Hale v. American Fire & Casualty Co., Civ. A. No. 2299.

Decision Date17 December 1948
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 2299.
PartiesHALE v. AMERICAN FIRE & CASUALTY CO.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

J. B. Dawkins, of Monroe, La., for plaintiff.

Albin P. Lassiter, of Monroe, La., for defendant.

DAWKINS, Chief Judge.

Petitioner sued defendant alone as the insurer of her son's automobile for damages arising from personal injuries alleged to have been caused by his negligent operation of said automobile, the pertinent recitals of the complaint being as follows:

"Petitioner now shows that the said Lelas L. Hale, and the automobile owned and operated by him was covered by policy number 358882, insuring the said Lelas L. Hale and any person or passenger lawfully therein against any loss occasioned by the operation of said automobile; which policy was issued by Troy and Nichols Insurance Agency of Monroe, Louisiana, the duly appointed agents for the said American Fire and Casualty Company.

"Petitioner now shows that while on said trip, and while she was riding in the automobile so insured and operated by the said Lelas L. Hale, the owner and the insured, and while the said Lelas L. Hale was driving same at a rate of speed in excess of sixty miles per hour, that the said Lelas L. Hale in driving around a curve at said speed suddenly came upon another car which was parked in said highway, or was making such slow progress as to block said highway and before the said Lelas L. Hale could apply his brakes and thereby prevent a collision, that he crashed into the rear of said car causing to your Plaintiff herein the injuries and disabilities hereinafter alleged."

On motion for particulars as to where the accident had happened, complainant amended and added the following:

"In amendment and supplement to the allegations contained in the second paragraph of Plaintiff's original Petition, Plaintiff avers that on or about June 7, 1947, she and her son, Lelas L. Hale, also a resident of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, left the latter's home in Monroe, Louisiana, for the purpose of visiting Petitioner's daughter who was a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas. That said trip was taken mostly for the benefit of Plaintiff herein, and that in order to induce her said son to drive her to visit her daughter who was likewise his sister, that Petitioner herein purchased the gasoline consumed and to be consumed on said trip.

"In supplement to the allegations of the fourth paragraph of her original Petition, Petitioner now shows that when she and her son had reached a point in the State of Arkansas, approximately eight miles south of Little Rock, that the car owned by and operated by the said Lelas L. Hale, collided with the rear of an automobile operated by one B. G. Daniel, a resident of Fort Smith, Arkansas."

Defendant then filed an exception of no cause or right of action (insufficient facts to show her entitled to relief) in that under the law of Arkansas, where the accident happened, when occupying the relationship to the insured as disclosed in the pleadings, she has no right to recover for such injuries.

Pertinent provisions of the Arkansas statute, where the accident happened, are as follows:

From Pope's Digest 1937

"H-1. Actions by Guest in Automotive Vehicle Prohibited.

"§ 1302. Action by guest...

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3 cases
  • Johnson v. St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Louisiana
    • March 30, 1970
    ...283 (W.D.La.1967); Totty v. Travelers Insurance Company and J. D. Snee, 200 F.Supp. 34 (E.D.La.1961); Hale v. American Fire and Casualty Company, 81 F.Supp. 273 (W.D.La.1948). So well established has the rule of law become that in many of the cited cases the principle is conceded by both pa......
  • Billingsley v. Westrac Company
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
    • September 9, 1966
    ...Ark. 187, 372 S.W.2d 228, 229, 230 (1963); Tiner v. Tiner, 238 Ark. 222, 379 S.W.2d 425, 431, 432 (1964); see Hale v. American Fire & Cas Co., 81 F. Supp. 273, 274 (W.D.La.1948); cf., however, Mr. Justice McFaddin's dissent in the comparatively early case of Cooper v. Calico, supra, p. 727 ......
  • Emberson v. Buffington, 5-1357
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Arkansas
    • October 28, 1957
    ...District of Arkansas, Western Division, 4 later appealed to the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 5 and the case of Hale v. American Fire & Casualty Co., D.C., 81 F.Supp. 273. In the first case, Mrs. Harlow was injured in an automobile accident while riding as a guest with her nephew. She ins......

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