Pray v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co.

210 So. 3d 471, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0224, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2367
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 2016
DocketNO. 2016 CA 0224
StatusPublished

This text of 210 So. 3d 471 (Pray v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co.) 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
Pray v. USAgencies Casualty Insurance Co., 210 So. 3d 471, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0224, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2367 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

PETTIGREW, J.

| gRacheI Pray (Pray), the plaintiff in this matter, alleged she sustained injuries as a result of a rear-end collision and that the accident was caused by the sole negligence of the rear-ending vehicle’s driver, Darral Norwood (Norwood). Pray appeals a summary judgment granted in favor of the insurer of the owner of the rear-ending vehicle, based on a finding that Norwood was excluded from coverage because, at the time of the accident, he was a “non-permissive” driver under the insurer’s policy. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On January 14, 2014, Norwood was driving a 2005 Toyota Camry owned by Toshi-ka W. Smith (Smith), the mother of Nor-wood’s then girlfriend, Laterrica Gustave (Gustave). Gustave lived with her mother, Smith, and Norwood regularly spent three to four nights a week at Smith’s home. According to Norwood, when he was not staying with Gustave, he stayed with his mother at another location. Also, Norwood did not have a driver’s license or a vehicle.

Smith owned two vehicles: a Lexus that she drove for her own personal use, and the Camry, which she generally left at the house for Gustave to use. Gustave had Smith’s express permission to drive the Camry for certain various purposes without asking, and for all other purposes, she was required first to seek Smith’s permission before driving it. Smith had an automobile liability policy in place on the [473]*473Camry in which Smith is the only named insured. That policy contains a provision excluding from coverage any damages caused by someone operating the vehicle without the express or implied permission of the insured (Smith) at the time of the accident.

On the morning of the accident, Nor-wood needed to be at work for 8:00 a.m. Norwood attempted to wake up Gustave, who was supposed to drive him to work. However, Gustave did not want to get up and take him to work. According to Nor-wood, Gustave told him to take the Camry, as she wanted to go back to sleep. Although Gustave denied telling Norwood that he could drive the Camry to work, it is undisputed that Norwood was driving the Camry to work on the morning of the accident. The |scollision occurred when Norwood, driving Smith’s Camry, rear-ended Pray’s vehicle after Pray slowed her vehicle due to congested traffic ahead of her.

Pray filed suit on July 30, 2014, naming Norwood and the insurer of Smith’s Camry at the time, USAgencies Casualty Insurance Company, Inc., as defendants. Sometime after the petition was filed, US-Agencies became Affirmative Casualty Insurance Company (Affirmative). Affirmative filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Norwood had neither express nor implied permission to drive the Camry and urging the application of the exclusionary provision in the policy denied coverage. Pray opposed the motion arguing that the evidence would show that Norwood had the express or implied permission to drive the Camry the day of the accident, and that permissive use of the vehicle at the time of the accident triggered coverage under the policy. Pray alternatively argued that, at a minimum, the evidence concerning whether Norwood had permissive use of the Camry on the day at issue was in dispute, revealing genuine issues of material fact that render summary judgment improper.

Following a November 16, 2015 hearing on Affirmative’s motion for summary judgment, during which the deposition testimonies of Smith, Gustave, and Norwood were introduced into evidence, the district court found that Norwood’s testimony revealed that he had actual knowledge that he did not have Smith’s permission to drive any of her vehicles, including the Camry he was driving on the date of the accident. Based on Norwood’s actual knowledge, the district court found Norwood was a non-permissive driver as defined by the policy, and thereby, excluded from coverage. Summary judgment in favor of Affirmative was granted, dismissing, with prejudice, Pray’s claims against it, in a judgment dated December 23, 2015. That judgment also declared that Affirmative had no duty to defend Norwood.

Pray sought and was granted an order for devolutive appeal. Pray and Affirmative filed appellant and appellee briefs respectively. However, during the pendency of this appeal, Affirmative was placed into insolvency by an Order of Liquidation issued by the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, resulting in the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) being responsible for claims pending against | ¿Affirmative, pursuant to La. R.S. 22:2055(6). Accordingly, the appeal now before this court is by Pray, as appellant, and LIGA, as appellee, which filed its own appellee brief in which, in addition to its own representations and arguments that summary judgment is proper under the facts and circumstances of this case, it also adopted, by reference, the original appellee brief filed by Affirmative.

[474]*474ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Pray asserts two assignments of error on appeal. First, she argues that the district court erred in impermissibly weighing the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses’ testimony regarding Norwood’s permissive use of the Camry, “where there was abundant contradictory and conflicting testimony.” Additionally, Pray contends the district court erred in applying “an improper standard” regarding whether Norwood was driving the vehicle with the implied permission of its insured.

ISSUE ON APPEAL

The issue on appeal is whether the district court erred in finding, based on the undisputed evidence presented, and based on Norwood’s knowledge gained directly from Smith, that Norwood did not have her permission, as the owner, to drive the Camry at issue, and furthermore, that the permittee, Gustave, also did not have Smith’s permission to allow Norwood, or anyone else, to drive the Camry. Also, whether the district court erred in concluding as a matter of law, based on that finding of fact regarding Norwood’s actual knowledge, that Norwood was not a permissive driver pursuant to the policy exclusion.

For the reasons expounded upon below, we find that Norwood’s uncontroverted testimony (that he knew first-hand that he did not have permission to use Smith’s Camry) was sufficient to establish, as a matter of law, that Norwood was a non-permissive driver under the policy language on the date of the accident. Accordingly, we need not reach Pray’s assignment of error concerning “implied permission”, as our decision renders such inquiry irrelevant.

_yDISCUSSION/ANALYSIS OF ISSUE

Pray claims the district court erred by weighing that evidence as well as the credibility of the witnesses, which because of their disputed nature, prohibit summary judgment. After a thorough de novo review of that evidence, we find no error. While the evidence is conflicting and disputed as to various other facts, it nonetheless establishes, without dispute, that as a matter of law, Norwood is a non-permissive driver under Smith’s automobile liability policy.

Smith’s automobile policy contains the following exclusion:

Coverage for your Liability to Others does not apply to any of the following:
3. Bodily injury or property damage caused by any person operating or using a motor vehicle without the expressed or implied permission of [the insured] at the time of the accident.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 So. 3d 471, 2016 La.App. 1 Cir. 0224, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 2367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pray-v-usagencies-casualty-insurance-co-lactapp-2016.