Joseph v. Dickerson

754 So. 2d 912, 2000 WL 41250
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 19, 2000
Docket99-C-1046, 99-C-1188
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 754 So. 2d 912 (Joseph v. Dickerson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph v. Dickerson, 754 So. 2d 912, 2000 WL 41250 (La. 2000).

Opinion

754 So.2d 912 (2000)

Linda L. JOSEPH and Andrew J. Joseph
v.
Judith W. DICKERSON, Christina A. Dickerson and Midland Risk Insurance Company.

Nos. 99-C-1046, 99-C-1188.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

January 19, 2000.

*913 Michael James Laughlin, New Orleans, for Applicant in No. 99-C-1046.

Geoffrey Jacob Orr, Campbell, McCraine, Sistrunk, Anzelmo, & Hardy, Metairie; Jordan Brown, New Orleans, Byron Andrew Richie, Charles Vernon Richie, Richie & Richie, Shreveport; Paul Douglas Oberle, Jr., Shreveport, for Respondent in No. 99-aC-1046.

Geoffrey Jacob Orr, Campbell, McCraine, Sistrunk, Anzelmo, & Hardy, Metairie, for Applincant in No. 99-C-1188.

Michael James Laughlin, New Orleans, Jordan Brown, Byron Andrew Richie, Charles Vernon Richie, Richie & Richie, Shreveport; Paul Douglas Oberle, Jr., Shreveport, for Respondent in No. 99-C-1188.

CALOGERO, Chief Justice.[*]

This case arises out of an automobile collision between a car owned by plaintiff Linda Joseph, driven by her son, plaintiff Andrew Joseph, and a car owned by defendant Judith Dickerson, driven by her daughter, defendant Christina Dickerson. At the time of the accident, Christina was nineteen years old and lived with her mother and baby in New Orleans. The vehicles collided at the intersection of North Miro Street and A.P. Tureaud Avenue in New Orleans. We granted writs in this case to determine whether the court of appeal was correct in finding Judith liable because she loaned or entrusted her car to her daughter, Christina, whose negligence caused the accident, knowing that Christina was an excluded driver under a policy Judith had procured from Midland Risk Insurance Company.

This case presents three significant issues. First, we must determine whether the court of appeal was correct in finding Judith negligent for entrusting her vehicle to Christina, a competent, but policy-excluded, driver. As is indicated hereinafter, we hold that the court of appeal incorrectly found Judith liable for lending her car to an otherwise competent driver known by Judith to be excluded from coverage under her liability policy. A person who loans or entrusts an automobile to another can be found liable for the borrower's causing damages to a third person if the circumstances show the lender to be negligent in loaning or entrusting the vehicle. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390 (1965). A lender cannot be found liable for loaning the car to a competent driver, or to a driver not known to be a risk or threat to other persons, as was the case here, simply for the reason that she knew or should have known that her own liability insurance policy, by its terms, would not cover the driver's liability for negligently causing injury.

*914 The second issue in this case requires us to determine independently whether Judith is vicariously liable to the plaintiffs for Christina's acts while Christina performed a family chore at Judith's request. Is Judith responsible for Christina's negligence because Judith asked Christina to take Christina's great-grandmother, in Judith's car, to a doctor's appointment? We find that Judith is not vicariously liable under a "mission" theory of liability for her daughter's negligent conduct. As a consequence, our conclusion obviates the need to decide whether the endorsement provision offends public policy, which denies coverage to the insured for imputed negligence arising out of the excluded driver's use of the car.

Finally, we must resolve whether the named driver exclusion endorsement is even applicable in light of the statutory requirement that the excluded person be a resident of the same household in order to bypass the omnibus coverage requirement of La.Rev.Stat. 32:861 and La.Rev.Stat. 32:900.[1] We find that the exclusion endorsement does apply. The record supports the finding that Christina was a resident of the same household as the named insured, Judith. La.Rev.Stat. 32:900(L) has been satisfied. Thus, plaintiffs are precluded from recovering from Midland Risk.

For the reasons that follow, we thus reverse the court of appeal's casting Judith Dickerson in damages to the plaintiffs. Furthermore, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeal insofar as it dismissed the plaintiffs' claims against the automobile liability insurer, Midland Risk.

On June 19, 1996, Christina Dickerson broadsided Andrew Joseph at the intersection of North Miro Street and A.P. Tureaud Avenue. Andrew was driving his mother's car west on North Miro Street. Christina was driving her mother's car north on A.P. Tureaud Avenue. At the time of the accident, Christina was an adult. The Joseph vehicle was struck in the middle of the driver's side. The impact caused the vehicle to spin three hundred and sixty degrees. Andrew Joseph was injured and Linda Joseph's car was damaged.

At the time of the accident, Christina, who had taken her great-grandmother to the doctor, was returning the great-grandmother to the latter's home. Ordinarily, Judith would have accompanied the patient, her own grandmother, to the doctor's appointment. However, Judith was unable to leave her job. Judith had therefore *915 asked her daughter Christina to drive the patient, in Judith's car, to the medical appointment.

Alleging property damage and multiple injuries to Andrew, the plaintiffs, Linda Joseph and her son Andrew, filed a petition in First City Court, Parish of Orleans, against Judith, Christina, and Midland Risk Insurance Company, Judith's automobile liability insurer. The plaintiffs asserted negligence and vicarious liability claims. In response, Midland Risk denied coverage, arguing that Judith had signed, and thus put into place, a policy endorsement specifically excluding Christina from coverage.[2] Further, Midland Risk denied coverage for any possible liability of Judith Dickerson because of the policy provision that denies coverage for negligence that may be imputed by law to the named insured arising out of the use of the car by the excluded driver, Christina.

The city court dismissed the action against Midland Risk, finding that the insurance policy excluded coverage for Christina and otherwise did not provide relevant coverage for Judith. The city court judge did, however, cast both Christina and Judith in judgment in solido for damages, and awarded $1,500.00 to Linda Joseph for property damages and $4,368.00 to Andrew Joseph for compensatory damages.

The plaintiffs and Judith Dickerson appealed the city court's judgment. The court of appeal affirmed. Joseph v. Dickerson, 98-1013 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/10/99), 728 So.2d 1066. The court of appeal found no manifest error in the city court's finding that Christina Dickerson was a resident of her mother's household, not rated on the policy, and specifically excluded, by name, from coverage. In addition, the court of appeal found that Christina was not on a mission for her mother, such as would cause her mother to be held vicariously liable. In so finding, the appellate court stated that the act of driving her great-grandmother to a doctor's appointment is both a natural obligation and a typical favor, not a mission for which the car-owning mother might be exposed to vicarious liability.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
754 So. 2d 912, 2000 WL 41250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joseph-v-dickerson-la-2000.