Leehans v. State Farm Ins. Co.

534 So. 2d 979, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2485, 1988 WL 127043
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 16, 1988
Docket88-CA-369
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 534 So. 2d 979 (Leehans v. State Farm Ins. 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
Leehans v. State Farm Ins. Co., 534 So. 2d 979, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2485, 1988 WL 127043 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

534 So.2d 979 (1988)

Bernard C. LEEHANS
v.
STATE FARM INSURANCE CO., et al.

No. 88-CA-369.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

November 16, 1988.

Benjamin B. Sanders, Kevin L. Cole, Metairie, for plaintiff/appellant.

E. Ross Buckley, Jr., Metairie, Patrick F. Lee, New Orleans, for defendants/appellees.

Before CHEHARDY, WICKER and GOTHARD, JJ.

WICKER, Judge.

This appeal arises from a petition for damages filed on behalf of Bernard C. Leehans, plaintiff/appellant, against defendants/appellees, State Farm Insurance Company, Sandra Muller Leehans and Mercedes Muller. Leehans seeks damages he asserts arose from a domestic argument with his wife, Sandra Muller Leehans in which Sandra threatened to shoot and frighten Leehans by waving two guns into the air. One of the guns allegedly discharged and wounded Leehans.

Mercedes Muller, Sandra's mother, was allegedly present during the incident. Leehans seeks damages from Muller on the basis that she allowed her daughter to have possession of the weapons when she knew Sandra to be unstable and incapable of handling firearms.

Leehans's petition alleges that both Sandra and Muller are persons of the full age of majority.

The trial court granted two motions for summary judgment filed on behalf of State Farm and Muller. Leehans now appeals the dismissal of his claims against these two parties. His suit against his wife, Sandra, still remains as does her reconventional demand against him. We affirm the dismissal of Leehans's claims against State Farm and Muller.

*980 State Farm was named as a defendant on the basis it issued policies of insurance to Sandra and Muller. The motion for partial summary judgment filed by State Farm seeks dismissal on the ground that the policy issued to Sandra and Leehans does not provide coverage for bodily injury and medical payments to an insured.

In support of its motion State Farm attached a certified copy of the insurance policy issued to Leehans effective 12-20-83 to 12-20-84. No opposition or countervailing affidavits were filed by Leehans.

A second motion for partial summary judgment was filed on behalf of Muller. Muller contends that she had no reason to believe her daughter would use any firearms against her ex-husband, Leehans, nor did Muller know her daughter had the firearms in her hands until the shooting began. In support of the motion Muller attached two affidavits.[1]

No opposition or countervailing affidavits were filed by Leehans in response to Muller's motion for partial summary judgment.

Muller's motion for summary judgment was originally set for September 25, 1987. However, on her motion it was reset to be heard earlier on September 11, 1987 along with the motion filed on behalf of State Farm. The trial judge signed the order resetting the Muller motion on September 3rd, 1987. Notices of the trial date were issued on September 6, 1987. No service information is included in the record on appeal.

Both motions were heard on September 11, 1987. The judge granted both dismissing Leehans's claims against State Farm and Muller.

Leehans filed a motion for new trial stating that "[w]hile counsel consents to the motion by State Farm, as the homeowners insurer, of plaintiff, Bernard Leehans; counsel made an error by submitting the motion as to Mercedes Muller." Leehans's counsel urged the court to reconsider the Muller motion for summary judgment as Leehans's counsel's law partner wrongly submitted the motion for summary judgment filed by Muller when not receiving timely notice of trial.

In connection with the motion for a new trial, an ex parte order was attached. The order is confusing as it contains contradictory language. On one hand it states "the judgment signed on September 11, 1987 be and the same is hereby set aside as it relates to Summary Judgment in favor of Mercedes Muller and her insurer" while at the same time also ordering that the matter be set as a show cause order for October 16, 1987 as to "why the Judgment for Summary Judgment should not be permanently set aside and the matter ordered to trial as to Mercedes Muller and her insurer." Evidently the two orders: one to set aside the prior judgment ex parte and the other to set the motion for new trial for hearing are alternative orders.

The trial court evidently realized it could not effect a substantive change in the September 11, 1987 judgment absent the granting of a new trial. La.C.Civ.P. Arts. 1951, 1971. Therefore, following the hearing on the motion for a new trial on December 11, 1987 he recalled[2] his prior order vacating his judgment of September 11, 1987 and reiterated the judgment of dismissal of the claims. Thus, on December 11, *981 1987 the trial court denied Leehans's motion for new trial.

From the adverse judgment of dismissal of the claims against Muller and State Farm, Leehans now appeals and specifies the following errors:

1. The trial court erred in allowing Muller's motion for summary judgment to be set for hearing without adequate notice to Leehans as required by La.Code Civ.P. Art. 966;
2. The trial court erred in granting a partial summary judgment in favor of Muller when a substantial issue of fact remained regarding Muller's knowledge of her daughter's mental state and inability to use due care in the handling of firearms, and
3. The trial judge erred in granting State Farm's motion for summary judgment on the basis of an insurance policy form attached to State Farm's motion since the policy was never proven to have been received by Leehans. Furthermore, the terms of the attached policy were substantially different from the terms of Leehans's original policy bearing the same number.

STATE FARM'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The certified copy of the homeowner's policy in effect at the time of the alleged incident, filed in support of the motion for summary judgment, lists Leehans as the named insured. Section II, page 12 of the policy deals with exclusions for liability coverage. Section 1(g) specifically excludes "bodily injury [bold face in original] to you or any insured within the meaning of part (a) or (b) of the definition of insured [bold face in original]."

On page 2 of the policy the preamble to the definitions states in pertinent part: "Throughout this policy, `you' and `your' refer to the `named insured' shown in the Declarations." The exclusionary clause is clear that Leehans, as the named insured, cannot recover under the State Farm policy for bodily injury. Accord: Marchese v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 396 So.2d 490, 491 (La.App. 4th Cir.1981). "Homeowner's insurance policies often exclude coverage to persons residing on the premises. 12 Couch on Insurance 2d Section 44A: 92 (2d ed. 1981)." Jenks v. State, 507 So.2d 877, 879 (La.App. 4th Cir.1987).

Appellant argues for the first time on appeal that the certified copy of the policy attached to State Farm's motion was not Leehans's original policy but instead was a new policy bearing the same number. He contends that State Farm had the burden of showing that the alleged new policy was actually mailed to Leehans. Thus, he asserts that there remains a material issue of fact regarding whether the original policy contained the same exclusion.

Appellant's assertions in brief were not presented to the trial court as evidence at the hearing on the motion. Instead, Leehans's counsel submitted the matter without having filed any opposition.

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Bluebook (online)
534 So. 2d 979, 1988 La. App. LEXIS 2485, 1988 WL 127043, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leehans-v-state-farm-ins-co-lactapp-1988.