Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance v. Moore

958 S.W.2d 759, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 250
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 16, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 958 S.W.2d 759 (Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance v. Moore, 958 S.W.2d 759, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 250 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

LILLARD, Judge.

This case involves the interpretation of two automobile insurance policies. Plaintiff/Appellant Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company (“Tennessee Farmers”) filed a declaratory judgment action against Defendants/Appellees Robert L. Moore, Patricia K. Moore, Stacy M. Moore, Joseph Harwell, Penny Milton, Universal Underwriters Insur- *761 anee Company (“Universal Underwriters”), and Hatcher Chevrolet, Buiek, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, GMC Trucks, Inc. (“Hatcher Auto-plex”) to determine the respective rights and obligations of the parties arising out of an automobile accident. Stacy Moore, the sixteen-yeai’-old daughter of Robert and Patricia Moore, was involved in a one-car accident while driving a car owned by Hatcher Auto-plex. The trial court held that Stacy was a covered insured under the Moores’ policy with Tennessee Farmers and that she was covered secondarily under Hatcher Auto-plex’s policy with Universal Underwriters. Tennessee Farmers, Universal Underwriters and Hatcher Autoplex appeal the trial court’s decision. We affirm.

Robert and Patricia Moore were the named insureds on an automobile insurance policy with Tennessee Farmers. The Moores were married but separated at the time of the accident, and all three of the vehicles listed in the policy were kept at Robert Moore’s residence. Their daughter Stacy lived with Mrs. Moore.

Patricia Moore was employed by Hatcher Autoplex. Hatcher Autoplex provided demonstrator vehicles to some of its employees, including Mrs. Moore. She had used demonstrator vehicles provided to her as her primary source of transportation since she became employed as Hatcher Autoplex’s office manager in 1986. Each employee who was permitted to use demonstrator vehicles was assigned a specific demonstrator. The demonstrators were insured under Hatcher Auto-plex’s garage policy with Universal Underwriters.

Some of Hatcher Autoplex’s employees were instructed not to allow family members to drive the demonstrators and were required to sign a written statement to this effect (“Demonstrator Agreement”). Patricia Moore prepared these forms for other employees, but Hatcher Autoplex never instructed her not to allow family members to drive the demonstrators assigned to her and never required her to sign a Demonstrator Agreement. Consequently, at times she had permitted some family members to drive the demonstrators assigned to her. Occasionally, Patricia Moore would find that the demonstrator vehicle regularly assigned to her had been sold or was otherwise unavailable. On those occasions she was permitted to use any available demonstrator until she was assigned another. If no demonstrator vehicle was available, she was permitted to take another car off the Hatcher Autoplex lot.

When Patricia Moore left work on December 31, 1990, she found that her assigned demonstrator vehicle had been sold. Another demonstrator vehicle, regularly assigned to car salesman Jim Smith, was available on that day. Mrs. Moore took the keys to Smith’s demonstrator and drove home in that vehicle (“Hatcher vehicle”).

After Mrs. Moore got home, she gave Stacy permission to take the Hatcher vehicle to a New Year’s Eve party. She admonished Stacy to go straight to the party and straight home and not to carry any passengers. Stacy drove to the party but deviated from her mother’s instructions; she had two passengers with her, and she did not drive straight to and from the party. While driving the Hatcher vehicle that night, she was involved in a one-car accident. Stacy and her two passengers, Joseph Harwell and Penny Milton, sustained injuries. Harwell and Milton subsequently filed tort actions against the Moores and Hatcher Autoplex.

Tennessee Farmers then filed a lawsuit for declaratory judgment, seeking a declaration that it was not obligated to defend or pay claims filed against the Moores for Stacy’s accident under the Moores’ automobile insurance policy with Tennessee Farmers. The Complaint was later amended to include Universal Underwriters as a defendant, asserting that claims arising out of Stacy’s accident were the obligation of Universal Underwriters only or, in the alternative, that Universal Underwriters’ coverage was primary and Tennessee Farmers’ coverage was secondary.

The Moores’ policy with Tennessee Farmers provides the following:

Part A and B
Liability Coverage
You have this coverage if “A and B” appears under “Coverages” in the Declarations.
*762 Definitions of words and terms as used in this Part A and B
1. Covered person means:
a. you or any family member for the maintenance or use of any auto or trailer....

The policy defines “you” and “your” as the named insureds, who are listed in the declarations page of the policy as Robert and Patricia Moore. It defines “family member” to include a child of a named insured who lives in the same household as a named insured.

The Tennessee Farmers policy also contains the following exclusions:
We do not provide liability coverage under this Part A and B:
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7. for any person or entity while employed or otherwise engaged in the business or occupation of selling ... vehicles
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10. for the ownership, maintenance, or use of any vehicle, other than your covered auto, which is owned by or furnished or available for the regular use of you, any family member or any person residing in a covered person’s household;
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16. for the use, operation, or occupancy of any auto that you do not own without the permission of the owner or person or entity in lawful possession of the auto, or for the use, operation, or occupancy of any such auto outside the scope of that permission.

At trial, Tennessee Farmers argued that the Hatcher vehicle involved in Stacy’s accident was not owned by the Moores and was “furnished or available for the regular use” of Patricia Moore and was therefore excluded from coverage under paragraph 10, above. Tennessee Farmers also contended that Stacy was “engaged in the business of selling ... vehicles,” so the Hatcher vehicle was excluded from coverage under paragraph 7, above. Finally, Tennessee Farmers maintained that Stacy’s use of the Hatcher vehicle was “without permission” or “outside the scope of that permission” and consequently was excluded from coverage under paragraph 16, above.

The Hatcher Autoplex policy with Universal Underwriters provides the following:

WHO IS AN INSURED—...
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With respect to the AUTO HAZARD:
1. You;
2. Any of YOUR partners, paid employees ... a member of their household ... while using an AUTO covered by this Coverage Part, or when legally responsible for its use.

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Bluebook (online)
958 S.W.2d 759, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tennessee-farmers-mutual-insurance-v-moore-tennctapp-1997.