Alabama Farm Bureau Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Cain
| Decision Date | 29 August 1980 |
| Citation | 387 So.2d 195 |
| Parties | ALABAMA FARM BUREAU MUTUAL CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation, v. Martha Faye CAIN and W. C. B. Cain. 79-42. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
L. Merrill Shirley, Elba, for appellant.
No brief for appellees.
There is one question involved in this appeal:
Was an unmarried daughter, who was living in an apartment separate from her parents, a "resident of the household" of her father, and, therefore, an "insured" under two automobile liability policies?
Farm Bureau issued two policies of insurance (A130756 and A208619), to W. C. B. Cain, agreeing to insure two automobiles, a 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air, and a 1963 Chevrolet pickup owned by W. C. B. Cain. Martha Faye Cain, the daughter of W. C. B. Cain, was living with her parents when the policies were issued, but was living in an apartment when the accident, which is the subject of this controversy, occurred. Martha Faye Cain was driving her personal 1967 Chevrolet, which also was insured by Farm Bureau, but the question of coverage under that policy is not the issue which is presented here. Martha Faye made claims against Farm Bureau for medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage as an "insured" under the two policies of insurance on which her father, W. C. B. Cain, was the named insured. Martha Faye claimed that she was entitled to benefits under the two policies because she was injured when she was forced off the road by an unidentified motorist.
Farm Bureau denied coverage under the two policies on the ground that Martha Faye was not "a resident of the same household" and, therefore, was not an "insured," under the terms of the policies.
At the time of the accident, January 24, 1974, Martha Faye was an employee of Kleinert's. From the time she began work with Kleinert's in 1971, until October, 1973, she lived with her father and mother. In October, 1973, she moved to Bullard's Apartments in Elba. She testified, "I was 22 years old and wanted to move out . . . and be on my own for awhile."
Initially, Martha Faye shared the apartment with Loretta Young, but Loretta married and moved out. At the time of the accident, Martha Faye was living alone. Before the accident, Martha Faye listed Bullard Apartments as her mailing address. She would visit her parents occasionally and spend the night. After moving into the apartment, she would call her parents and tell them where she was going if she was going out of state, but she did not believe she had to have their permission to go; she only wanted them to know where she was going.
The two policies of insurance issued to W. C. B. Cain pursuant to the uninsured motorist provision, provide as follows:
INSURING AGREEMENT III UNINSURED MOTORIST Coverage M-Damages for Bodily Injury Caused by Uninsured Automobiles.
The Company will pay all sums which the insured or his legal representative shall be legally entitled to recover as damages except punitive damages (other than for death) from the owner or operator of an uninsured automobile because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death resulting therefrom, hereinafter called "bodily injury," sustained by the insured, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of such uninsured automobile provided for the purposes of this coverage, determination as to whether the insured or such representative is legally entitled to recover such damages, and if so the amount thereof shall be made by agreement between the insured or such representative and the Company or, if they fail to agree, by arbitration. . . .
Under Insuring Agreement III the following definition of insured reads:
DEFINITIONS-INSURING AGREEMENT III . . . (a) Insured. The unqualified word "Insured" means (1) the First Named Insured as stated in the policy and while residents of the same household, the spouse of any such Named Insured and relative of either; . . .
Martha Faye claimed medical payments protection and coverage under the policies of W. C. B. Cain. Those policies provide:
COVERAGE C-MEDICAL PAYMENTS.
To pay the reasonable expense of necessary medical, dental, x-ray, eyeglasses, hearing aids, surgical, ambulance, hospital, professional nursing, funeral services and prosthetic devices, all incurred within one year from date of accident to or for:
(Division 1) each person who sustains bodily injury, sickness or a disease caused by accident while occupying:
(a) the automobile described in the declaration, if the injury arises out of the use thereof by the named insured or spouse if a resident of the same household, or with the express permission of either.
(Division 2) each insured who sustains bodily injury, sickness or disease caused by accident, while in or upon, or while entering into or alighting from, or through being struck by, an automobile. The word "automobile" as used in this paragraph means a four wheeled land motor vehicle, or a trailer, not operated on rails or crawler treads, but does not mean Each policy, as it applies to coverage C, Medical Payments, defines "owned automobile" as follows:
"owned automobile" means the motor vehicle or trailer described in the declarations.
Regarding medical payments coverage protection, the policies have the following exclusions:
EXCLUSIONS-INSURING AGREEMENTS I AND II
This insurance does not apply under: . . .
(h) Coverages C, C-1, and C-2, to bodily injury to any person: . . .
(2) while occupying or through being struck by any automobile, land motor vehicle or trailer if such vehicle is owned by the named insured or a relative and is not included in the definition of "automobile"; . . .
As already stated, Martha Faye, at the time of her accident was not operating either the 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air or the 1963 Chevrolet pickup, the vehicles described on the declaration for policy A130756 and A208619, respectively.
After hearing testimony of three witnesses and considering Martha Faye's deposition, the trial court declared that Martha Faye was covered...
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