Twichell v. Hetzel

64 P.2d 557, 145 Kan. 139, 1937 Kan. LEXIS 279
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 23, 1937
DocketNo. 33,162; No. 33,163
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 64 P.2d 557 (Twichell v. Hetzel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Twichell v. Hetzel, 64 P.2d 557, 145 Kan. 139, 1937 Kan. LEXIS 279 (kan 1937).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hutchison, J.:

These two separate actions were for damages resulting from a collision of an automobile with a licensed truck on the state highway. One action was by the owner and driver of the automobile, and claimed damages for injuries to himself and also to the automobile, and the other was by a passenger in the same car who claimed damages for injuries to himself. Both cases referred to the same accident, alleging negligence of the driver as the cause of the accident, and both made the same parties defendants, viz., the owner of the licensed truck, the driver thereof and the insurance carrier.

The amended petition in each case set out portions of the insurance bond, and a copy of the endorsement addressed to the state corporation commission was attached to the insurance bond outlining in part its obligations under the bond to which it was attached. The insurance company demurred to the amended petition in each case for the reason that it failed to state a cause of action against this defendant and in favor of the plaintiff and for the further reason that the same is contrary to law and a misjoinder of causes of action. The trial court overruled both these demurrers, and from those rulings the insurance company has appealed in both cases.

The appellant claims that although the petition in each case set out all the allegations against all of the parties defendant in one cause of action, yet they in fact contain two separate and distinct causes of action, one in tort and the other on contract, urging that the only liability of the insurance carrier was under its contract, and questioning the right of the plaintiff to unite these causes of action in one suit mingled together in one cause of action, or even separated into two causes of action joined as such in one suit. Appellant cites in this connection R. S. 60-601, which is as follows:

“The plaintiff may unite several causes of action in the same petition, whether they be such as have been heretofore denominated legal or equitable, or both. But the causes of action so united must affect all the parties to the action, except in actions to enforce mortgages or other liens.”

[141]*141In the same connection appellant calls attention to the language of this section before the revision of the code in 1909, where the original section only permitted the uniting of several causes of action in the same petition provided they arose out of certain classes or groups of transactions or affairs. This provision or condition has been entirely eliminated in the amendment, and appellant cites three cases that were decided while the old law was in effect, namely, Benson v. Battey, 70 Kan. 288, 78 Pac. 844, Chase v. Railway Co., 70 Kan. 546, 79 Pac. 153, and Haskell County Bank v. Bank of Santa Fe, 51 Kan. 39, 34 Pac. 405. The first one of those cited was where a cause of action against two of the defendants was joined in the petition with a cause of action at law to recover damages in tort against another defendant not affected by the first cause of action, and it was held that such causes of action could not be properly joined and that a demurrer for misjoinder should be sustained even if the allegations were blended and commingled in one statement. Similar views were expressed in the second case cited above, although there was no demurrer filed to the petition and one portion of it was held to be surplusage, the plaintiff having sued the railroad company for damages by reason of being ejected from one of its trains under one cause of action claiming the rights of a passenger, and further alleging that the company violated its contract of carriage when it sold the plaintiff a ticket. The third case above cited was where the petition included an action for recovery of damages against a number of defendants for a fraudulent conspiracy, and it was joined with an action to obtain a cancellation of a certificate of deposit held'by one of the defendants. In the opinion it was specifically stated that both actions did not grow out of the same transaction, as required by the old statute, and that the statute required that the causes of action so united must all belong to one of those classes. Besides, in the first and last of these three cases all the defendants were not affected in both causes of action.

The case of Dunn v. Jones, 143 Kan. 218, 53 P. 2d 918, is cited and it contains valuable reasoning and discussion as to the liability of an insurance carrier for a motor truck. However, the demurrer of the insurance company to the petition because of misjoinder of causes of action was not discussed, it having been confessed by the plaintiff, but the relation of the insurance carrier to the owner of the motor truck is of great assistance in the matter for considera[142]*142tion in this case. The following statements from the opinion are instructive and helpful:

“A liability insurance policy is one that indemnifies against the condition of being liable, and such a policy is to be distinguished from one which indemnifies against ultimate established loss, resulting from final enforcement of liability.
“There are insurance policies and insurance policies. The nature of a particular policy must be ascertained by interpretation of its provisions. The distinction between policies insuring against liability and policies insuring against loss is made clear, and some of the consequences of the distinction are discussed in the opinion in the case of Blanton v. Cotton Mills Co., 103 Kan. 118 (1918), 172 Pac. 987. Brandon v. St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Co., 132 Kan. 68 (1931), 294 Pac. 881, is a parallel case, in which the distinction between obligation for liability and obligation for loss was recognized. See, also, the article on Liability Insurance in 36 C. J. (1924) §§ 3, 4, 74, 75, 76.
“Besides specifying the kind of insurance, by a description having definite meaning in the law of this state, section 21 of the 1931 act indicates liability insurance. The purpose of the insurance is adequate protection to members of the public from negligent conduct of the motor-vehicle operator, not simply protection to the negligent operator against judgments rendered against him, and what the policy must assure is recoverable compensation to a member of the public for injury to person and loss of or injury to property.
“The legislature might have provided that no liability should attach to the insurer until judgment had been rendered against the motor carrier for damages resulting from his negligence. It did not do so. In the Blanton case the terms of a policy were considered, and it was held the policy was a liability policy. In this instance, the terms of the statute are considered.” (p. 223.)

The opinion quotes from the Blanton case, above cited:

“These provisions show that the obligations of the contract rested upon the insurer from the time the accident occurred- down until the liability resulting from them was settled and discharged.” (p. 223.)

The actions are brought under the provisions of R. S. 1933 Supp.

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

Related

Mazza v. City Of Boston
D. Massachusetts, 2024
Members Mutual Insurance Co. v. Hermann Hospital
664 S.W.2d 325 (Texas Supreme Court, 1984)
White v. Goodville Mutual Casualty Co.
596 P.2d 1229 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1979)
Kirtland v. Tri-State Insurance Co.
556 P.2d 199 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1976)
Collier v. Travelers Insurance
197 A.2d 493 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1964)
Sterling v. Hartenstein
341 P.2d 90 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1959)
Streebin v. Capitol Truck Lines, Inc.
322 P.2d 776 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1958)
Briggs v. Burk
239 P.2d 981 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1952)
Billups v. American Surety Co.
228 P.2d 731 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1951)
Fitzgerald v. Thompson
204 P.2d 756 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1949)
Waugh v. Kansas City Public Service Co.
143 P.2d 788 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1943)
Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Gentry
1942 OK 366 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1942)
Schoonover v. Clark
130 P.2d 619 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1942)
Burks v. Aldridge
121 P.2d 276 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1942)
Smith v. Republic Underwriters
103 P.2d 858 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1940)
Fisher v. Central Surety & Insurance
86 P.2d 583 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1939)
State Highway Commission v. American Mutual Liability Insurance
70 P.2d 20 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 P.2d 557, 145 Kan. 139, 1937 Kan. LEXIS 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/twichell-v-hetzel-kan-1937.