Faulkinbury v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 5--4953
| Decision Date | 08 September 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 5--4953,5--4953 |
| Citation | 247 Ark. 70,444 S.W.2d 254 |
| Parties | H. K. FAULKINBURY and Faulkinbury Food Store, Inc., Appellants, v. UNITED STATES FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Mobley, Bullock & Harris, Russellville, and Smith, Sanderson, Stroud & McClerkin, Texarkana, for appellants.
Arnold & Arnold by Ned A. Stewart, Jr., Texarkana, for appellee.
In 1966 the appellants, H. K. Faulkinbury and a family corporation, were operating a grocery store in Texarkana. Their public liability policy with the appellee included insurance against damage suits for false arrest. The question here is whether a suit which the insureds settled for $5,000 was actually an action for false arrest within the coverage of the policy. The trial court held that it was not and accordingly directed a verdict for the insurance company in this suit brought by the insureds to recover their outlay, with penalty and attorneys' fees.
We agree with the trial court. On March 26, 1966, Faulkinbury's 17-year-old daughter Sharon drove to the parking lot adjacent to her father's store. She testified that as she was getting out of her car a young man in a car next to hers made an insulting remark to her. She ran into the store and reported the incident to her father. Faulkinbury concealed a pistol in his shirt and went out on the parking lot to investigate the incident.
According to Faulkinbury and his son, a car occupied by several youths was just beginning to pull out of the lot. We quote that part of Faulkinbury's testimony that is pertinent to the controlling issue:
A. * * * I stopped them--hollered for them to stop, and they stopped.
A. * * * I went on out and stopped them, and asked them what they were doing. They said, well, they weren't doing anything, and I said, 'Did you say something to this girl standing in the door?' and they said, 'No, sir, we didn't say anything.'
They said, 'Call her out and we will prove it to you,' so I turned and motioned for Sharon to come out. I thought, you know, possibly they might be the wrong ones, or something. Well, when I did, he pulled his car in gear and started easing up, and I told him, 'Well now, just wait a minute and let's see what this is all about,' and so he used some pretty vile language at me, and started moving up, and I told him two or three times to stop, and he kept creeping off from me, and * * *
Q. Where were you, now, Mr. Faulkinbury, at this time?
A. I was leaning inside the car--had my arm over inside the car, holding on to the car, and him gradually trying to drive off. I asked him two or three times to stop, and he just kept getting a little faster. I told him he was going to have to stay there until I found out what was going on; and he cursed me a few more times and started--he really jerked me, you know, as he accelerated faster. After telling him to stop two or three times, I pulled my pistol out and told him I meant for him to stop, and he cussed me again and started on, so I shot him. I shot twice into that car.
Q. All right. Mr. Faulkinbury, what happened right after you fired?
A. He just showed down on the gas, and more or less jumped...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
McIntosh v. Arkansas Republican Party-Frank White Election Committee, PARTY--FRANK
...574 (1960)). This is the Arkansas test for both false imprisonment and false arrest. See id. (citing Faulkinbury v. United States Fire Insurance Co., 247 Ark. 70, 444 S.W.2d 254, 255 (1969)). Because Arkansas law provides the same probable cause standard as federal law, see United States v.......
-
McIntosh v. Arkansas Republican Party-Frank White Election Committee
...the same wrong as false imprisonment, is the unlawful detention of the plaintiff against his will." Faulkinbury v. United States Fire Insurance Co., 247 Ark. 70, 444 S.W.2d 254, 255 (1969). Further, once the plaintiff establishes that he or she was restrained, "the burden [is] upon the defe......
-
Headrick v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
...legal authority. Moon v. The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, 250 Ark. 453, 465 S.W.2d 330 (1971); Faulkinbury v. U.S. Fire Insurance Company, 247 Ark. 70, 444 S.W.2d 254 (1969). In the Moon case a store employee thought the plaintiff was carrying a gun in the store and summoned the police wh......
-
Limited Stores, Inc. v. Wilson-Robinson
...Penney Company v. Romero, 318 S.W.2d 129 (Tex.Civ.App.--San Antonio 1958, writ ref'd n.r.e.). Stores cites Faulkinbury v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 247 Ark. 70, 444 S.W.2d 254 (1969) for the point that much stronger actions are required to meet the test of an actionable detention. Faulkinbury ope......