Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Sweeney, 11303.
Decision Date | 03 November 1954 |
Docket Number | No. 11303.,11303. |
Citation | Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Sweeney, 216 F.2d 209 (3rd Cir. 1954) |
Parties | LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO., a Massachusetts Corp., Appellant, v. Richard D. SWEENEY and Ruth T. Connelly. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Wallace E. Edgecombe, Pittsburgh, Pa. (John H. Sorg, Pittsburgh, on the brief), for appellant.
James P. McArdle, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellee.
Before GOODRICH, KALODNER and HASTIE, Circuit Judges.
This is an action by an insurance company in a declaratory judgment proceeding seeking a declaration of noncoverage with regard to a particular accident.The district court held for the defendants and the insurance company has appealed to this Court.
The case turns upon a provision in the policy which was issued to the Charles E. Hires Company by the present plaintiff.The insurer has agreed:
The critical point in the case has to do with the definition of "insured."The policy includes, under this term, the named insured and any person using an owned automobile of the insured "provided the actual use of the automobile is by the named insured or with his permission."
The named insured in this case was the Charles E. Hires Company.Richard D. Sweeney was a part time employee of this company at its Pittsburgh branch.The remainder of his time was spent as a student in Duquesne University.On Saturday night, March 11, 1950, he was riding in a company car with Ruth T. Connelly, the other defendant in this action.The car had a collision with a vehicle owned by the Pittsburgh Railways Company and both Sweeney and Miss Connelly were badly hurt.Miss Connelly sued the Railways Company in the Common Pleas Court of Allegheny County.This Company joined Sweeney and his employer as additional defendants.The insurance company in this declaratory judgment action seeks to get itself out of responsibility for defending that suit on the basis that Sweeney's operation of the car at the time of the accident was not with the permission of the insured.
The action is brought under the federal declaratory judgment statute, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201,2202 (1952), but the sole basis for federal jurisdiction is diversity and we, of course, are applying Pennsylvania law.
At the outset we are invited to declare that although the insurance company brings this action as plaintiff, the burden of establishing permission is on the defendant since permission by the insured to Sweeney to operate the automobile is a condition of the company's liability.In support of this position the plaintiff gives us the New Hampshire rule set out in Traveler Ins. Co. v. Greenough, 1937, 88 N.H. 391, 190 A. 129, 109 A.L.R. 1096.He also urges upon us the Second Circuit's adoption of that rule in Preferred Accident Ins. Co. of New York v. Grasso, 2 Cir., 1951, 186 F.2d 987.We find the subject interesting and note that Moore's Federal Practice points out that: "Generally, it is reasonable and fair that one who brings another into court should have the burden of proving the prima facie elements of his asserted claim."Further Moore says: Moore's Federal Practice, ¶ 57.312(1953).
We also bear in mind that this matter of burden of proof is one in which the federal court in a diversity case will follow state decisions.Moore, op. cit.¶ 57.313.On the particular point involved we are, therefore, being asked to decide Pennsylvania law in the absence of Pennsylvania authority on the subject.
We do not think our problem is as hard, however, as the plaintiff would now have us believe.In fact, no mention of the possibility of reversing the burden of proof appears in the record of the case in the district court.2The insurance company alleged in its complaint that it believed and expected to prove that Sweeney was driving this car without permission of the employer.When the case was tried to the judge without a jury, plaintiff went ahead with its proof as in the usual lawsuit.It called Sweeney as for cross-examination; it called Wilt, the general manager of the Hires Pittsburgh plant and such other witnesses as it thought necessary to prove its case.Then the defendants took over and offered their testimony.The only occasion we would have to face up to the question of who bears the burden of proof under the procedure followed in this case would be if, at the end of the testimony, the matter stood in even balance in the mind of the trier of fact.
This question of what happens in a declaratory judgment suit when the plaintiff has...
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

Start Your 7-day Trial
-
Stop & Shop, Inc. v. Ganem
...be held to have assumed the burden of proof would be inapplicable even if such a rule were to be adopted in our practice. Pacific Portland Cement Co. v. Food Mach. & Chem. Corp., 178 F.2d 541, 547 (9th Cir.);
Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sweeney, 216 F.2d 209, 211-212 (3d Cir.); Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co. v. Lougee, 89 N.H. 222, 196 A. There is in this record no basis for implying a covenant to continue to operate beyond that time when in the business judgment of the lessee... -
Barker v. Goldberg
...before the Court on plaintiff's in limine motion seeking a determination with respect to the placement of the burden of proof. For reasons illustrated by cases in which the issue was not raised or determined until trial, see
Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Sweeney, 216 F.2d 209, 211 (3d Cir.1954); Bauer v. Clark, 161 F.2d 397, 401 (7th Cir.1947) cert. denied, 332 U.S. 839, 68 S.Ct. 210, 92 L.Ed. 411 (1947), the Court agrees that it is appropriate to rule upon this issue at this... -
Yakitori Boy, Inc. v. Starr Indem. & Liab. Co.
...in dispute exceeds $75,000. In an action for declaratory judgment where the sole basis for federal jurisdiction is diversity, a court must apply the substantive law of the state in which it sits. See
Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sweeney, 216 F.2d 209, 210 (3d Cir. 1954). This Court will therefore apply Pennsylvania law as it applies to insurance coverage. B. Legal Standard Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) provides that "after the pleadings are closed—but early enough not to delay... -
Harrisburg Auth. v. Cit Capital USA, Inc.
...unsuspecting defendants after the plaintiff in a declaratory judgment action has voluntarily assumed the burden of proof and has given no notice of its claim that the defendant should bear the burden.”) (citing
Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Sweeney, 216 F.2d 209, 211 (3d Cir.1954)).B. THA's Authority to Enter into the RSA. At trial, and in its post-trial submissions, CIT 4 argues that THA possessed the authority to enter into the RSA, and that nothing in the MAA precluded it from doing so....
-
II. Declaratory Judgment Actions
...situations, such as where the plaintiff insurer has waived any objections as to assuming the burden of proof, or where the trial judge has made a prior ruling on the question.[93] Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sweeney,
216 F.2d 209, 211 (3d Cir. 1954).[94] Wingate, 353 F. Supp. at 1005; Travelers' Ins. Co. v. Greenough, 190 A. 129, 130 (N.H. 1937).[95] Hegler v. Gulf Ins. Co., 270 S.C. 548, 549-50, 243 S.E.2d 443, 444-45 (1978); see also Gordon Gallup...