Rogers v. Continental Casualty Co.

155 So. 2d 641
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 7, 1963
DocketNo. 3632
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 155 So. 2d 641 (Rogers v. Continental Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rogers v. Continental Casualty Co., 155 So. 2d 641 (Fla. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

SHANNON, Judge.

The Continental Casualty Company, a foreign corporation, and Florida Tank Lines, Inc., a Florida corporation, appellees herein, filed their complaint in the court below seeking a declaratory decree as to their rights and duties under a certain policy of general liability insurance issued by Continental to Florida Tank Lines.. The appellant was one of the defendants in the court below, and appeals from an adverse declaratory decree which held that the policy of insurance did not inure to his benefit or to the benefit of certain other defendants.

The parties are in agreement as to the facts. Jareo Construction Company (not a party to this suit) was completing a contract which it had with the United States government, Jareo being the prime contractor. In order to complete the project, Jareo had to return certain barges which it had rented, which barges were then afloat on a lake. To effectuate their removal from the lake, Jareo entered into a rental agreement with Florida Welding & Erection Service (not a party herein) whereby the latter supplied a crane mounted upon a motor vehicle. Florida Welding also supplied a driver, Bobby Gene Respress, and a crane operator, Billy Hammond. The crane was to be used to place the barges upon certain trucks rented from Appellee Florida Tank Lines, Inc.

At the time in question, the crane was being operated by Billy Hammond, who had just completed loading one of the trucks leased from Florida Tank Lines. As the truck moved away in order to allow another truck to come into position, but before such truck had come into 'position, Hammond began swinging the crane back over the lake. In the meantime, Bobby Gene Respress, the driver from Florida Welding, had placed himself upon the ball weight at the end of the crane cable, in order to swing out to the next barge and be of assistance.1 However, as the crane cable reached the barge, the crane touched a high tension wire or got so close that the current arched across the crane cable. The electricity shocked and injured Respress, and Appellant Rogers, who was positioned on the barge, and who tried to assist Respress, was also injured. The second truck of Florida Tank Lines was still not in loading position at the time of the accident.

The complaint in this case is primarily concerned with whether Continental, as Florida Tank Lines’ insurance carrier, owes any duty to defend Hammond or to pay any liabilities that may be imposed upon him by reason of this accident. It is argued by the appellant that since Hammond was loading trucks owned by Florida Tank Lines, and since this is a “purpose of use” under the insurance policy, Flammond thereby be[643]*643came an “insured” under said policy and was entitled to coverage.

The policy contained the usual general liability insurance agreements to the effect that Continental would pay to the insured all sums which the insured should become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injuries sustained by any person caused by accident arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of any automobile. The policy also contained certain exclusions, such as injury to any employee of the insured arising out of and in the course of 1) domestic employment by the insured, or 2) other employment by the insured. It also defined “purposes of use” to mean that “use of an automobile includes the loading and unloading thereof.” There were also certain endorsements that provided, in substance, that the insurance afforded by the policy for bodily injury liability applied with respect to all owned automobiles and hired automobiles, and the use in the business of the named insured of non-owned automobiles, subject to the other provisions of the endorsement. The endorsement then had a Definition of Insured that provided in part as follows:

“ * * * [T]he unqualified word ‘insured’ includes the named insured and also includes any person while using an owned automobile or a hired automobile and any person or organization legally responsible for the use thereof, provided the actual use of the automobile is by the named insured or with his permission, * *

The appellant has two points in his brief, namely: 1) Whether or not Billy Hammond was an insured under the insurance policy issued by Continental Casualty to Florida Tank Lines; and 2) whether or not Albertis Rogers, Billy Hammond and Bobby Gene Respress were fellow servants and engaged in a common employment under a common employer. In view of the fact that our answer to the first question is decisive of this case we will not attempt to answer the appellant’s second question.

The trial court found as a matter of fact and of law that Florida Tank Lines had two insured vehicles in the vicinity of the accident; that neither of these vehicles was being used by Hammond; and that Hammond, Rogers and Respress were all fellow servants. The court also found that even if Hammond were considered to be an insured under the terms of the policy, said policy did not undertake to indemnify Hammond for injuries which he, Hammond, inflicted upon fellow servants of his, to wit, Rogers and Respress.

It is important to note that Continental has contracted to indemnify Florida Tank Lines, Inc., under certain circumstances for certain casualties. It has also agreed to indemnify other persons who are using the insured vehicles with the knowledge and consent of the owner, i. e., the named insured ; but only against liability for certain eventualities, excluding such extended coverage for other eventualities. The insured may from time to time, in the words of appellees’ brief, “ * * * by reason of the operation of the rule of respondeat superior, be liable to respond in damages for the tortious conduct of its .employees under master and servant law, even where the actual physical operation of an insured motor vehicle is not the efficient cause of the claim. To protect the named insured from liability under these circumstances, this policy extends coverage to indemnify the named insured for liability for a loss to which it may be subjected for injuries arising out of the maintenance and use of the named vehicles and of non-owned vehicles when used and operated by the named insured in the named insured’s business. It is in this context, of course, that the definition of ‘use’ was extended to include the ‘loading and unloading’ of insured vehicles. * * * ”

We are concerned, therefore, with the question of the “use” and the “loading and unloading” of the motor vehicles covered by the policy. It is only with two of the motor vehicles that we are concerned, that is, Truck No. 1 and Truck No. 2. Truck [644]*644No. 1 had been loaded and that loading had been terminated. Respress chose to ride the cable swung by the crane out over the water to a barge still located in the lake. None of the insured’s agents or employees had any part in this hazardous journey. Respress was riding a crane being operated by an employee other than one of the insured, and Appellant Rogers gratuitously came to the assistance of Respress and was injured in the process. We therefore must determine this one question — Was Hammond by any interpretation indulging in the “use” of insured’s trucks; or, stated another way, was he “loading or unloading” the trucks of the insured?

We have many cases cited by both appellant and appellees, but in no case can we find the same or similar facts to those we have here. In 160 A.L.R. 1259 is an annotation on this general subject, but none of the cases cited therein cover the instant case.

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Bluebook (online)
155 So. 2d 641, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rogers-v-continental-casualty-co-fladistctapp-1963.