SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge.
Our decision is required on a question of coverage under the omnibus clause of a garage liability policy.
[107]*107The insurer is Utica Insurance Company, and the insured is Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc., of Hampton, Virginia. By the terms of the policy the word “insured” is defined to include not only the named insured, but also any other person using the automobile covered by the policy, provided the use is with the permission of the named insured.1
Royals’ Motor Service Company delivered possession of the insured automobile to its service manager, Paul T. Davis, from whom it was received by his son, Donald Lee Davis. In the early morning hours of December 19,1954, while Donald was driving in Hampton, an accident occurred which resulted in the death of three of his passengers—a brother, Gerald Davis, and Richard Moncure Young and Betty Ruth Coddington. The latter two were students at William and Mary College whom Donald was taking back to Williamsburg. Three other students were also passengers in the car at the time, and suffered injuries.
Suit was filed by Young’s Administrator, Robert E. Rollasen, who recovered judgment against the operator, Donald Lee Davis. Execution on the judgment was returned unsatisfied, and the plaintiff, availing himself of the omnibus clause of the policy, sued the insurance company and recovered judgment in the total sum of $19,099.00 and costs. From this judgment the present appeal was taken.
The crucial question is whether or not the automobile was being used at the time of the accident with the permission of the named insured, as “permission” is meant in the policy. This question in turn may be separated into three: first, did Royals give Paul T. Davis permission to make general use of the automobile including use for personal purposes; second, did Davis have implied permission to lend the automobile to his son for personal use; and third, assuming an affirmative answer to the first two questions, was the use of the vehicle by young Davis, for the purpose in which he was engaged at the time of the disaster, with his father’s unrestricted permission ana hence, in legal contemplation, with the permission of Royals. Concededly, there was no express permission, but it is undisputed that permission may be either express or implied from the circumstances.
[108]*108Based upon a stipulation of the employment contract and the policy, and upon an affidavit by an official of the Royals’ Company asserting that Davis had permission to use the car only to travel to and from work, the defendant moved for summary judgment, The plaintiff likewise filed affidavits and a motion for summary judgment. As these documents raised substantial issues of fact, the District Judge properly overruled both motions.
At the conclusion of the testimony the appellant moved for a directed verdict, upon which the Judge deferred action, and submitted three special inquiries to the jury, substantially as above indicated. The jury answered each question in the affirmative, finding that there was permission for the use of the automobile by Davis for personal as well as business purposes, that he had implied permission to loan and did loan it to his son without restriction, and that the vehicle’s use at the time of the accident to transport the students to Williamsburg was with the implied permission of Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc. We are to decide whether the Court should have directed a verdict for the defendant, and this depends on whether or not there was sufficient evidence warranting submission of the special issues to the jury.
Some weeks before the accident and while the policy was in force, the Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc. entered into a written employment agreement with Paul T. Davis. The agreement contained the following provision:
“ * # * The party of the first part [Davis] shall receive a weekly salary of $115.00 until February 1, 1955 at which time his salary will be raised to $125.00. The party of the first part shall be furnished by the party of the second part, transportation without gasoline until February 1, 1955, after which time the party of the first part will furnish his own transportation * * *
When Davis came to wcrk for Royals in the fall of 1954, the insured Hudson automobile was turned over to him. There is disagreement between Davis and Clyde R. Royals, Jr., an officer of the Motor Company, as to what was said about the use of an automobile during the negotiations for Davis’ employment and at the time the Hudson automobile was delivered to Davis. The provision in the employment agreement entitling the employee to “transportation without gasoline” is not enlightening as to the point in dispute here—the extent of the permission granted. We must, therefore, look beyond these words, in accordance with the traditional rule which permits extrinsic evidence when written language is ambiguous.
