Travelers Insurance Co. v. Kearl

896 P.2d 644, 265 Utah Adv. Rep. 47, 1995 Utah App. LEXIS 56, 1995 WL 327186
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedMay 25, 1995
Docket940293-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 896 P.2d 644 (Travelers Insurance Co. v. Kearl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travelers Insurance Co. v. Kearl, 896 P.2d 644, 265 Utah Adv. Rep. 47, 1995 Utah App. LEXIS 56, 1995 WL 327186 (Utah Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

WILKINS, Judge:

The intervenors in this case, representing the estates of Lisa Marie Warren and Trent and Tobin Kearl, appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of The Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers). The trial court ruled that, as a matter of law, the automobile in question was not insured under the Travelers policy issued to Thomas and Nanette Kearl. We reverse the summary judgment as to the intervenors’ estop-pel argument and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

Because we are reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to the intervenors, the party opposing the summary judgment. See State Bank v. Troy Hygro Sys., Inc., 262 Utah Adv.Rep. 32, 32-33 (Utah App.1995).

Thomas Kearl purchased an Isuzu Impulse from a Rick Warner dealership in Salt Lake City on June 3,1987. Mr. Kearl took possession of the Impulse about this time but did not register title in his name and did not obtain permanent license plates. Mr. Kearl and his wife drove the Impulse for a few months thereafter; however, the Kearls did not have the Impulse added to their insurance policy until September 10, 1987. 1

*646 In October of that year, the Kearls placed the Impulse on consignment with the Rick Warner dealership in an attempt to resell the vehicle. At that time, the Kearls terminated their insurance coverage of the Impulse.

In June of 1988, the Kearls’ teenage nephew, Trent, approached them about the possibility of purchasing or using the Impulse for a period of time. Trent and Mr. Kearl orally agreed that Trent would pay his uncle $100 every two weeks for the remaining life of the Kearls’ loan on the Impulse. The parties dispute whether this transaction equated to a sale of the vehicle or a rental, and if a sale, at what point the sale would be completed and Trent would become the owner.

Trent subsequently took possession of the Impulse, removing it from the Rick Warner lot that same month. A short time later, on June 23, Trent processed the paperwork to transfer title into his uncle’s name.

On July 21, 1988, Mr. Kearl telephoned Travelers’ agent, Don Smith Insurance Agency, for the purpose of adding the Impulse to his current Travelers Policy. 2 Mr. Kearl intended to have coverage for the Impulse begin immediately because he was going out of town and he also knew that Trent was taking the Impulse on a trip out of town. Mr. Kearl spoke with Debbie Smith at the insurance agency. Mr. Kearl told her that he needed to add another vehicle to his Travelers policy, but that he would have to get back to her with more specific information about the vehicle.

Mr. Kearl had previously added vehicles to his policy by making a phone call to the Don Smith Insurance Agency and telling them that he had a vehicle to add. Mr. Kearl often did not have the needed information when he made the initial call to add a vehicle to his insurance; instead, he would give them the remaining required information at a later date. Nevertheless, the added vehicle would always be covered as of the date of the initial call. Mr. Kearl believed that he was going through the same process this time and that coverage on the added vehicle would be retroactive to the date of the call. Ms. Smith did not tell Mr. Kearl that coverage would not begin until he gave her all the necessary information. In reliance on his belief that insurance coverage on the Impulse had been initiated, Mr. Kearl took no further steps prior to July 31, 1988.

On July 31, 1988, the Impulse, while in Trent’s possession, collided with a tractor trailer in Lincoln County, Wyoming, killing Trent; his brother, Tobin Kearl; Jeremy Allen, who was driving the Impulse at the time; and Lisa Marie Warren.

The representatives of the estates of Lisa Marie Warren and Trent and Tobin Kearl brought a wrongful death action against various parties. Travelers, in turn, brought this action to determine whether the Impulse was insured under the Travelers policy issued to the Kearls. The representatives of the estates intervened to protect their interests.

Travelers filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that, as a matter of law, the Impulse was not insured under the Travelers policy issued to Thomas and Nanette Kearl. The trial court granted Travelers’ motion. The intervenors appeal.

ANALYSIS

The intervenors assert that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because genuine issues of material fact exist with respect to the intervenors’ claims that (1) Travelers should be estopped from denying coverage of the Impulse and (2) the Impulse qualified as a newly-acquired vehicle under the Kearls’ insurance policy. Whether Travelers is entitled to summary judgment is a question of law reviewed for correctness. See Records v. Briggs, 887 P.2d 864, 871 (Utah App.1994). We do not defer to the trial court’s conclusion that the material facts are undisputed nor to its legal conclusions based on those facts. Oquirrh Assocs. v. First Nat’l Leasing Co., 888 P.2d 659, 662 (Utah App.1994). In addition, we will view the properly submitted evidence, and the facts and inferences thereby supported, in a light most favorable to the intervenors, the *647 parties opposing summary judgment. See, e.g., State Bank v. Troy Hygro Sys., Inc., 262 Utah Adv.Rep. 32, 33 (Utah App.1995). If we find a material factual issue, we will reverse the grant of summary judgment. Records, 887 P.2d at 871.

I. Equitable Estoppel

The intervenors claim that Travelers should be estopped from denying coverage of the Impulse under the Kearls’ policy. They argue on appeal that they have presented evidence to support each of the required elements of estoppel, thereby precluding the trial court from granting summary judgment in favor of Travelers.

The trial court disagreed, concluding that the intervenors had not provided the court with the type of factual evidence needed to invoke estoppel. In reaching this conclusion, the trial court indicated that “there was no evidence that the course of dealing between Thomas Kearl and Smith Agency ever involved circumstances similar to the facts currently before the Court.... All evidence of a previous course of dealing was therefore materially different and insufficient to form the basis of an estoppel argument.”

The trial court’s otherwise well-reasoned analysis went off track when the court made a presumption concerning ownership of the vehicle. If Trent, and not Mr. Kearl, actually owned the Impulse at the time Mr. Kearl tried to insure it, then the trial court’s analysis would be correct.

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Bluebook (online)
896 P.2d 644, 265 Utah Adv. Rep. 47, 1995 Utah App. LEXIS 56, 1995 WL 327186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-insurance-co-v-kearl-utahctapp-1995.