Prassel Enterprises, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Company

405 F.2d 616
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 24, 1969
Docket25628_1
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 405 F.2d 616 (Prassel Enterprises, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prassel Enterprises, Inc. v. Allstate Insurance Company, 405 F.2d 616 (5th Cir. 1969).

Opinions

EDWIN F. HUNTER, Jr., District Judge:

This suit was commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson Division, by Prassel Enterprises, Inc. as Plaintiff, against Allstate Insurance Company as Defendant. The action is to recover from the Defendant, the insurer, the amount which the Plaintiff, an insured under the policy, was required to pay in satisfaction of a default judgment against it obtained by a third party in state court for damages from an automobile collision.

Jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship. The ultimate dispute here is whether plaintiff breached the following provision referred to herein as Condition No. 2 of the policy:

“If claim is made or suit brought against the insured, the insured shall immediately forward to the company every demand, notice, summons, or other process received by him or his representative.”

At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s evidence, the District Court, concluding that the evidence presented was inadequate to present a jury question, sustained defendant’s motion for a directed verdict. Plaintiff appeals, contending that its right to a jury determination of a disputed fact issue, secured by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, has been abridged by the trial judge’s ruling.

In our Circuit the sufficiency of evidence for jury submission is measured by federal standards even in diversity cases. Cater v. Gordon Transport, Inc., 5 Cir. 1968, 390 F.2d 44; Planters Manuf. Co. v. Protection Mut. Ins. Co., 5 Cir. 1967, 380 F.2d 869, 871, cert. den., 389 U.S. 930, 88 S.Ct. 293, 19 L.Ed.2d 282; Revlon Inc. v. Buchanan, 5 Cir. 1959, 271 F.2d 795, 800, 81 A.L.R. 2d 222. The controlling principle of federal law is that if the evidence is of such a character that reasonable men, exercising impartial judgment, may differ in their conclusion, then the case should be submitted to the jury. Cater v. Gordon Transport, Inc., 5 Cir. 1968, 390 F.2d 44; Helene Curtis Industries, Inc. and Cosmair, Inc. v. Pruitt, 385 F.2d 841 (5 Cir. 1967); Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York v. Funel, 383 F.2d 42 (5 Cir. 1967); McPherson v. Tamiami Trail Tours, Inc., 383 F.2d 527 (5 Cir. 1967); Herron v. Maryland Casualty Company, 347 F.2d 357 (5 Cir. 1965); Turner v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R., 292 F.2d 586 (5 Cir. 1961).

We turn now to an examination of the facts:

Prassel Enterprises, Inc., is one of four corporations owned by Mr. Allen Prassel of Jackson, Mississippi, which corporations are utilized in the business of buying, selling, and transporting lumber.

For many years Mr. Prassel’s business interests have been insured through the [618]*618general insurance agency of Ross and Yerger, Inc., of Jackson, Mississippi. In about 1961, that agency obtained a public liability policy from Allstate Insurance Company and renewal Policy No. 5201085 was issued effective December 18, 1964, to December 18,1965.

On September 20, 1965, Melvin Johnson was involved in an automobile accident with Paul Sanderford, an employee of Prassel’s. Sanderford was operating a tractor-trailer unit owned by Prassel and covered by the policy. Sanderford was operating the unit with the permission of Prassel and was an additional insured under the policy. On September 30, 1965, Allstate received notice and began to investigate in the usual manner. John S. Holmes, an attorney from Yazoo City, Mississippi, wrote to Prassel advising that Melvin Johnson had assigned to him an undivided interest in any claim against Prassel by virtue of the accident, and requested that the insurance adjuster contact him at the earliest possible date. This letter was promptly mailed to Ross and Yerger, Inc., who forwarded it to Allstate. About three weeks later, an adjuster for Allstate telephoned Mr. A. R. Kemp, Traffic Manager for Prassel, made an appointment and discussed the matter with Mr. Kemp and Mr. Sanderford, the driver.

On January 6, 1966, Melvin Johnson filed suit in the Circuit Court of Yazoo County, Mississippi, against Prassel and Sanderford, seeking damages in the amount of $50,000. On January 8, 1966, the Sheriff of Rankin County, Mississippi, delivered a summons to Paul Sander-ford’s mother. Prassel testified that neither he nor any representative of his company was served with process. However, the Hinds County Deputy Sheriff showed a return on summons that the process was personally served on Prassel. The final judgment, dated February 21, 1966, against Prassel, recites that personal service was had on Prassel more than five days prior to the return date of the term of court. On February 9, 1966, an interlocutory judgment by default was entered against Prassel Enterprises, Inc. Due to the defective process on Paul Sanderford, a default judgment was not entered against him. On February 17, 1966, a Mr. Nobles wrote a letter to Prassel advising him (Prassel) of the fact that his company was subrogated for the workmen’s compensation payments it had made to Melvin Johnson. This letter-did not state that any action had been filed or Ayas pending, and was nothing more than a form letter placing a third party on notice of a subrogation claim for workmen’s compensation benefits paid. Upon receipt by Prassel, the original of this letter was promptly mailed to Ross and Yerger, Inc., who forwarded the same to Allstate, who received it on February 24, 1966. With regard to the Sanderford summons, Sanderford told Kemp about the summons which had been served. Kemp telephoned Wirt Yerger, Jr., of Ross and Yerger Insurance Agency, and advised him of the suit. Mr. Kemp had the summons mailed either to Ross and Yerger or to Allstate by directing Mrs. Slay, an employee of Prassel’s to mail it to one or the other. Kemp did not call Allstate after he called Yerger and advised him of the filing of the suit in Yazoo County. Mr. Kemp was not in a position to testify that he personally mailed the summons to Allstate. Mrs. Slay had no memory concerning the summons or the mailing of the summons, and testified that, if it were mailed, she did not know whether it was mailed to Ross and Yerger or to Allstate. Mrs. Owens, another employee of Prassel’s, who had the duties of taking the mail to the Post Office was unable to testify that she mailed any mail relative to any summons.

On February 21, 1966, the interlocutory judgment against Prassel was reduced to a final judgment in the amount of $16,324.98. On April 7, 1966, it was ascertained for the first time by both Prassel and Allstate that a default judgment had been obtained in Yazoo County.

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Bluebook (online)
405 F.2d 616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prassel-enterprises-inc-v-allstate-insurance-company-ca5-1969.