Spencer v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Corp.

• Decision Date: 09 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 1:04 CV 0399 DFH TAB.,1:04 CV 0399 DFH TAB.
• Citation: 381 F.Supp.2d 811
• Parties: Daniel SPENCER and Faye Spencer, Plaintiffs, v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CORPORATION and New Hampshire Insurance Company, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

Page 811

381 F.Supp.2d 811

Daniel SPENCER and Faye Spencer, Plaintiffs, v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CORPORATION and New Hampshire Insurance Company, Defendants.

No. 1:04 CV 0399 DFH TAB.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

June 15, 2005.

Order Denying Reconsideration August 9, 2005.

Trevor J. Crossen, Jason R. Reese, Wagner Reese & Crossen, LLP, Carmel, IN, Laura S. Reed, Riley Bennett & Egloff LLP, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiffs.

Bruce P. Clark, Stacy J. Vasilak, Bruce P. Clark & Associates, Munster, IN, Mark D. Gerth, Kightlinger & Gray, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendants.

ENTRY ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

HAMILTON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Daniel Spencer suffered severe and permanent injuries in an accident caused by an uninsured motorist. Daniel and his wife Faye Spencer have sued Liberty Mutual Insurance Corporation and New Hampshire Insurance Company for insurance coverage. The court has diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. All parties have moved for summary judgment.

Spencer suffered his injuries while he was trying to help an injured victim of an accident in which Spencer and the truck he was driving had been involved only moments earlier. As Spencer and others were trying to rescue a victim of the earlier accident, the uninsured vehicle crashed into them.

As explained below, the undisputed facts show that Spencer was covered by both defendants' insurance policies. His rescue efforts were part of his "use" of the insured truck, and he was acting in his capacity as an employee. His actions to assist the injured victim were reasonably within the contemplation or intentions of the parties to the insurance contract. The plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is granted and the defendants' motions are denied.

I. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate where the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, affidavits, and other materials demonstrate that there exists "no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). When deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court considers those facts that are undisputed and views additional evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, in the light reasonably most favorable to the non-moving party. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Baron v. City of Highland Park, 195 F.3d 333, 337-38 (7th Cir.1999).

The interpretation of an insurance policy "`involves the same rules of construction and interpretation as other contracts.'" Myles v. General Agents Ins. Co. of America, Inc., 197 F.3d 866, 868 (7th Cir.1999), quoting Smith v. Allstate Ins. Co., 681 N.E.2d 220, 223 (Ind.App.1997). The application of unambiguous language in an insurance contract to the undisputed facts of a case is a question of law. Harden v. Monroe Guar. Ins. Co., 626 N.E.2d 814, 817 (Ind.App.1993). Generally, where the language of an insurance policy is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation, "the court must construe the language in favor of the insured." Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. Flanders Elec. Motor Serv., 40 F.3d 146, 151 (7th Cir.1994), citing Eli Lilly & Co. v. Home Ins. Co., 482 N.E.2d 467, 470 (Ind.1985). But when, as here, the injured party is not the named insured, the policy is construed from a neutral stance. Indiana Lumbermens Mut. Ins. Co. v. Statesman Ins. Co., 260 Ind. 32, 291 N.E.2d 897, 899 (1973).

II. Undisputed Facts

A. The Accidents

On March 5, 2002, Daniel Spencer was driving a semi tractor-trailer southbound on an interstate highway in Florida hauling a load of fishing boats for his employer, Starcraft Marine, LLC, of Topeka, Indiana. At about 6:00 a.m., a pick-up truck traveling approximately 85 miles per hour "went around" Spencer's truck. The pick-up lost control and drove beneath another semi tractor-trailer traveling about 100 feet in front of Spencer. Debris from that collision "flew all over the place," and some debris hit Spencer's truck. Spencer Dep. 42.

Spencer immediately pulled his truck onto the shoulder of the highway. The highway had six lanes, three northbound lanes and three southbound lanes. The pick-up was stopped in the center southbound lane of the highway with one lane separating the pick-up from Spencer's truck on the shoulder. Spencer used his CB radio to inform the other driver what had just happened. The other driver pulled his truck onto the shoulder some distance ahead. Spencer left his engine running, put on his emergency flashers, and exited his truck.

