Pitts v. Pickens

655 So. 2d 520, 1995 WL 272033
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 5, 1995
Docket94 CA 1811
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 655 So. 2d 520 (Pitts v. Pickens) 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
Pitts v. Pickens, 655 So. 2d 520, 1995 WL 272033 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

655 So.2d 520 (1995)

Anthony PITTS, Individually and on Behalf of his Minor Child Jennifer Pitts, and Deborah Pitts,
v.
James PICKENS, New Hampshire Insurance Company, Farm Bureau Insurance Company and XYZ Insurance Company.

No. 94 CA 1811.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 5, 1995.
Rehearing Denied June 21, 1995.

*521 Gordon J. McKernan, J.J. McKernan, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff/2nd appellant—Anthony Pitts, etc.

J. Wendell Clark, Baton Rouge, for defendant/appellee—N.H. Indem. Co.

Glen Scott Love, Baton Rouge, for intervenor/1st appellant—La. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co.

Before LOTTINGER, C.J., and SHORTESS and CARTER, JJ.

CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment granting a motion for partial summary judgment in favor of New Hampshire Indemnity Insurance Company.

BACKGROUND

Acadian Auto Rental, Inc., was the named insured under a policy of business automobile liability insurance issued by New Hampshire Indemnity Insurance Company on April 1, 1991. The policy insured a fleet of automobiles owned by Acadian Auto Rental, Inc. and had policy limits of $1 million.

On April 25, 1991, James Pickens entered into an automobile rental agreement with Acadian Auto Rental, Inc. In the "Terms and Conditions Of Rental Agreement," "Liability Insurance or Qualified Self-Insurance" is addressed in paragraph nine (9), which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

An automobile liability insurance policy or qualified self-insurance arrangement protects the Authorized Driver on a primary basis in respect to other insurance, for third party bodily injury, death of another and for property damage other than to the rental vehicle on a per-occurrence basis as permitted by this Agreement, arising from the use of the Vehicle. The coverage is in an amount up to, but in no event in excess of, the minimum limits required by the financial responsibility or compulsory insurance laws of the state in which the accident occurs, unless other limits are provided pursuant to a separate commercial account Agreement. (Emphasis added).

FACTS

On April 27, 1991,[1] plaintiff, Deborah Pitts, along with her minor daughter, was traveling southbound in the inside lane of Nicholson Drive in Baton Rouge when a vehicle, leased from Acadian Auto Rental, Inc. and operated by defendant, James Pickens, negotiated a left turn from the northbound lane of Nicholson Drive and collided with plaintiff's vehicle.

On March 24, 1992, plaintiffs, Deborah Pitts and her husband, Anthony Pitts, individually and on behalf of their minor daughter, Jennifer, filed an action for damages arising out of the collision. Named as defendants in the action were James Pickens; New Hampshire Indemnity Insurance Company (New Hampshire), liability insurer of *522 Acadian Auto Rental, Inc. (Acadian);[2] Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (Farm Bureau), the Pitts' liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist insurer;[3] and XYZ Insurance Company, Pickens alleged liability insurer.

On January 18, 1994, Farm Bureau filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that there were no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In the motion, Farm Bureau contended that New Hampshire's policy limits are $1 million and that plaintiffs admitted that their combined claims do not exceed $1 million. Accordingly, Farm Bureau reasoned that, if the New Hampshire policy covers Pickens in the amount of $1 million, then Pickens is not uninsured/underinsured so as to implicate Farm Bureau's uninsured/underinsured motorist policy. Attached to Farm Bureau's motion for summary judgment were the rental agreement between Pickens and Acadian, purportedly establishing 10/20 coverage limits; New Hampshire's Business Auto Declarations and Commercial Auto Coverage Part of the policy with $1 million policy limits; and plaintiffs' admission that their combined claims do not exceed $1 million.[4]

On March 9, 1994, New Hampshire filed a motion for partial summary judgment. In the motion, New Hampshire requested a declaration that the liability insurance coverage limits under its policy do not exceed the minimum limits required under Louisiana law (10/20) as provided in the rental agreement between Pickens and Acadian.

On March 21, 1994, a hearing was held on the motions for summary judgment. On May 18, 1994, the trial court signed a judgment, denying Farm Bureau's motion for summary judgment, but granting New Hampshire's motion for partial summary judgment. In granting New Hampshire's motion, the trial court declared that the limits of liability coverage maintained by New Hampshire are $10,000.00 per single injury and $20,000.00 per accident, in accordance with the compulsory liability insurance provisions of Louisiana law. Farm Bureau was cast with all costs associated with New Hampshire's motion for partial summary judgment. In its oral reasons for judgment, the trial court based its decision on the case of Lindsey v. Colonial Lloyd's Insurance Co., 595 So.2d 606 (La.1992).

Plaintiffs and Farm Bureau appealed from the adverse judgment, assigning the following specification of error:

The trial court erred in finding that the limits of automobile liability coverage provided to Mr. Pickens by the New Hampshire policy was $10,000/20,000 instead of $1,000,000 as provided for in the policy of insurance issued to Acadian Auto Rental, Inc.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used to avoid a full-scale trial when there is no genuine factual dispute. Ouachita National Bank in Monroe v. Gulf States Land & Development, Inc., 579 So.2d 1115, 1120 (La.App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 587 So.2d 695 (La.1991). The motion should be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966; Thompson v. South Central Bell Telephone Company, 411 So.2d 26, 27 (La.1982); Legros v. Norcen Exploration, Inc., 583 So.2d 859, 860 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writs denied, 588 So.2d 101, 109 (La.1991).

A fact is material if its existence is essential to the plaintiff's cause of action under the applicable theory of recovery and without which the plaintiff could not prevail. Material facts are those that potentially insure *523 or preclude recovery, affect the litigant's ultimate success, or determine the outcome of a legal dispute. Penalber v. Blount, 550 So.2d 577, 583 (La.1989).

The burden is upon the mover for summary judgment to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, and only when reasonable minds must inevitably conclude that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law is summary judgment warranted. Robertson v. Our Lady of Lake Regional Medical Center, 574 So.2d 381, 384 (La.App. 1st Cir.1990), writ denied, 573 So.2d 1136 (La.1991). To satisfy this burden, the mover must meet a strict standard by showing that it is quite clear what the truth is and excludes any real doubt as to the existence of material fact. Ouachita National Bank in Monroe v. Gulf States Land & Development, Inc., 579 So.2d at 1120.

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655 So. 2d 520, 1995 WL 272033, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pitts-v-pickens-lactapp-1995.