Sun Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Standard Accident Ins. Co.

47 So. 2d 133, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 674
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 29, 1950
Docket19389, 19394
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 47 So. 2d 133 (Sun Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Standard Accident Ins. 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
Sun Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Standard Accident Ins. Co., 47 So. 2d 133, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 674 (La. Ct. App. 1950).

Opinion

47 So.2d 133 (1950)

SUN UNDERWRITERS INS. CO.
v.
STANDARD ACCIDENT INS. CO. OF DETROIT, MICH., et al.
CASCIO et al.
v.
ADLER et al.

Nos. 19389, 19394.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Orleans.

May 29, 1950.

*134 Miazza & Drury, New Orleans, for Sun Underwriters Ins. Co., plaintiff-appellant.

M. C. Scharff, New Orleans, for Mrs. Anna Cascio, wife of and Andrew M. Bucaro, plaintiffs and appellants.

Walter M. Barnett, Jr., New Orleans, for Mrs. Coleman E. Adler and Standard Acc. Ins. Co., defendants-appellees.

JANVIER, Judge.

These two cases, which are consolidated, grow out of an automobile collision which occurred at the corner of Constance and Seventh Streets, in New Orleans, on the night of November 3, 1947, at about eight o'clock. The two automobiles involved were a Chrysler car belonging to Mrs. *135 Coleman E. Adler and driven by her chauffeur, John Poleate, and a Dodge sedan owned by Andrew M. Bucaro and driven at the time by Mrs. Bucaro. Mrs. Bucaro sustained physical injuries and the Bucaro car was badly damaged. Standard Accident Insurance Company of Detroit was the liability and property damage insurer of Mrs. Adler and Sun Underwriters Insurance Company had issued to Bucaro a policy of collision insurance.

One of the suits was brought by Mr. and Mrs. Bucaro against Mrs. Adler, John Poleate and Standard Accident Insurance Company, Mrs. Bucaro claiming $20,000.00 for her physical injuries and pain and suffering; Mr. Bucaro claiming $906.83, for hospital and medical expenses for Mrs. Bucaro and net loss sustained by him as a result of the damage to his automobile, after deducting from the loss the amount recovered by him under his collision insurance policy.

In the other suit Sun Underwriters Insurance Company having settled with Bucaro for the damage sustained by his car and having secured a subrogation from him, sought judgment against the same defendants for $1126.52, as the net loss sustained after deducting from the amount it paid to Bucaro the salvage recovered from the sale of the damaged automobile.

While defendants denied that the accident resulted from negligence on the part of Poleate, the principal defense of Mrs. Adler is that, at the time, Poleate was not acting within the scope of his employment and that, therefore, she is not liable, and the principal defense of Standard Accident Insurance Company is that Poleate was using the car without the permission of Mrs. Adler and that, therefore, the omnibus clause of the policy has no application.

In the suit of Sun Underwriters Insurance Company, service of citation was not made on Poleate until a few days before the case went to trial and, therefore, the plaintiffs conceded that it could not, at that time, obtain judgment against Poleate. In the suit of Mr. and Mrs. Bucaro, Poleate was not cited and, therefore, the plaintiffs concede that in that suit they could not obtain judgment against him.

In the district court there were judgments in favor of Mrs. Adler and the Standard Accident Insurance Company dismissing both suits as to those defendants, and in each case the right of the plaintiffs to proceed further against Poleate was reserved. From these judgments the plaintiffs have appealed.

Mrs. Adler, one of the defendants, a widow, had in her employ John Poleate as a domestic servant and chauffeur. She had secured from the Standard Accident Insurance Company a policy of public liability and property damage insurance. Poleate, without the knowledge of Mrs. Adler, and in violation of her general instructions, used the car for a purpose of his own and, while doing so, became involved in this intersectional collision with the other automobile owned by Andrew M. Bucaro and driven by Mrs. Bucaro.

In the district court it was found that the accident was due to the negligence of Poleate and the record abundantly justifies this conclusion. In fact, no really serious effort was made to prove the contrary, and, as we have said, the principal defenses of the insurer and of Mrs. Adler are that Poleate was not acting within the scope of his employment at the time and did not have the actual permission of Mrs. Adler to use the automobile. On behalf of Mrs. Adler it is maintained that, since Poleate was not acting within the scope of his employment, she is not liable, and on behalf of the insurer, it is contended that, since Poleate did not have the permission of Mrs. Adler to use the car, the omnibus clause of the policy has no application and the insurer is not liable.

We have already stated that Poleate was using the car on a mission of his own, without the knowledge of Mrs. Adler and in violation of her general instructions, and on this question there is no controversy. Consequently, there can be no liability in Mrs. Adler. Accordingly, there is no doubt as to the correctness of the judgments insofar as they dismiss the suits as against her.

*136 The only serious controversy is over the question of whether the omnibus clause in the insurance policy is applicable to the facts found here. That much discussed clause provides that the word "insured" when used in the policy shall include not only the named insured, that is, the person to whom the policy is issued, but shall also include, among others, "any person while using the automobile, * * * provided the actual use of the automobile is with the permission of the named insured."

The sole question is, then, whether, under the facts shown here, the "actual use" of the car was with the permission of the named insured who, of course, was Mrs. Adler. Let us investigate these facts.

Mrs. Adler resided in the Pontchartrain Apartments, located at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Josephine Street, in New Orleans and bearing Municipal Number 2031 St. Charles Avenue. She formerly owned the residence which was directly across Josephine Street from the side of the Pontchartrain Apartments, and she garaged her automobile in a garage which was located in the rear yard of her former residence.

Poleate, Mrs. Adler's chauffeur, had certain household duties to perform in addition to the driving of the automobile. Mrs. Adler, because of her physical condition, often retired very early, frequently at 6:30 P.M., and when she did so, she customarily allowed Poleate to leave as soon as she found that she had no further need for his services.

Mrs. Adler had two sets of keys for her automobile. She says that she kept one herself and required Poleate to put the other on a table in her apartment. On the day previous to that on which the accident occurred, Mrs. Adler noticed that Poleate had failed to return the second set of keys to the table, and, on the evening of the accident, she had scolded him severely and he had promised her that he would never again keep the keys himself and would always return them to the table.

On the afternoon of the day on which the accident ocurred, Mrs. Adler had been in the shopping district of New Orleans in her car, Poleate being the driver. At about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon she returned to her apartment, alighted at the front door, and told Poleate to park the car and to come to the apartment as she might require his services there. Poleate drove the car into the yard across Josephine Street from the apartment, but he did not place it in the garage as he thought that possibly Mrs. Adler might need it again later on that day. After performing some minor service for Mrs. Adler in her apartment, he was told by her that he might leave as she did not require his services again that evening.

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Bluebook (online)
47 So. 2d 133, 1950 La. App. LEXIS 674, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sun-underwriters-ins-co-v-standard-accident-ins-co-lactapp-1950.