National Emblem Insurance Company v. McClendon

481 S.W.2d 186, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2174
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 28, 1972
Docket8095
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 481 S.W.2d 186 (National Emblem Insurance Company v. McClendon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Emblem Insurance Company v. McClendon, 481 S.W.2d 186, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2174 (Tex. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

RAY, Justice.

Appellee, Edward McClendon (Plaintiff), sued Appellant, National Emblem Insurance Company (Defendant), for the limits of its automobile liability policy in the sum of $10,000.00. McClendon had recovered a judgment for $20,695.66 against Annette McDonald and husband Edgar McDonald in a separate suit. This judgment had been credited with $10,695.00, leaving a balance due to McClendon in the sum of $10,000.00. McClendon was seeking recovery of the $10,000.00 balance, plus interest, from National Emblem Insurance Company as the remainder due him under his original judgment against the Mc-Donalds. The original suit arose out of an automobile collision on January 20, 1968, in which collision McClendon sustained personal injuries. Appellee McClendon sought payment of his judgment from Farmers Insurance Company and Appellant National Emblem Insurance Company. Farmers Insurance Company paid the limits of its policy in the sum of $10,000.00, but National Emblem Insurance Company denied liability. McClendon then brought suit against National Emblem Insurance Company for the limits of its liability policy issued to Edgar McDonald in the sum of $10,000.00. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of McClendon, and the trial court accordingly entered judgment against National Emblem for the sum of $10,000.00, plus interest and costs. Appellant National *188 Emblem Insurance Company submits nine points of error for consideration by this court.

The facts developed in the trial court established that Annette McDonald was the wife of Edgar McDonald, that National Emblem Insurance Company had issued an automobile liability policy to Edgar McDonald with coverage of $10,000.00, and that the term “named insured”, as defined in Appellant’s policy, included Edgar McDonald’s wife “if a resident of the same household.” Annette McDonald was driving her mother’s car on the date of the collision and was insured under her mother’s policy. McClendon contended that Annette McDonald was also insured under the National Emblem Insurance Company policy.

Appellant sought to deny liability on the basis that Annette McDonald was no longer a resident of the Edgar McDonald household, that the car that Mrs. McDonald was driving at the time of the collision belonged to her mother and was furnished to Mrs. McDonald for her “regular use” and therefore failed to come within the provisions of National Emblem’s policy which would ordinarily cover Mrs. McDonald while driving a non-owned automobile.

The jury found that Annette McDonald was a resident of the same household as her husband Edgar McDonald on the date of the collision, that the car she was driving at the time of the collision was not furnished for her regular use, and that Annette McDonald was not a resident of the same household as her mother.

The record showed that Edgar McDonald was in the army and stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, but had orders for an overseas assignment to Vietnam. However, prior to going overseas he was to attend a school at Fort Eustace, Virginia. About six weeks before Edgar McDonald was to leave for Virginia, Annette McDonald went to Oklahoma to get her old job back while her husband was in school and during the time that he would be in Vietnam. Mrs. McDonald and her two children occupied a house in Oklahoma with her mother. The mother owned the home and a new automobile. Mrs. McDonald secured her old job and started to work. Her mother was also employed, but each had rides to and from her respective job. The testimony established that Mrs. McDonald occasionally used her mother’s car in grocery shopping and going to the beauty shop; and during the twenty days that Mrs. McDonald had been in her mother’s home she had used the car about five times for her individual purposes. On the occasion of the collision with the Mc-Clendon vehicle, Mrs. McDonald had received permission to use her mother’s automobile to make a trip to Shreveport, Louisiana, to meet her husband who was driving the McDonald vehicle from Fort Rucker, Alabama, to Shreveport, Louisiana. The car that Mrs. McDonald was driving had about 650 miles on it when she left Oklahoma, and it had 1001 miles on it at the time of the collision. The testimony shows that Mrs. McDonald traveled approximately 350 miles from her mother’s home to the point of the collision. The testimony further showed that the car was about four months old at the time of the accident and that Mrs. McDonald had only been in her mother’s home for approximately 20 days.

Annette McDonald testified that she and her husband were separated only because of his pending assignment to a training school and Vietnam, and not because of a contemplated divorce or other permanent separation. Her testimony established that Edgar McDonald had continued to maintain their home in Alabama.

Appellant’s first point of error, complains of the trial court’s failure to define the term “resident of the same household.” Appellant objected to the court’s charge for failure to define the term, but Appellant did not submit a requested definition for the court’s consideration, nor did Appellant complain of such failure in its motion for new trial. Appellant’s first *189 point of error is without merit. Rules 279 and 324, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; and Donald v. First State Bank of Chico, 448 S.W.2d 196 (Tex.Civ.App., Fort Worth 1969, no writ).

Appellant’s second point of error is that the jury’s finding that Annette McDonald was a resident of the same household as her husband Edgar N. McDonald was against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence to the extent that it was manifestly unjust.

We think the jury was justified in reaching the conclusion that Annette McDonald was still a resident of the same household as her husband. The evidence shows that she had been living with her mother for approximately twenty days prior to the collision, but there was no evidence to establish that Annette McDonald intended to become a resident of her mother’s household. On the contrary, the testimony shows that she was living with her mother until such time as she could find an apartment and that, subsequent to the collision, she did in fact find an apartment and move into it. Further, Edgar McDonald continued to maintain the family residence in Alabama and Mrs. McDonald testified that she was in no way contemplating a divorce from her husband or a permanent separation. We believe the evidence establishes that Annette McDonald only intended to occupy a portion of her mother’s house temporarily, and therefore Mrs. McDonald remained a resident of the same household as her husband. Appellant’s second point of error is overruled. Giokaris v. Kincaid, 331 S.W.2d 633, 86 A.L.R.2d 925 (Mo.Sup.Ct.1960).

Appellant’s points of error III through VI concern Special Issue No. 3 in which the jury found that Annette McDonald was not a resident of the same household as her mother. Appellant’s points VII through IX concern Special Issue No. 2 in which the jury found that the automobile which Annette McDonald was driving on the date of the collision was not furnished for her regular use.

Our research has not revealed a Texas case directly in point with the case under consideration. However, the Missouri case of Giokaris v. Kincaid, supra, seems closely analogous.

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Bluebook (online)
481 S.W.2d 186, 1972 Tex. App. LEXIS 2174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-emblem-insurance-company-v-mcclendon-texapp-1972.