Spencer heard the passenger of the pick-up truck screaming for help. He crossed the lane of the highway and went to the pick-up truck. He then went back to his truck to get a flashlight. He returned to the pick-up and gave the flashlight to the driver of the pick-up. The passenger was trapped in the vehicle because the dashboard had caved against her legs.

Spencer returned to his truck a second time to get safety triangles. He gave them to the driver of the pick-up to place on the highway to alert oncoming traffic.

A tanker truck traveling north had also stopped to assist. Spencer and the two drivers of the tanker tried to free the trapped passenger from the pick-up. After their initial attempts failed, Spencer returned to his truck a third time to retrieve a crowbar stored under his bunk. They were still unable to move the dashboard with the crowbar enough to free the passenger's legs, so the other men went to their truck to get a jack.

While the other men were retrieving the jack, the injured passenger told Spencer she was getting cold. Spencer returned to his truck a fourth time to get his jacket for her. One of the other drivers also gave her a blanket.

Spencer and the others could not lift the dashboard with the jack because the jack was not high enough. Spencer returned to his truck a fifth time to get some blocks to raise the jack, but he could not find any. One of the other drivers brought some gas caps and placed them under the jack. This resulted in some progress.

While the other drivers were trying to raise the dashboard from the passenger's legs with the jack, Spencer returned to his truck a sixth time to use his CB radio to check on the status of emergency response vehicles. He returned to the pick-up and told everyone that help was on the way.

Spencer then knelt on the pavement next to the passenger seat of the pick-up. He took over operating the jack while the other men attempted to free the passenger's legs. In the midst of this rescue effort, a 1985 Chevrolet van crashed into the pick-up.

Spencer estimated that less than five minutes elapsed from the time he pulled his truck onto the shoulder to the moment of his injury. He also estimated that seven seconds elapsed from the last time he left his truck to the moment of his injury. Spencer suffered severe and permanent injuries rendering him quadriplegic.¹

During his deposition, Spencer was asked why he had stopped his truck after the first accident. His answer was "Because that's the law." Spencer Dep. 42.

B. The Insurance Policies

Defendant Liberty Mutual issued a commercial automobile insurance policy to Starcraft, Spencer's employer, that covered the semi tractor-trailer he was driving on March 5, 2002. The Liberty Mutual policy included uninsured motorist coverage up to $1 million for:

all sums the "insured" is legally entitled to recover as compensatory damages from the owner or driver of an "uninsured motor vehicle." The damage must result from "bodily injury" sustained by the "insured" and caused by an accident with an "uninsured motor vehicle."

Liberty Mutual Ex. C ("Ex. C"). The parties agree that the 1985 Chevrolet van that struck Spencer was an uninsured motor vehicle as defined in the Liberty Mutual policy.²

The truck driven by Spencer was also covered by an umbrella insurance policy issued to Starcraft by defendant New Hampshire Insurance Company. The Indiana Supreme Court has held that the uninsured/underinsured motorist statute requires an umbrella policy that covers excess third-party automobile liability claims to also cover excess uninsured motorist claims, absent a written rejection of such coverage by the insured. See United National Ins. Co. v. DePrizio, 705 N.E.2d 455 (Ind.1999); Ind.Code § 27-7-5-2(a) & (b). Starcraft did not reject the uninsured motorist coverage under the New Hampshire policy. The New Hampshire policy provided coverage to a limit of $15 million in excess of coverage provided by certain underlying insurance policies, including the Liberty Mutual policy. Under the terms of the umbrella policy, New Hampshire is liable to pay on its policy only if the underlying insurer is found liable to pay on its policy and, in the case of an insured's employee, only if the employee was injured while acting in his capacity as an employee. New Hampshire Ex. A. Other facts are noted below as needed, keeping in mind the standard that applies on summary judgment. Because the court is granting plaintiffs' motion, defendants are entitled to have the evidence viewed in the light reasonably most favorable to them.

III. Discussion

The material facts of this case are not in dispute. The question is whether any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The principal issue is whether, at the time of his injury, Spencer fit the definition of an "insured" under the Liberty Mutual policy. If Spencer was covered by Liberty Mutual's policy, he was also covered by New Hampshire's policy as long as he was acting in his capacity as an employee when he was injured.

"Insured" is defined differently in separate provisions of the Liberty Mutual policy. The uninsured motorist coverage provides one definition; the liability provision provides...