Chavez v. Zanghi

• Decision Date: 03 May 1979
• Docket Number: MID-CENTURY,No. 78-634,78-634
• Citation: 42 Colo.App. 417,598 P.2d 152
• Parties: Joe Pedro CHAVEZ and Elizabeth Chavez, minors, by and through their father, Joe Chavez, Joe Chavez, Individually, Mildred Chavez and Shirley Chavez, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony ZANGHI, and Rebecca Marie Zanghi, Defendants, Philip Liljestrand, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff. Tony LILJESTRAND, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, v.INSURANCE COMPANY, Third-Party Defendant and Farmers Insurance Group, California corporations, doing business in Colorado, Third-Party Defendant-Appellee. . III
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Page 152

598 P.2d 152

42 Colo.App. 417

Joe Pedro CHAVEZ and Elizabeth Chavez, minors, by and

through their father, Joe Chavez, Joe Chavez,

Individually, Mildred Chavez and Shirley

Chavez, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony ZANGHI, and Rebecca Marie Zanghi, Defendants, Philip Liljestrand, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff.

Tony LILJESTRAND, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MID-CENTURY INSURANCE COMPANY, Third-Party Defendant and Farmers Insurance Group, California corporations, doing

business in Colorado, Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.

No. 78-634.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. III.

May 3, 1979.

Rehearing Denied May 24, 1979.

Certiorari Granted July 23, 1979.

Weltzer & Worstell, Louis A. Weltzer, David L. Worstell, Denver, for defendant and third-party plaintiff-appellant.

DeMoulin, Anderson, Campbell & Laugesen, Richard W. Laugesen, Jr., Denver, for third-party defendant-appellee.

Prior Opinion Announced March 22, 1979, WITHDRAWN. Petition

for Rehearing GRANTED.

SMITH, Judge.

This is an appeal pursuant to C.R.C.P. 54(b) from a judgment declaring that Farmers Insurance Group is not obligated to defend Tony Liljestrand in an action against him arising from a motor vehicle accident. We reverse.

On August 13, 1976, defendant Tony Liljestrand, while driving a vehicle he had purchased from Anthony Zanghi, was involved in an accident in which the named plaintiffs allegedly suffered damages. Plaintiffs filed suit against Tony, his father, Philip, his girlfriend, Rebecca Zanghi and Rebecca's father, Anthony Zanghi. Tony and his father filed a third-party complaint against Farmers Insurance Group and one of its included companies, Mid-Century Insurance Co. alleging insurance coverage relative to the accident. Defendants Zanghis also filed a third-party complaint making the same claims against Government Employees Insurance Company, their insurer.

Ultimately, defendants Zanghis, their insurance carrier, Government Employees Insurance Company, and Philip Liljestrand were dismissed from the action. A separate trial was ordered relative to Tony's claims against Farmers Insurance Group and Mid-Century (hereafter Farmers). At the conclusion of that trial the court concluded that Tony was not covered by Farmers policy and entered a judgment so declaring. An order under C.R.C.P. 54(b) was thereafter entered permitting this appeal of the propriety of that ruling.

We have before us only an abbreviated record, which does not include a transcript of testimony. Tony and Farmers stipulated at a pre-argument conference held in this court as follows:

"(1) Evidence supported the 'findings of fact' made by the trial court;

(2) The accident occurred within 30 days of acquisition of the Galaxie;

(3) Tony was not licensed to drive at the time the insurance policy issued to his father or any other time prior to the accident, his license having been suspended."

The record on appeal contains various findings of fact made by the trial court which are sufficient for us to reconstruct the events leading to this controversy.

The trial court found that in June of 1976 Philip Liljestrand, Tony's father, called one Jerry Sprinkle, an agent of Farmers, and requested renewal of an existing insurance policy on a 1964 Chevrolet pickup truck. The reason for the request was that Philip had transferred the title to the Chevrolet to Tony. The trial court found that Tony at that time and thereafter was not living at his father's home. He was and had been emancipated and was self-supporting. The court further found that Sprinkle had actual knowledge of Tony's ownership and yet deliberately caused the policy to be issued in Philip's name.

In July Tony sold the Chevrolet and on August 4, 1976, purchased a 1968 Ford Galaxie which he was driving at the time of the accident. The Farmers policy provided coverage for "a newly acquired automobile" (defined as one which replaces the described automobile) provided the named insured notified Farmers within 30 days following the date of acquisition of the new automobile. The parties have stipulated that the accident occurred within 30 days of the acquisition of the 1968 Ford. Tony reported the accident to Farmers and at the same time gave notice of the new acquisition.

Based on these facts and its interpretation of the policy, the trial court concluded as a matter of law: (1) That Sprinkle's knowledge was imputed to Farmers, (2) that any coverage which would have been afforded to Tony would have had to come under either the "relative" or "permissive use" coverage provisions of the policy, and (3) that, since Tony was not residing with his father, Tony was not entitled to coverage under the policy as a relative. The court further concluded, as a matter of law, that Tony would have been covered under the permissive use clause of the policy had he been driving the 1964 Chevrolet pickup. The court finally concluded that the 1968 Ford did not qualify as a newly acquired vehicle under the terms of the policy since Tony was not a "named insured" of the policy while he was...