South Carolina Property & Casualty Guaranty Ass'n v. Yensen

548 S.E.2d 880, 345 S.C. 512, 2001 S.C. App. LEXIS 89
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedJune 14, 2001
DocketNo. 3299
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 548 S.E.2d 880 (South Carolina Property & Casualty Guaranty Ass'n v. Yensen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
South Carolina Property & Casualty Guaranty Ass'n v. Yensen, 548 S.E.2d 880, 345 S.C. 512, 2001 S.C. App. LEXIS 89 (S.C. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR REHEARING

PER CURIAM:

The Court withdraws its original opinion and substitutes the attached opinion. After a careful consideration of the Petition for Rehearing En Banc, the Court is unable to discover that any material fact or principle of law has been either overlooked or disregarded and hence, there is no basis for granting a rehearing.

It is, therefore, ordered that the Petition for Rehearing En Banc be denied.

HEARN, Chief Judge:

This is a declaratory judgment action involving issues of automobile insurance coverage among three insurers. The trial court granted summary judgment to Jefferson Pilot Fire and Casualty Company (Jefferson Pilot) and a directed verdict to South Carolina Property and Casualty Guaranty Association (Guaranty Association) and State Farm Insurance Company (State Farm). Richard Scott Yensen and Michael Price Barnhill appeal. We affirm with respect to Jefferson Pilot and State Farm, and reverse and remand with respect to Guaranty Association.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On June 15, 1991, Yensen’s Camaro became disabled on Interstate 26 in Charleston County. The Camaro was on the shoulder of the highway. Yensen walked to a pay phone and called the highway patrol. Yensen was picked up by Officer Barnhill.

Yensen and Barnhill returned to Yensen’s car. Barnhill parked his patrol car behind the Camaro and summoned a tow truck. A flatbed wrecker belonging to Specialty Towing arrived, and the driver of the wrecker parked in front of the Camaro to hook it up for towing. Yensen and Barnhill exited the patrol car and stood beside the driver’s side of the Camaro while the tow truck driver hooked chains to it.

[517]*517Theodore Huttner was driving a Chevrolet Beretta on Interstate 26 traveling toward Charleston. Huttner struck Yen-sen, Barnhill, and the tow truck driver, injuring them. Huttner did not stop, but was apprehended nearby after he ran off the road. The Beretta was owned by Huttner’s employer, Jackie Cooper Ford Inc. (Jackie Cooper). Yensen and Barn-hill subsequently filed negligence actions against Huttner. Yensen received a $900,000 verdict and Barnhill received an $85,000 verdict.

At the time of the accident, Specialty Towing was insured by Jefferson Pilot. Huttner owned a motorcycle and a van which were insured by State Farm. Jackie Cooper was insured by First Southern Insurance Company.1 The trial judge granted summary judgment to Jefferson Pilot and directed verdicts in favor of State Farm and Guaranty Association.

DISCUSSION

I. Jefferson Pilot

Depending upon whether or not Huttner was a permissive driver of the Beretta, Yensen and Barnhill assert they are entitled to either uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage as insureds under the Jefferson Pilot policy. The policy provided both uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage of $300,000 to Specialty Towing. The policy defined “insured” as “anyone else ‘occupying’ a covered auto.” According to the policy, “occupying” was defined as “in, upon, getting in, on, out or off.”

The trial court granted summary judgment to Jefferson Pilot. The court concluded neither Yensen nor Barnhill was an insured under the policy because neither was “occupying” the tow truck as defined by the policy. Yensen and Barnhill argue the trial court erred as a matter of law in granting summary judgment to Jefferson Pilot because they were involved with the tow truck at the scene and were injured as a result of its “use.”

[518]*518Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), SCRCP. In determining whether any triable issue of fact exists, as will preclude summary judgment, the evidence and all inferences which can be reasonably drawn therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Quality Towing, Inc. v. City of Myrtle Beach, 340 S.C. 29, 530 S.E.2d 369 (2000). Summary judgment is not appropriate where further inquiry into the facts of the case is desirable to clarify the application of the law. At the summary judgment stage of litigation, the court does not weigh conflicting evidence with respect to a disputed material fact. ML-Lee Acquisition Fund, L.P. v. Deloitte & Touche, 320 S.C. 143, 463 S.E.2d 618 (Ct.App.1995), rev’d in part on other grounds, 327 S.C. 238, 489 S.E.2d 470 (1997). An appellate court reviews the granting of summary judgment under the same standard applied by the trial court. Moriarty v. Garden Sanctuary Church of God, 341 S.C. 320, 534 S.E.2d 672 (2000).

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to them, Officer Barnhill and Yensen were sitting in Barnhill’s patrol car preparing an accident report for Yensen’s Camaro when the tow truck arrived. The tow truck driver began hooking chains to Yensen’s Camaro. Barnhill advised Yensen to retrieve his personal items from the car before it was lifted onto the tow truck. Both Barnhill and Yensen exited the patrol car and went to the driver’s side of the Camaro. They were standing on the driver’s side near the rear view mirror when Huttner struck them. In his deposition, Yensen testified he had called a friend to come pick him up. However, he also testified that he was planning to leave the scene with the tow truck driver. It is this testimony which Yensen asserts constitutes a genuine issue of material fact sufficient to survive summary judgment. Barnhill’s position is that because he was acting in his official capacity of supervising the attachment of the Camaro to the tow truck, he was “occupying” the tow truck. We disagree with both assertions.

The trial judge correctly determined that Yensen and Barn-hill were not insureds under the Jefferson Pilot policy. They were not occupying the tow truck as the policy defines that [519]*519term.2 Under the plain meaning of the words, neither Yensen nor Barnhill was “in, upon, getting in, on, out or off” the tow truck. While there was some testimony that Yensen intended to leave the scene in the tow truck, at the time of the accident, he was not in or on the tow truck, nor was he in the process of getting into it.

Further, under Whitmire, 254 S.C. at 187-92, 174 S.E.2d at 393-95, we do not find Yensen to have been alighting from the tow truck. Whitmire held that where a passenger was struck while within two or three feet of the car he had immediately “alighted from,” that passenger may collect uninsured motorist coverage from the insurer of the car he had been riding in. Id. at 191-92, 174 S.E.2d at 394-95. Appellants argue that Whitmire is controlling in this case because Yensen intended to occupy the tow truck and should therefore be able to collect insurance from the tow truck’s insurance provider. Whitmire is distinguishable because there, the plaintiff had unquestionably been occupying the car, whereas this case involves, at most, Yensen’s intent

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SC PROPERTY & CAS. GUAR. v. Yensen
548 S.E.2d 880 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 2001)

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548 S.E.2d 880, 345 S.C. 512, 2001 S.C. App. LEXIS 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/south-carolina-property-casualty-guaranty-assn-v-yensen-scctapp-2001.