Travelers Corporation v. Kaminski
| Decision Date | 30 June 1969 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 18337. |
| Citation | 304 F. Supp. 481 |
| Parties | The TRAVELERS CORPORATION, a body corporate of the State of Connecticut v. Harry KAMINSKI, Joseph H. Jackson, Mrs. Joseph H. Jackson, Timothy F. Davis, Samuel Walker, Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Board, Commissioner of Motor Vehicles (Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund), United Services Automobile Association, a body corporate of the State of Texas. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Joseph H. Young and Paul V. Niemeyer, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.
Stanley J. Walcek and Giordano & Walcek, Marlow Heights, Md., for defendant Harry Kaminski.
Richard H. Lerch and Lerch & Huesman, Baltimore, Md., for defendants Joseph H. Jackson, Mrs. Joseph H. Jackson and Timothy F. Davis.
William C. Higinbothom, Baltimore, Md., for defendant Samuel Walker.
Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, and Alfred J. O'Ferrall, III and William E. Brannan, Asst. Attys. Gen., for defendant, Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Board.
John H. Mudd and David M. Buffington, Baltimore, Md., for defendant United Services Automobile Assn FRANK A. KAUFMAN, District Judge:
In this proceeding, involving the coverage or lack of coverage of two automobile liability insurance policies issued by two insurance companies, Travelers1 and United,2 both companies seek declaratory relief. Diversity of jurisdiction is present.3
In September, 1965, Timothy Davis was stationed at Edgewood Arsenal, located approximately 20 miles from Baltimore, Maryland. He was nineteen years of age. His mother had married Joseph Jackson in 1953. There were close and warm family ties between the Jacksons and Davis. Davis lived with the Jacksons and their other children until he went into the service, and the Jackson home remained his home after he went into the service, up to and including, if not after, May 29, 1966.
On September 4, 1965, Jackson and Davis together visited a Baltimore Chevrolet agency and selected a 1965 Corvair, a demonstrator's model with some mileage on it. Davis signed the contract to buy the car. Jackson testified that the downpayment was $400.00 and that he (Jackson) put up $110.00 toward the downpayment and that Davis paid the rest from his own service earnings. Davis testified on deposition that the downpayment was $300.00 and that he and Jackson each put up $150.00, or "something like that." At trial he used the figure of $200.00 instead of $150.00. The remainder of the purchase price was borrowed by the Jacksons from the Savings Bank of Baltimore. The car was titled in the names of the Jacksons. Davis' name did not appear on the title or the financing papers. Jackson, on deposition, testified that the Corvair was owned by Davis, "but I bought it in my name, because he wasn't old enough, not twenty-one, not twenty-one until December 28, 1966."
Also, on September 4, 1965, Jackson, without Davis, visited his insurance agent, Mr. Stephens, and asked him to add the Corvair on the Jacksons' then current owner's automobile liability insurance policy. That policy was at that time about to expire. Stephens, after his talk with Jackson on September 4, 1965, cancelled that existing policy and arranged for the issuance of a new owner's policy by Travelers, naming the Jacksons as insured and covering the 1959 Chevrolet and the 1965 Corvair as cars owned by the Jacksons. Jackson did not tell Stephens that Davis had any interest in the Corvair. Jackson told Stephens the Chevrolet and the Corvair would be used by himself and his wife. Jackson paid Stephens for the Travelers coverage. Jackson testified on deposition that he and Davis each paid for part of the Travelers insurance. Davis testified Jackson paid for that insurance.
In early October, 1965, Davis got in touch with Stephens and told Stephens that he wanted an operator's policy so that he could drive the Corvair on weekends. Davis did not mention to Stephens that he had any interest in the Corvair. Stephens testified Davis told him that Davis did not own a car but wanted to be able occasionally to drive cars of his Army buddies and also the Corvair. Stephens attempted to add an endorsement on the Jacksons' policy with Travelers to cover Davis as an operator. Travelers declined the added coverage. Stephens wrote on October 8, 1965 to the Maryland Automobile Assigned Risk Plan, requesting coverage for Davis and suggesting that the coverage be assigned to Travelers. However, the coverage was assigned not to Travelers but to United which issued a separate operator's policy to Davis on October 11, 1965. While the record does not specifically establish the same, Davis presumably paid Stephens for the operator's coverage issued by United to Davis.
