Jett v. Doe
| Decision Date | 22 April 1977 |
| Citation | 551 S.W.2d 221 |
| Parties | Suzanne JETT, Appellant, v. John DOE and Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Appellees. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Bernard S. Ritchie, Jr., Schaefer & Airhart, Louisville, for appellant.
Thomas E. Harris, Lexington, for appellee Kentucky Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co.
Appellant, Suzanne Jett, was a named insured of the appellee, Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, and among other automobile liability insurance coverages was afforded uninsured motorist protection by an endorsement attached to her policy. Included within the term "uninsured motorist" was an unidentified driver of a hit-and-run automobile, which was defined by the policy as ". . . an automobile which causes bodily injury to an insured arising out of physical contact of such automobile with the insured or with the automobile which the insured is occupying at the time of the accident . . .", so that before there could be insurance coverage for damages involving a hit-and-run vehicle under the policy's uninsured motorist endorsement, there must have actually been a "hit". This is a standard form provision found in automobile liability policies nationwide whose purpose has been stated by the various state and federal courts addressing it to be one of protecting the insurer from fraudulent claims arising in cases where the insured's injuries are the result of his own negligence, without the intervention of any other vehicle, although it is alleged that the accident was caused by an unidentified vehicle which immediately fled the scene. Annot.,25 A.L.R.3d 1299, 1302 (1969).
On the morning of April 3, 1973, appellant was traveling west on Old Frankfort Pike in Woodford County, Kentucky, when an approaching automobile traveling at a high rate of speed in her lane of traffic forced her to swerve from the roadway. By so doing, she succeeded in avoiding contact with the oncoming car but was caused to lose control of her own vehicle, crashing into a number of roadside trees and striking an auto driven by Mary Kay Keeton. The vehicle appellant evaded did not stop at the scene and has since remained unidentified. Appellant sustained injuries to her face, head and body as a result of the mishap and brought suit for $27,500 claimed in damages, naming her insurer and the unknown motorist, John Doe, as defendants. Farm Bureau subsequently moved to dismiss the complaint as to it for failure to state a cause of action, claiming that since the unknown defendant did not come into contact with appellant's car, the policy's uninsured motorist provisions did not apply. In her response to this motion, appellant conceded that there had been no physical...
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