Western MacHinery Co. v. Bankers Indemnity Insurance

75 P.2d 609, 10 Cal. 2d 488, 10 Cal. 488, 1938 Cal. LEXIS 223
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 26, 1938
DocketS. F. 15892
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 75 P.2d 609 (Western MacHinery Co. v. Bankers Indemnity Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western MacHinery Co. v. Bankers Indemnity Insurance, 75 P.2d 609, 10 Cal. 2d 488, 10 Cal. 488, 1938 Cal. LEXIS 223 (Cal. 1938).

Opinion

SHENK, J.

Western Machinery Company recovered a judgment against the defendant, Bankers Indemnity Insur *489 anee Company in the sum of $1350 on an insurance policy issued by the defendant indemnifying the plaintiff against liability for accidental bodily injuries or death or for property damages by reason of the ownership of the automobiles described in the policy. One Lawton was injured while riding in an automobile operated by one of the plaintiff’s employees. The liability of the defendant was not questioned unless, under the undisputed facts, the carriage of Lawton in the plaintiff’s automobile at the time was excluded from coverage by the declaration contained in the policy that the automobile would not be used to carry passengers for a consideration, actual or implied. There was also involved the question whether the use of the automobile at the time was a permitted business use under the policy provisions. The defendant has appealed from the judgment.

The only questions are whether the court correctly found and concluded that Lawton was not a passenger for a consideration within the meaning of the policy and that the automobile was being put to a use permitted by the policy, namely, for making a call in connection with the business of the plaintiff.

One of the insured’s declarations forming a part of the policy was that “none of the insured automobiles are or will be used to carry passengers for a consideration, actual or implied”. The plaintiff’s business was designated in the policy as that of “machinery”. Another item of the declarations was that the automobiles covered would be used for “business and pleasure”, and defined that phrase as “personal, pleasure and family use, including business calls”.

Lawton was being transported by the plaintiff’s representative from San Francisco to Kyburz, where Lawton inspected some machinery which the plaintiff was offering for sale to Lawton's employer, the Union Paving Company. An accident occurred on the return trip through the negligence of the driver which resulted in injuries to Lawton. The Union Paving Company subsequently bought the machinery which Lawton had inspected. No monetary or other valuable return for the transportation of Lawton was made to the plaintiff.

The position of the defendant is that inasmuch as Lawton was not a “guest” within the meaning of the provisions of section 141% of the California Vehicle Act (Stats. 1923, p. 517, now sec. 403, Vehicle Code, Stats. 1935, p. 154), *490 prohibiting the recovery by a person injured through the negligence of his host, he necessarily became a passenger for a consideration within the meaning of the policy provision. The defendant seeks an interpretation of the word ‘ consideration” used in the policy clause, as any “compensation” which is “given for the ride” within the provisions of the Vehicle Code.

The decisions in such cases as Walker v. Adamson, 9 Cal. (2d) 287 [70 Pac. (2d) 914], and Haney v. Takakura, 2 Cal. App. (2d) 1 [37 Pac. (2d) 170], interpreting statutory provisions, make no addition to the law applicable in the interpretation of insurance policies, which is restated in the cases hereinafter cited and does not require repetition here. (See, also, Worswick Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 181 Cal. 550, 560 [185 Pac. 953]; 14 Cal. Jur., pp. 443 et seq.) No pertinent authority has been cited from this state on the question of when an automobile is “used to carry passengers for a consideration, actual or implied” as that phrase is employed in insurance policies; but the language has been interpreted in other jurisdictions.

In Dahl v. Moore, 161 Wash. 503 [297 Pac. 218], the Supreme Court of Washington held that the plaintiffs, who were riding in the defendant Moore’s car for the purpose of inspecting real estate offered for sale by Moore’s employer, were not gratuitous passengers but were entitled to recover damages for injuries suffered through Moore’s ordinary negligence. The rule in that state was that gratuitous passengers could not recover for the ordinary negligence of their host. A subsequent action brought to recover on Moore’s policy of insurance presented the question whether the automobile under the circumstances was being “used in the carriage of passengers for a consideration, express or implied”. The same court held that the facts did not constitute a carriage of passengers for a consideration. It also held that the use then being made of the automobile was a “business” use as defined in a policy designating the business of the assured as “real estate”, and permitting business uses (Central Surety & Ins. Corp. v. London & Lancashire Indemnity Co. of America, 181 Wash. 353 [43 Pac. (2d) 12].)

In Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corp. v. Olson, 87 Fed. (2d) 465, in discussing a similar clause, the court said that “the word ‘consideration’ in the policy clearly is limited *491 to compensation for use of the car”. It concluded that under the facts there presented the contribution to the expense of the trip had no relation to payments for use of the ear. Supporting authority was found in Park v. National Casualty Co., 222 Iowa, 861, 270 N. W. 23, wherein a similar disposition of the question was made.

In Marks v. Home Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 285 Fed. 959 [52 App. D. C. 225], where there was involved a condition which nullified the policy if the automobile was used in carrying passengers for compensation, the word “passenger” was defined as one who was carried for a fare by some established or public conveyance. (See, also, note 14 A. L. R, at p. 205, and cases cited; Huddy Encyclopedia of Automobile Law, p. 150; Maringer v. Bankers Indemnity Ins. Co., 288 Ill. App. 335 [6 N. E. (2d) 307, 311]; Arms v. Faszholz, (Mo. App.) 32 S. W. (2d) 781, 782.) The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, however, rejected such a definition in a case involving a declaration that the automobile would not be used for carrying passengers for a consideration, and held that where the accident occurred during a single instance of carrying a passenger for a valuable consideration the insurer was exonerated from liability. (Sleeper v. Massachusetts Bonding & Ins. Co., 283 Mass. 511 [186 N. E. 778]; see, also, American Lumbermen’s Mut. Casualty Co. of Illinois v. Wilcox, 16 Fed. Supp. 799; Neilson v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co. of Boston, 111 N. J. L. 345 [168 Atl. 436].)

Then in Jasion v. Preferred Acc. Ins. Co., 113 N. J. L. 108 [172 Atl. 367], an invitee, who was being transported on a trip the purpose of which was to inspect a cow with the object of purchasing it, was held not to be a passenger under the terms of a policy excluding use of the commercial vehicle described therein to carry passengers regardless of whether a consideration was charged.

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

Related

Eason v. Weaver
402 F. Supp. 508 (S.D. Georgia, 1974)
United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Rowe
249 F. Supp. 993 (E.D. Virginia, 1966)
Dalzell v. Northwestern Mutual Insurance
218 Cal. App. 2d 96 (California Court of Appeal, 1963)
JARVIS ET UX v. Indemnity Ins. Co.
363 P.2d 740 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1961)
Wildman v. Government Employees Insurance Co.
307 P.2d 359 (California Supreme Court, 1957)
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Superior Court
304 P.2d 13 (California Supreme Court, 1956)
Olds v. General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corp.
155 P.2d 676 (California Court of Appeal, 1945)
Bradley v. Pacific Employers Insurance
127 P.2d 1007 (California Court of Appeal, 1942)
Porter v. Employers' Liability Assurance Corp., Ltd.
104 P.2d 1087 (California Court of Appeal, 1940)
Jensen v. Canadian Indemnity Co.
98 F.2d 469 (Ninth Circuit, 1938)
Rothman v. Metropolitan Casualty Ins.
16 N.E.2d 417 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 P.2d 609, 10 Cal. 2d 488, 10 Cal. 488, 1938 Cal. LEXIS 223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-machinery-co-v-bankers-indemnity-insurance-cal-1938.