In the circumstances of this case, the District Judge would not have been justified in directing a verdict for the defendant, for this would have required giving the words a fixed meaning which they do not possess. Royals’ version is that he limited the use of the automobile to transportation of Davis to and from work. This Davis denied, insisting that it was understood that he should have the use of the automobile generally, for personal, as well as business purposes. It is suggested that the little gasoline consumed by the employee in travelling from his house to his job, a comparatively short distance, would hardly have been considered of sufficient consequence to call for a special provision in the contract. Davis testified explicitly that he told Royals that he had to have a car because his Plymouth was fourteen years old, but that he could not afford a new car then; that he wanted a “decent automobile,” one “proper to ride around and visit in.” He was willing, he says, to use an older car for work, during the week, but he told Royals in the course of their negotiations that on weekends or to go to church or to ride around on Sunday, he was to have a later model. He exercised complete control over the insured Hudson from the time he received it from Royals, and used it for personal business, for Sunday riding, and going to the theatre, “or whatever became necessary,” including use by his wife and by his son, [109]*109Gerald, on weekends. Although Royals’ testimony was to the contrary, Davis swore that he was seen by Royals making use of the car on Sunday for non-business purposes.
Davis further testified that in discussing terms of employment he had demanded, in addition to commissions, $325.00 per week and an automobile, and Royals offered to make the salary $100.00. Davis says Royals pointed out that insurance on the car would cost $10.00 per week, which Royals thought Davis should pay. Thus they agreed upon a salary of $115.00 per week and the Motor Company was to furnish him a car (“transportation without gasoline”) till February 1, 1955, but after that he was to receive $125.00 per week and furnish his own transportation, for it was expected that by that time earnings on the commissions would be sufficient to enable him to buy a new car and supply his own transportation. Mr. Royals admitted that $10.00 per week was the estimate of the cost of furnishing a car to Davis, covering normal wear and tear and insurance.
The elder of Davis’ sons, Donald, age 21, had but recently returned from several years of military service in Germany.
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SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge.
Our decision is required on a question of coverage under the omnibus clause of a garage liability policy.
[107]*107The insurer is Utica Insurance Company, and the insured is Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc., of Hampton, Virginia. By the terms of the policy the word “insured” is defined to include not only the named insured, but also any other person using the automobile covered by the policy, provided the use is with the permission of the named insured.1
Royals’ Motor Service Company delivered possession of the insured automobile to its service manager, Paul T. Davis, from whom it was received by his son, Donald Lee Davis. In the early morning hours of December 19,1954, while Donald was driving in Hampton, an accident occurred which resulted in the death of three of his passengers—a brother, Gerald Davis, and Richard Moncure Young and Betty Ruth Coddington. The latter two were students at William and Mary College whom Donald was taking back to Williamsburg. Three other students were also passengers in the car at the time, and suffered injuries.
Suit was filed by Young’s Administrator, Robert E. Rollasen, who recovered judgment against the operator, Donald Lee Davis. Execution on the judgment was returned unsatisfied, and the plaintiff, availing himself of the omnibus clause of the policy, sued the insurance company and recovered judgment in the total sum of $19,099.00 and costs. From this judgment the present appeal was taken.
The crucial question is whether or not the automobile was being used at the time of the accident with the permission of the named insured, as “permission” is meant in the policy. This question in turn may be separated into three: first, did Royals give Paul T. Davis permission to make general use of the automobile including use for personal purposes; second, did Davis have implied permission to lend the automobile to his son for personal use; and third, assuming an affirmative answer to the first two questions, was the use of the vehicle by young Davis, for the purpose in which he was engaged at the time of the disaster, with his father’s unrestricted permission ana hence, in legal contemplation, with the permission of Royals. Concededly, there was no express permission, but it is undisputed that permission may be either express or implied from the circumstances.
[108]*108Based upon a stipulation of the employment contract and the policy, and upon an affidavit by an official of the Royals’ Company asserting that Davis had permission to use the car only to travel to and from work, the defendant moved for summary judgment, The plaintiff likewise filed affidavits and a motion for summary judgment. As these documents raised substantial issues of fact, the District Judge properly overruled both motions.
