Life Casualty Ins. Co. of Tenn. v. Kinney

177 S.W.2d 768, 206 Ark. 804, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 547
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 14, 1944
Docket4-7221
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 177 S.W.2d 768 (Life Casualty Ins. Co. of Tenn. v. Kinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Life Casualty Ins. Co. of Tenn. v. Kinney, 177 S.W.2d 768, 206 Ark. 804, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 547 (Ark. 1944).

Opinion

McFaddin, J.

This appeal necessitates the construction to he placed on some of the provisions in an insurance policy.

Appellee, as beneficiary of Edward Kinney, deceased, sued appellant on a policy of insurance. From a jury verdict for plaintiff there is this appeal; and the sole question here is whether the trial court erred in refusing to direct a verdict for appellant. Briefly, the events leading up to the death of the insured were:

On the public highway in the city of Benton, Arkansas, a large trailer became disconnected from its truck, and the front of the trailer fell to the highway. A hoist line was extended from the front end of the trailer to the back of a tow truck in an effort to have the tow truck, by pulling the hoist line, to raise the front of the trailer. In thus pulling the front end of the tow trucli would rise from the pavement; and in an effort to afford weight to the front end of the tow truck the deceased, Edward Kinney, stood on the front bumper of the tow truck. He stood erect with his hands on the radiator and facing the driver of the tow truck. Nevertheless the front end of the tow truck went up some ten or twelve feet in the air — even to a forty-five degree angle. The hoist line slipped, or broke, and the front end of the tow truck fell to the pavement, and Edward Kinney’s feet slipped from the bumper to the pavement. On striking the pavement the front of the tow truck rebounded in the air, and on this rebound the bumper hit Edward Kinney under the chin and knocked him over backwards on the pavement; and his death was instantaneous.

The policy of insurance here involved contained a coverage for injury or death of the insured worded as follows: “If the insured shall by.being struck by actually coming in physical contact with the vehicle itself and not by coming in contact with some object loaded on or attached hereto, or some object struck and propelled against the person by said vehicle, which is being propelled by steam, cable, electricity, naphtha, gasoline, horse, compressed air or liquid power, ivhile the insured is walking or standing on a public highway, or be struck by any vehicle named above while riding a bicycle on a public highway, which term, public highway, as used in this policy shall mean the traveled and improved portion of the highway.” (Italics our own.)

The coverage here concerned was contained in one sentence of several hundred words and we have copied only a part of the sentence, but being the part here relied on by the appellant company.

Before discussing appellant’s contentions it might be well to state a few rules that apply on appeal in a case like this one: A. If there was any substantial evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the appellee, to make a question of fact for the jury, then 'the motion for directed verdict was properly refused, Arkansas Power & Light Company v. Connelly, 185 Ark. 693, 49 S. W. 2d 387; Meyer v. Moore, 195 Ark. 1114, 115 S. W. 2d 1087, and see West’s Arkansas Digest, “Appeal and Error,” § 997 (3). B. When there is an ambiguity in an insurance contract, that construction of the contract will be adopted which favors the insured; and as between a construction which will defeat a recovery and one which will allow a recovery, the latter will prevail, 32 C. J. 1152; 29 Am. Jur., “Insurance,” § 166; West’s Arkansas Digest, “Insurance,” § 146 (3).

With these familiar rules in mind we proceed to list and discuss the three contentions of appellant as stated in the brief. The first two of these are based on the wording of the policy as previously copied herein.

Appellant’s First Contention: “The Vehicle Which Struck the Insured Was Not a Vehicle-Which Was ‘Being Propelled’ By Gasoline Within the Meaning of That Provision of the Policy.”

In other words appellant contends that when the bumper of the tow car rebounded and inflicted the fatal injury the tow car was not then and there propelled by gasoline, but propelled by the force of the tires striking the pavement. Appellant admits that the tow car was powered by gasoline, but claims that the language in the policy “which is being propelled by . . . gasoline” is a clause designed to mean that the car must have been propelled by gasoline at the instant when it struck the insured; and appellant argues that the tow car was at-that' time on a rebound from the pavement and not at that moment under the power of the gasoline motor.

This argument of appellant overlooks a fundamental rule of sentence structure which the policy itself recognizes. This rule is that a “which” clause is usually used to describe, modify, or limit the preceding subject, and is not used to indicate the time of the event. A “when” clause or a “while” clause indicates the time of an event. In the quoted section of the policy previously set out herein it will he observed that in referring to the position of the insured as standing, the policy says “while the insured is walking or standing”; and to indicate when the insured might be covered in bicycle riding.the policy says “while riding a bicycle.” Thus the policy uses a “while” clause to indicate the element of time. But to indicate what was meant by a public highway the. policy says “which term, public highway, . . . shall mean.” The “which” clause modified or described the previous subject. And likewise, to indicate the type of the vehicle, the policy says “by said vehicle which is being propelled. . . .” So the portion of the policy here involved shows a “which” clause to indicate condition. The policy furnished its own rule of rhetoric as to the construction of a “which” clause and a “while!’ clause. The clause, “which is being propelled by . . . gasoline,” did not mean propelled at that moment, but meant a vehicle which was normally propelled by gasoline. In other words it was a “which” clause modifying the word, vehicle, rather than a “while” clause meaning ‘ ‘ at the moment. ’ ’ At least the policy is fairly susceptible of this distinction between a “which” clause and a “while” clause; and, as we have previously pointed out, in case of ambiguity the doubts must be resolved in favor of the insured. So we deny the first contention of the appellant.

Appellant’s Second Contention: “The Insured Was Not ‘Walking,’ or ‘Standing’ On a Public Highway Within the Meaning of Those Terms As Used in the Policy Contract.”

It will be recalled that the insured was standing on the bumper of the tow car facing the driver of the tow car and that when the front of the .car fell to the pavement the insured’s feet slipped to the pavement. The insured was thus facing the front of the tow car, and on the-rebound of the tow car the front bumper struck the insured under the chin and knocked him over backwards and his head hit the pavement, and he died instantly. Eye witnesses testified. Said one: “The truck fell and when it hit the ground his feet slipped off of the bumper to the pavement and the truck rebounded and hit him under the chin — the bumper caught him under the chin. After it hit the ground the truck rebounded four or five feet.” Said another witness: “The front end of this truck was reared up in a position like that (indicating) and Edward was standing on the front bumper and -all at once it dropped and when it hit the pavement his feet slipped off and when the truck rebounded it hit him under the chin.”

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Bluebook (online)
177 S.W.2d 768, 206 Ark. 804, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/life-casualty-ins-co-of-tenn-v-kinney-ark-1944.