recovery Co., 700 S.W.2d 635, 638 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

Nevertheless, not every difference in the interpretation of a contract or an insurance policy amounts to an ambiguity. Forbau v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 876 S.W.2d 132, 134 (Tex.1994). Both the insured and the insurer are likely to take conflicting views of coverage, but disagreement over the interpretation of an instrument does not automatically make it ambiguous. Id. Likewise, uncertainty or lack of clarity in the language chosen by the parties is insufficient to render a contract ambiguous. Preston Ridge Fin. Servs. Corp. v. Tyler, 796 S.W.2d 772, 777 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1990, writ denied); Medical Towers v. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hosp., 750 S.W.2d 820, 822 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1988, writ denied).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Greg Gibson v. Stp Nuclear Operating Company
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
State v. Gambling Paraphernalia, Devices, Equipment & Proceeds
356 S.W.3d 594 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Patricia M. Johnson v. Wayne Ventling
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010
Valley Diagnostic Clinic, PA v. Dougherty
287 S.W.3d 151 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Villagomez v. Rockwood Specialties, Inc.
210 S.W.3d 720 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Citgo Refining & Marketing, Inc. v. Garza
187 S.W.3d 45 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Bilodeau v. Webb
170 S.W.3d 904 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
in Re CNA Holdings, Inc. and Celanese Ltd.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
City of Corpus Christi v. Taylor
126 S.W.3d 712 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
907 S.W.2d 597, 1995 WL 457596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hofland-v-firemans-fund-insurance-co-texapp-1995.