At the conclusion of the testimony the appellant moved for a directed verdict, upon which the Judge deferred action, and submitted three special inquiries to the jury, substantially as above indicated. The jury answered each question in the affirmative, finding that there was permission for the use of the automobile by Davis for personal as well as business purposes, that he had implied permission to loan and did loan it to his son without restriction, and that the vehicle’s use at the time of the accident to transport the students to Williamsburg was with the implied permission of Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc. We are to decide whether the Court should have directed a verdict for the defendant, and this depends on whether or not there was sufficient evidence warranting submission of the special issues to the jury.
Some weeks before the accident and while the policy was in force, the Royals’ Motor Service Company, Inc. entered into a written employment agreement with Paul T. Davis. The agreement contained the following provision:
“ * # * The party of the first part [Davis] shall receive a weekly salary of $115.00 until February 1, 1955 at which time his salary will be raised to $125.00. The party of the first part shall be furnished by the party of the second part, transportation without gasoline until February 1, 1955, after which time the party of the first part will furnish his own transportation * * *
When Davis came to wcrk for Royals in the fall of 1954, the insured Hudson automobile was turned over to him. There is disagreement between Davis and Clyde R. Royals, Jr., an officer of the Motor Company, as to what was said about the use of an automobile during the negotiations for Davis’ employment and at the time the Hudson automobile was delivered to Davis. The provision in the employment agreement entitling the employee to “transportation without gasoline” is not enlightening as to the point in dispute here—the extent of the permission granted. We must, therefore, look beyond these words, in accordance with the traditional rule which permits extrinsic evidence when written language is ambiguous.
In the circumstances of this case, the District Judge would not have been justified in directing a verdict for the defendant, for this would have required giving the words a fixed meaning which they do not possess. Royals’ version is that he limited the use of the automobile to transportation of Davis to and from work. This Davis denied, insisting that it was understood that he should have the use of the automobile generally, for personal, as well as business purposes. It is suggested that the little gasoline consumed by the employee in travelling from his house to his job, a comparatively short distance, would hardly have been considered of sufficient consequence to call for a special provision in the contract. Davis testified explicitly that he told Royals that he had to have a car because his Plymouth was fourteen years old, but that he could not afford a new car then; that he wanted a “decent automobile,” one “proper to ride around and visit in.” He was willing, he says, to use an older car for work, during the week, but he told Royals in the course of their negotiations that on weekends or to go to church or to ride around on Sunday, he was to have a later model. He exercised complete control over the insured Hudson from the time he received it from Royals, and used it for personal business, for Sunday riding, and going to the theatre, “or whatever became necessary,” including use by his wife and by his son, [109]*109Gerald, on weekends. Although Royals’ testimony was to the contrary, Davis swore that he was seen by Royals making use of the car on Sunday for non-business purposes.
Davis further testified that in discussing terms of employment he had demanded, in addition to commissions, $325.00 per week and an automobile, and Royals offered to make the salary $100.00. Davis says Royals pointed out that insurance on the car would cost $10.00 per week, which Royals thought Davis should pay. Thus they agreed upon a salary of $115.00 per week and the Motor Company was to furnish him a car (“transportation without gasoline”) till February 1, 1955, but after that he was to receive $125.00 per week and furnish his own transportation, for it was expected that by that time earnings on the commissions would be sufficient to enable him to buy a new car and supply his own transportation. Mr. Royals admitted that $10.00 per week was the estimate of the cost of furnishing a car to Davis, covering normal wear and tear and insurance.