In October or November, 1965, Davis obtained a learner's license card from the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles of the State of Maryland. Sometime in late December, 1965, a Maryland driver's license was issued to Davis.
Davis denies that he drove the Corvair between September and the date he obtained a learner's license. Between that latter date and the date Davis received his driver's license in late December, Davis drove the car about three nights each week when he was in Baltimore on passes from Edgewood. On at least several occasions during the period he held a learner's license, Davis kept the car overnight at or near Edgewood, without registering the car on the base. After Davis obtained his driver's license, he filed at Edgewood a letter of consent signed by one or both of the Jacksons, and thereafter was permitted by the military authorities to register the car at Edgewood and drive it and keep it on that base.
During the learner's license period, Davis and Jackson testified Davis drove the car only with a licensed driver as a passenger. However, it is clear that Davis had the use of the car during that period and that the Jacksons' supervision over that use was very loose. Jackson assumed that one3a of Davis' several Army buddies who was driving with Davis had a valid operator's license though he never saw any such license. Jackson permitted Davis to drive with Walker as a passenger though Jackson understood Walker had a Texas license and Jackson was uncertain whether that license was valid in Maryland. On one occasion, which Jackson clearly recalled but concerning which Davis professed no memory, Davis drove away from the Jacksons' residence during the learner's license period at the wheel of the Corvair with a Baltimore girl as the only passenger. Jackson knew the girl owned and drove her own car and assumed she had an operator's license. Jackson understood Davis drove the car on that occasion to Edgewood, kept the car there and drove back to Baltimore the next time Davis received a pass from Edgewood. Jackson did not know whether the girl drove with Davis to Edgewood or, if she did, how she returned to Baltimore.
Jackson testified he and his wife had no need for the Corvair themselves. They drove it occasionally before Davis got his learner's license and also a few times after that, particularly if it needed repairs or servicing. Jackson testified he put the car in the names of himself and his wife because the Chevrolet sales agency informed him that the bank which financed the car would not handle it if the car were registered in Davis' name, since the latter was a minor. Davis testified he understood a minor could not register a car in Maryland in his own name. Davis also testified the car was purchased originally as a family car. Jackson testified it was purchased because Davis wanted his own car.
Until December, 1965, according to Jackson, and until February, 1966, according to Davis, Davis and Jackson each put up part of the monthly car payments to the bank. Davis' payments came from his own service earnings. Davis testified he gave the money to Jackson and Jackson paid the bank. During or before February, the Jacksons and Davis had a conversation about the car and thereafter Davis paid for all gas and oil for the Corvair (prior thereto Davis paid for gas and oil if he was driving the car and the Jacksons paid for gas and oil if they were driving the car) and all of each of the monthly payments.
Both Jackson and Davis testified that the Jacksons instructed Davis not to let any person other than Davis drive the car. Jackson testified he so instructed Davis for Davis' "own good" and because of the banking arrangements. When deposed, Jackson stated that he told Davis that if Davis let anyone else drive the Corvair, Davis "would probably get us in trouble, also himself too." Both Davis and Jackson agree that Jackson never saw anyone other than Davis drive the Corvair.
In January, Jackson noticed that a lot of mileage had been put on the car and suspected others besides Davis were using it. Jackson again so noticed in March and testified he asked Davis if others were driving it but that Davis denied any such use. Jackson testified that Davis has always told him the truth, and he accepted the statement Davis made to him. Davis testified he does not recall any such conversation with Jackson at any time. At the time of the accident in May, 1966, Davis testified that he guessed there were about 15,000 miles on the Corvair.
As with any such car in a three-person family unit in which the relationships are close, the car was available to the mother and step-father from time to time but, as Jackson testified, his wife drove infrequently and he (Jackson) had his own car. Davis, as a minor, thought he could not register the car in his own name. In addition, he understood the bank required the undertaking of one or both of the Jacksons. Further, Davis needed the consent of one or both of the Jacksons to keep the Corvair at Edgewood. This Court believes and finds that for those reasons and because they were his parents, Davis did not argue with the Jacksons when they directed him how to use and not to use the car. However, he then proceeded to use the car as he saw fit, and was...
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