State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. v. Bass

241 S.W.2d 568, 192 Tenn. 558, 28 Beeler 558, 1951 Tenn. LEXIS 303
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 1951
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 241 S.W.2d 568 (State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. v. Bass) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. v. Bass, 241 S.W.2d 568, 192 Tenn. 558, 28 Beeler 558, 1951 Tenn. LEXIS 303 (Tenn. 1951).

Opinions

[560]*560Mr. Justice Tomlinson,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, who is plaintiff-in-error here, for a consideration of $33.85 issued an insurance policy to a man named Spald-ing, agreeing to pay on behalf of Spalding in accordance with the terms of the policy all sums within specified máximums which Spalding became obligated to pay by reason of liability imposed upon him for bodily injury or property damage (being coverages A and B in the policy) inflicted upon third parties by reason of the operation on the public highway of a certain “truck type tractor” described in the policy.

In the face of this policy it is provided that: “This policy does not apply — under coverages A and B while the automobile, if of the commercial or truck type, is used for the towing of any trailer”.

There was an endorsement attached to the policy reading as follows: “In consideration of the payments made by the insured for this policy, it is hereby agreed by the State Farm Mutual Autoihobile Insurance Company that this policy is extended to cover while the automobile described in the policy is used to tow or propel the trailer described below:”

The endorsement then described the trailer referred to in the above quotation as being a Nabors semi-trailer of 3% tonnage capacity. The policy disclosed that an additional premium of $8.46 attached by reason of the extension of the coverage of this tractor while towing the above described trailer.

During the contract life of this policy the tractor described therein was involved in a traffic accident while being operated upon a public highway of this State. As [561]*561a result of that accident Mr. and Mrs. Bass, the defendants-in-error, received certain property damages and bodily injuries for which they sued Spalding, the named insured in the aforementioned policy.

At the time of the aforesaid accident for which the Bass damage suit was instituted the tractor described in the policy was not towing the 3% ton trailer mentioned in the endorsement to the policy. It was towing a Fruehauf trailer having a capacity of 10 to 12 tons, and was ten feet longer than the Nabors described in the policy endorsement.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company declined to defend the damage suits on the theory that its aforementioned policy did not cover the tractor described therein while it was towing this trailer that had been substituted by Spalding for the trailer described in the policy.

Mr. and Mrs. Bass recovered substantial judgments against Spalding, the insured. Executions were returned nulla bona. Then Mr. and Mrs. Bass brought the suits in the case at bar against the insurance company by reason of this policy for collection of the judgments obtained against the insured, Spalding.

The Circuit Judge heard the case without the intervention of a jury and held that under the policy the insurance company was liable to pay these judgments. The insurance company has appealed to this Court. The facts were stipulated.

In the accident which resulted in these judgments against the insurer the trailer was not struck, the collision being between the tractor and the Bass automobile. In this connection, a question submitted in behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Bass is whether the tractor was within the cover-[562]*562age of the policy because of the fact that the trailer was not struck. That question was determined in Waddey v. Maryland Casualty Co., 171 Tenn. 112, 117-118, 100 S. W. (2d) 984, 109 A. L. R. 654, wherein it was held that if the tractor was towing a trailer not permitted by the terms of the policy, then the insurer would not be liable without reference to whether the towing of the trailer was causally connected with the accident.

The policy provides that the word “ ‘automobile’ wherever used in this policy shall mean the motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer described herein and equipment usual to that type of automobile while attached thereto . ”. It follows that the tractor and the attached trailer are defined by this policy as constituting one vehicle. So the question is whether this vehicle (made up of the tractor and trailer in question) was the vehicle insured by this policy.

In considering the question of whether this vehicle was the vehicle insured by the policy there becomes controlling two clauses in the policy which we will call ‘ ‘ substitution of automobile” clauses. Since the definition given by the policy to an automobile includes an attached trailer it will necessarily follow that if the substitution of the trailer involved in this accident for the trailer described in the policy comes within the provisions of either of these two substitution of automobile clauses under the facts of this case, then the vehicle involved (including this substituted trailer) was insured against the accident which happened.

The first of these two substitution of automobile clauses reads as follows: “If the named insured disposes of the automobile insured hereunder, and purchases' or otherwise acquires title to an automobile of the same type to [563]*563replace it, this policy will automatically terminate with respect to the described automobile and will automatically extend to cover the new automobile provided the company is notified thereof within thirty (30) days of such purchase or acquisition and provided the named insured pays any additional premium that may he required because of such change upon demand.”

The stipulated facts which Mr. and Mrs. Bass say bring their case within'the provisions of the above clause are these: — Spalding heard of an opportunity to make a contract to haul lumber from Mississippi to Illinois and he decided to investigate that matter with the view of making such contract. At a place of business in his home town in Missouri, where this policy was issued, he learned there was for sale the ten to twelve ton trailer that was attached to the tractor at the time of the accident. That trailer was more suitable for the long lumber haul than a 3% ton trailer mentioned in the policy. He arranged with the dealer of this large trailer to leave the 3% ton trailer at the dealer’s while taking the 10 to 12 ton trailer to5 the place in Mississippi to which he was going to investigate the contract' about hauling lumber from Mississippi to Illinois. The language of the stipulation is that “trailer was turned over or loaned to Spald-ing for the trip to Coffeeville, Mississippi”. “It was understood that on his return Spalding would either purchase the Fruehauf trailer at the agreed price, (plus Spalding’s trailer) or return the trailer if he could not use it . . . ”. Spalding left his trailer described in the policy with the owner of the substituted trailer “pending his return and the completion of the purchase of or the return of the Fruehauf trailer”. Spalding’s trailer “was not to be used and was not used while Spalding was away”.

[564]*564The accident occurred while Spalding was on his way to investigate that contract. . He thereupon returned home, and returned the Fruehauf trailer involved in the accident to the owner. He neither purchased that trailer nor disposed of his trailer (the one described in the policy).

Under the substitution clause above quoted the insured must dispose of the trailer mentioned in the policy and he must purchase or otherwise acquire title to the trailer substituted for the one disposed of.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Auto-Owners Insurance v. Zimmerman
412 N.W.2d 925 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1987)
Govern. Emp. Ins. v. Concord Gen. Mut. Ins.
458 A.2d 1205 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1983)
Government Employees Insurance Co. v. Concord General Mutual Insurance
458 A.2d 1205 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1983)
Swift v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance
31 Pa. D. & C.2d 448 (Mercer County Court of Common Pleas, 1963)
Fullilove v. US Casualty Company of New York
125 So. 2d 389 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1960)
Newbern Distributing Co. v. Canal Insurance Company
124 So. 2d 721 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1960)
Fullilove v. U. S. Casualty Co. of New York
120 So. 2d 285 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1960)
Mid-Continent Casualty Company v. West
1959 OK 245 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1959)
Lewis v. Bradley
97 N.W.2d 408 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1959)
Ransom v. Fidelity and Casualty Co. of New York
108 S.E.2d 22 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1959)
Allstate Insurance v. Roberts
320 P.2d 90 (California Court of Appeal, 1958)
State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. v. Bass
241 S.W.2d 568 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
241 S.W.2d 568, 192 Tenn. 558, 28 Beeler 558, 1951 Tenn. LEXIS 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mut-automobile-ins-co-v-bass-tenn-1951.