The elder of Davis’ sons, Donald, age 21, had but recently returned from several years of military service in Germany. On the evening of December 18, 1954, about 8:30 p. m., he was at home when his younger brother, Gerald, 19, an enlisted marine stationed at Quantico, arrived on Christmas furlough. The two brothers decided to celebrate the reunion after their long separation. Gerald declined his mother’s offer to prepare a meal, saying that he had had a sandwich shortly before his arrival. She quotes him as saying, “We are going out for a while, so I’ll get something then if I get hungry.” The family spent the early part of the evening talking and wrapping Christmas packages, and about 10:30 p. m. the two young men announced that they were going out “to do the town, see some of their friends and get something to eat.” Donald sought and obtained his father’s permission to use the Hudson.
The brothers left in the automobile, stopped at a couple of nearby restaurants, at one of which they met five students from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, which is about 28 or 30 miles from Hampton. As the students had no way of returning that night to Williamsburg, Donald agreed to take them there when they offered to pay for the gasoline. It was then about 2:00 a. m. They proceeded to a point only about a mile or so distant from the Davis home, when the accident happened.
It is not claimed that when Davis turned the automobile over to his son any trip to Williamsburg was mentioned specifically, but Davis unequivocally testified that his permission to Donald to use the car was without restriction, “to use it as he saw fit;” that he said nothing to rule out a trip to Williamsburg, and would not have objected if the question had been directly raised; that he considered the use made of the car within the general permission he had given, and he instanced trips made with his consent to other towns, including Yorktown, which is twenty miles from Hampton. Asked on cross-examination if he would have sanctioned a trip to Richmond, he replied that he would, considering that the boys were home for the holidays and that “it was a happy occasion.”
Much of the testimony was disputed by the defendant, particularly Davis’ version of conversations with Royals about the extent of the use authorized. There was enough, however, to predicate a belief that the Hudson was put at Davis’ disposal for his personal use and that of his family, with no more restriction as to use than if it were his own. The testimony as to the events of the early evening of December 18, while not directly contradicted, gave rise to conflicting arguments. For example, the defendant insistently maintained that the permission given Donald by his father was to take the car only to get something to eat, while the plaintiff argued that getting food was only an incidental, not the sole or primary purpose of the journey. So too, the defendant urged that it should be ruled as a matter of law that undertaking, in the early morning hours, a [110]*110journey with the students to Williams-burg exceeded the permission granted Donald when his father loaned him the automobile. But there is no legal precept which points inflexibly to a certain conclusion based upon this isolated fact; it is to be weighed in the entire context, which may be thought to color it one way or another.
All such debates were properly for the jury, whose function it was to make a choice between conflicting testimony and opposing inferences. We are satisfied that there was testimony sufficient, if believed, to warrant the jury’s affirmative answers to the issues as to permission from Royals to Davis and from him to his son. The manner of the Court’s submission of the issues to the jury was, we think, unexceptionable, and it was not objected to by the defendant; in fact, defendant’s counsel candidly declared the charge “most admirable.” We have, therefore, simply a disputed fact issue which the jury has resolved in favor of the plaintiff, and its action cannot be reconsidered by us on appeal.
The defendant points to c.ertain statements elicited from Davis on cross-examination, which are said to negative permission. Assuming this to be so, it would still not require a directed verdict for the defendant, since it is the function of the jury, not of the judge, to appraise the evidence. Our inquiry is not whether there was evidence to support a result contrary to the jury’s verdict, but whether there was evidence legally sufficient to support the verdict that was found.
With the termination of the factual contest, the legal issues brought into focus are found to be neither novel nor difficult. If an insured automobile is left by the owner with someone for general use and he in turn permits its use by another, the use is deemed to be with the permission of the owner. Robinson v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, 1950, 190 Va. 368, 57 S.E.2d 93; Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Tiller, 189 Va. 544, 53 S.E.2d 814; Hinton v. Indemnity Ins. Co. of North America, 175 Va. 205, 8 S.E.2d 279; Employer’s Liability Assurance Corp. v. Carroll, 4 Cir., 139 F.2d 427; Indiana Lumbermen’s Mutual Ins. Co. v. Janes, 5 Cir., 1956, 230 F.2d 500, applying Virginia law; Trotter v. Union Indemnity Co., 9 Cir., 35 F.2d 104; Odden v. Union Indemnity Co., 156 Wash. 10, 286 P. 59, 72 A.L.R. 1363.
