Johnson v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co.

274 So. 2d 769
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 12, 1973
Docket4123
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 274 So. 2d 769 (Johnson v. Aetna Casualty and Surety 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
Johnson v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 274 So. 2d 769 (La. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

274 So.2d 769 (1973)

Wayne JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellee-Appellant,
v.
AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY CO., Defendant-Appellee,
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 4123.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 12, 1973.
Rehearing Denied April 2, 1973.

*770 Gist, Methvin & Trimble by DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr., Alexandria, for State Farm.

David A. Sheffield, Alexandria, for Johnson.

James A. Bolen, Jr., Alexandria, for Hartford.

Polk, Foote, Randolph & Percy by J. Michael Percy, Alexandria, for Lillian H. Jackson.

Gold, Hall, Hammill & Little by Leo Gold and Jimmy M. Stoker, Alexandria, for Aetna and Philip Morris, Jr.

Lillian M. Cohen, and Louis P. Trent, New Orleans, for defendant-appellee.

Before FRUGE, MILLER and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

MILLER, Judge.

Defendant Mrs. Lillian H. Jackson, drove her friend's Mercury automobile into an intersection through a red light and was struck by a Sheriff's patrol car moving with a green light. Plaintiff Wayne Johnson, a guest passenger in the patrol car, was awarded $13,337.35 in damages against Mrs. Jackson and her insurer State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. Defendant Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, liability insurer on the Mercury automobile driven by Mrs. Jackson, was not liable because the owner had issued written instructions prohibiting one in Mrs. Jackson's class from driving the Mercury.

In her appeal, Mrs. Jackson contends that she had a green light and the patrol car ran the red light; that Aetna's omnibus clause affords coverage to her; and that the award should be reduced. State Farm appealed and here makes the same contentions. Alternatively State Farm contends that its non-owned automobile clause excluded coverage under its liability policy insuring Mrs. Jackson. Plaintiff Johnson answered the appeal and seeks an increase in the award and asks that defendant Aetna also be cast in judgment. The trial court judgment is affirmed.

The accident occurred on October 16, 1969 at 3:40 a. m. at the intersection of MacArthur Drive and Jackson Street. MacArthur Drive is a four lane (with median) loop highway taking by-passing traffic from three major highways around Alexandria. At the intersection, two lanes of MacArthur Drive take traffic northwesterly and the other two lanes take traffic southeasterly. Jackson Street has only two lanes and takes traffic northeasterly and southwesterly. The intersection has two electric semaphore signals for northwest bound traffic and two signals for southeast bound traffic on MacArthur. Northeast and southwest bound traffic on Jackson is confronted with four electric semaphore signals.

*771 Mrs. Jackson proceeded northwesterly on MacArthur and turned left to proceed southwesterly on Jackson. When the front of the Mercury occupied the left or passing lane of the southeast bound traffic lane of MacArthur, the front end of the southeast bound patrol car struck the right front side of the Mercury. The patrol car was proceeding at or about the 50 miles per hour speed limit for MacArthur Drive traffic. The drivers did not see the other vehicle before impact.

Mrs. Jackson thought that she had a blinking yellow light allowing her to proceed with caution, but it was established that the signal sequence did not provide for blinking lights at the time of the accident. Deputy Louis A. Robinson was driving the patrol car and testified that he had a green light at the intersection. This was corroborated by a disinterested witness, Harvey Lee Gongre, who was following the patrol car at a distance of some 100 to 200 feet. Gongre testified that there was no warning that the Mercury would run the red light and that the patrol car had no opportunity to avoid the collision.

The trial court's finding that Mrs. Jackson's negligence was the sole legal cause of the accident is manifestly correct.

The Mercury automobile was owned by the P. L. Peterson Trust and leased to Philip Morris Incorporated. Mr. R. X. Chauvin, a 24 year employee of Philip Morris, was always assigned a company car for the purpose of making his sales contacts. It was standard practice for Mr. Chauvin to select and buy the car which he desired to use and he selected this unit a few months before the accident. Philip Morris' liability insurance with Aetna provided:

"II. PERSONS INSURED

Each of the following is an insured under this insurance to the extent set forth below:
(a) the named insured;
(b) any partner or executive officer thereof, but with respect to a non-owned automobile only while such automobile is being used in the business of the named insured;
(c) any other person while using an owned automobile or a hired automobile with the permission of the named insured, provided his actual operation or (if he is not operating) his other actual use thereof is within the scope of such permission...."

Several years before this accident Philip Morris distributed a booklet to each employee titled "YOUR COMPANY CAR and Rules of the Road" which set forth its permission to use the leased vehicle in the following terms:

"PERSONAL USE—As you know you are permitted to use your company owned car for personal driving, including vacations, at a cost to you of only 3½¢ per mile. However, the privilege to drive for personal use is restricted to you and your wife. Expenses OTHER THAN storage, parking, washing and tolls which you incur in the course of your personal driving, may be reported on your expense voucher just as you report while driving on business. The liability insurance coverage carried by the company on automobiles includes use of the car for personal driving."

The trial court found as fact that Mrs. Jackson did not have permission of the named insured, Philip Morris, to operate the automobile, and that Chauvin knew that he did not have authority to let Mrs. Jackson drive the leased vehicle. Both Chauvin and his immediate superior Mr. Adolph N. Hampton so testified. This testimony together with the quoted written notice supports the trial court's conclusion that the automobile was furnished to Chauvin for business use and for personal use only by Chauvin and his wife.

The omnibus insured clause has been interpreted by the courts to extend *772 coverage to "second permittees" whose actions or status indicates that "use" or "operation" of the automobile, in the technical sense of those terms, is with the implied permission of the named insured. Various tests have been devised by the courts to infer permission of the named insured. Appellants and some appellees answering the appeal, argue that the jurisprudence which has found implied permission is here applicable. It would serve no purpose to discuss in detail the various treatments courts have accorded the omnibus insured clause under the differing factual situations (Rogillio v. Cazedessus, 241 La. 186, 198, 127 So.2d 734, 738 [1961]) because here, Philip Morris' established policy was to restrict use of the automobile to business use and personal use by Chauvin and his wife. For an exhaustive discussion of the omnibus clause and its interpretation and treatment by the courts, see Smith v. Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, 161 So.2d 903 (La.App. 1 Cir. 1964); Coco v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 136 So.2d 288 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1961).

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