National Emblem Insurance Co. v. Rios

275 Cal. App. 2d 70, 79 Cal. Rptr. 583, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1890
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 23, 1969
DocketCiv. 1045
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 275 Cal. App. 2d 70 (National Emblem Insurance Co. v. Rios) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Emblem Insurance Co. v. Rios, 275 Cal. App. 2d 70, 79 Cal. Rptr. 583, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1890 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

GARGANO, J.

This litigation is primarily between two insurance carriers to determine which company is required to defend and indemnify (in the event of an adverse judgment) Mrs. Evelyn Rios who was involved in an automobile accident while driving an automobile owned by Sanger Motor Sales, a dealer in used cars. The chronology of events is this: On January 7, 1966, Sanger Motor Sales, hereafter referred to as Sanger Motors, applied for automobile insurance in connection with its used ear business, with limits of $500,000 and $1,000,000, through an agent of the Glens Falls Insurance Company, hereafter referred to as Glens Falls, and coverage was temporarily bound. However, the hinder did not detail the conditions under which the coverage was afforded nor did it specify the exclusions; it merely indicated the subject matter, the coverage period, the -rate and the amount of insurance."

A short time later, on January 19, 1966, Mrs. Evelyn Rios was involved in an automobile collision with Delma Doyle Morrison; Mrs. Rios was driving a 1960 Ford owned by Sanger Motors and was returning the automobile to the dealer to arrange for its purchase. At the time of the collision she was insured by the National Emblem Insurance Company, hereafter referred to as National Emblem.

*73 After the accident, and admittedly with knowledge of it, Glens Falls declined to issue the policy applied for by Sanger Motors. Instead it issued a back-dated policy to cover the 30-day period from January 1, 1966, to February 1, 1966, with limits of $100,000 to $300,000. The one-month policy also contained an indorsement excluding permissive users of automobiles owned by the insured, Sanger Motors, if the permissive users were covered by other collectible insurance within the limits of the financial responsibility law a.t the time of the accident.

Subsequently, Mr. Morrison brought an action against Mrs. Bios and Sanger Motors to recover damages allegedly sustained in the automobile collision. Mrs. Rios, then, made demand upon National Emblem to defend her in the action and to indemnify her against any adverse judgment. National Emblem made a similar demand upon Glens Falls, and when Glens Falls denied coverage National Emblem brought this action in the court below to rescind its insurance contract with Mrs. Rios and for declaratory relief. National Emblem sought to rescind its automobile insurance contract with Evelyn Rios on the ground that she made material misrepresentations in her application. It also sought to escape liability under the policy by alleging that Glens Falls was the primary insurer and was required to protect Mrs. Rios under the coverage it had extended to Sanger Motors under the binder of January 7,1966.

After court trial the trial judge found, in essence, that the one-month policy that Glens Falls issued after the accident was not controlling, that Sanger Motors was covered under the binder of January 7, 1966, and on the date of the accident had automobile insurance within the limits of $500,000 to $1,000,000 as applied for in its application, that the binder, however, did not provide any coverage for' permissive users of the insured’s automobiles if such users were covered by other valid and collectible insurance, that National Emblem was not entitled to rescind the automobile insurance policy it issued to Mrs. Evelyn Rios prior to the accident, and that Mrs. Rios was covered by valid and collectible insurance at the time of the accident and hence was not protected by the Glens Falls binder. Judgment was entered accordingly, and National Emblem has appealed. However, it appeals only from that portion of the judgment which declares that Glens Falls’ binder does not protect Mrs. Evelyn Rios.

*74 At the outset, we reject appellant’s sweeping suggestion that any attempt by an insurance company to exclude permissive users of the insured’s automobiles from automobile insurance coverage is repugnant to the public policy of this state. On the contrary, by legislative fiat, such exclusions in automobile insurance policies affording coverage to any named insured “engaged in selling, repairing, servicing, delivering, testing, road testing, parking and storing automobiles” are in conformity with public policy if the permissive users of the insured’s automobiles are covered by other valid and collectible insurance a.t the time of the accident. In this connection, Insurance Code section 11580.1, subdivision (f), enacted by the Legislature in 1965, provides: “Where two or more policies are applicable to the same loss and one of such policies affords coverage to a named insured engaged in selling, repairing, servicing, delivering, testing, road testing, parking, or storing automobiles, such policies may contain a provision that the insurance coverage applicable to such motor vehicles afforded a person other than the named insured or his agent or employee shall not be applicable if there is any other valid and collectible insurance applicable to the same loss covering such person as a named insured or as an agent or employee of a named insured under a policy with limits at least equal to the financial responsibility requirements specified in Section 16059 of the Vehicle Code; and in such event, the two or more policies shall not be construed as providing cumulative or concurrent coverage and only that policy which covers the liability of such person as a named insured, or as an agent or employee of a named insured, shall apply. In the event there is no such other valid and collectible insurance, the coverage afforded a person other than the named insured, his agent or employee, may be limited to the financial responsibility requirements specified in Section 16059 of the Vehicle Code.” The cases relied upon by appellant for the opposite proposition a.re not in point. In Wildman v. Government Emp. Ins. Co., 48 Cal.2d 31 [307 P.2d 359], the Supreme Court merely interpreted the public policy of this state, as expressed by the Legislature in Vehicle Code sections 415 and 402 (now Veh. Code, §§ 16451 & 17150), and held that these sections required all automobile liability policies to provide coverage for permissive users of the insured’s automobiles in order to protect innocent third persons. The court, however, did not state, or suggest, that the Legislature, in the exercise of its legislative *75 prerogative, cannot change this public policy or make appropriate exceptions. 1

In Abbott v. Interinsurance Exchange, 260 Cal.App.2d 528 [67 Cal.Rptr. 220], this court was called upon to construe the effect of subparagraph (e) of section 11580.1 of the Insurance Code on public policy as articulated by the Supreme Court in the Wild-man decision. We held that subparagraph (e) as phrased by the Legislature had not eliminated California’s strong policy of protecting third persons, but rather only changed the relation between the insured and the insurer. This subparagraph, however, does not pertain to policies affording coverage to persons engaged in selling, repairing, servicing, delivering, testing, road testing, parking and storing automobiles, and our decision in that case does not affect the clear and unequivocal language of subparagraph (f).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
275 Cal. App. 2d 70, 79 Cal. Rptr. 583, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 1890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-emblem-insurance-co-v-rios-calctapp-1969.