The standard omnibus clause was required by the Virginia statute to be included in the policy. Title 38.1, Section 381, Code of Virginia (1950). The generally recognized approach of the courts is to give this clause a liberal interpretation to effectuate the public policy of affording injured persons protection. Said the highest Court of Virginia in Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York v. Harlow, 191 Va. 64, 59 S.E.2d 872, 874:
“The statute is remedial and must be liberally interpreted to subserve the clear public policy reflected in it, which is to broaden the coverage of automobile liability policies. In defining ‘implied permission’, and applying it to the facts of the many cases we have had, this Court has been liberal in its interpretation and application, and has gone far in holding insurance carriers liable.”
Through Judge Dobie this Court has. likewise, in Chatfield v. Farm Bureau Automobile Insurance Co., 4 Cir., 1953, 208 F.2d 250, 256, summarized its decisions as follows:
“Our own decisions, we think, show a strong tendency toward a liberal interpretation in favor of the insured, of the ‘omnibus clause." This clause should not be construed and applied, from a purely analytical viewpoint, under a literal interpreta tion of the words of the policy. The-spirit, not the letter, should control. Statutes requiring the insertion of the ‘omnibus clause’ in automobile liability policies reflect a clear cut policy to protect the public. They should be construed and applied so as to carry out this policy.” (Italics added.)
Finally, a point has been raised and argued as to a ruling on the admissibility [111]*111of testimony. We find no merit in the contention. When Paul T. Davis was under cross-examination, counsel for the insurer undertook to discredit him by showing that he was so prejudiced and biased against the insurance company that during the pendency of the original suit, in the State Court, he had refused to sign a certain affidavit. This affidavit had been prepared for use in the defense of the witness himself and Royals, both of whom were co-defendants with Donald Davis. It was sought to be shown that Davis withheld his signature although the tendency of the affidavit was to absolve him from liability, as it contained a denial that his son Donald was driving the car as his agent. The District Judge declined to allow the inquiry, and this is the ruling complained of.
The relevancy of any question of agency is not apparent, as the issue in the pending case was not one of agency but one of permission—a pointedly different thing. When the operator of a vehicle goes as the owner’s agent on a mission for his principal, the principal is in law liable for the agent’s negligence. When an owner entrusts his vehicle to another, to use it for the bailee’s own purposes, the owner is not liable for the bailee’s negligence, U-Run-It Co. v. Merryman, 154 Va. 467, 153 S.E. 664, 666, because there is no relation of agency between them. The bailee, however, is covered under the omnibus clause of the insurance policy because it does not require the existence of an agency, but merely that the bailee shall have acted with the permission of the insured owner.
Moreover, as there was no issue of non-cooperation in the District Court and the insurance company expressly disavowed this defense, the cross-examination was not pertinent on this score.
If, however, it be assumed that the insurance company was nevertheless entitled to show Davis’ prejudice and bias in refusing to sign the tendered affidavit, we consider the ruling harmless, for the witness’ interest in the outcome of the suit was altogether too manifest to require further proof. The jury knew* that the judgment recovered in the original suit was against the witness’ son, and that unless the plaintiff prevailed against the insurance company in the instant case, that judgment would remain open against that son. The jury knew, in addition, that as the surviving parent of Gerald, Paul Davis was interested, not in negating, but in establishing, that Donald’s operation of the automobile was with his permission. All this was plainly apparent and was doubtless considered in weighing the credibility of the witness. If these incontestable facts did not sway the jury to disbelief of his testimony, we do not think any elaboration on the point of bias would have influenced the verdict. Refusing to allow this phase to be further pursued could not have been harmful to the appellant. Rule 61, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Title 28 U.S. C.A.
The judgment of the District Court is
Affirmed.