U.S. Cas. Co. v. Bain, 3730

• Decision Date: 15 January 1951
• Docket Number: No. 3730,3730
• Citation: 191 Va. 717,62 S.E.2d 814
• Parties: UNITED STATES CASUALTY COMPANY v. MARGUERITE T. BAIN. Record
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 814

62 S.E.2d 814

191 Va. 717

UNITED STATES CASUALTY COMPANY v. MARGUERITE T. BAIN.

Record No. 3730.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia

January 15, 1951.

Edward S. Ferebee, for the plaintiff in error.

Tom E. Gilman, R. Winston Bain and James G. Martin & Sons, for the defendant in error.

JUDGE: GREGORY

GREGORY, J., delivered the opinion of the court.

Marguerite T. Bain, the plaintiff below, brought her action, by notice of motion for judgment, against the United States Casualty Company for $750 with interest. A jury was waived and the whole matter of law and fact submitted to the court. The court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant for the full amount.

It was alleged in the notice that the plaintiff had been injured on April 24, 1949, by reason of a collision between an automobile in which she was riding and a truck belonging to J. P. Trant and Company, Incorporated, which, at the time, was being driven by Izaac Augustus Williams, with the consent of the owner. The United States Casualty Company, defendant in the court below, had covered the truck by insurance and execution had been issued against Williams and returned 'no effects' prior to the institution of the present action. The Insurance Company pleaded the general issue and filed two special pleas in which it took the position that the insurance policy did not cover the operation of the truck by Williams at the time of the accident, because he was not operating it with the permission or consent, either express or implied, of the owner. The Insurance Company also defended upon the ground that the policy in question was one of indemnification only, that no judgment had been rendered against J. P. Trant and Company, Incorporated, the insured, and, therefore, that the plaintiff had no claim under the policy, or otherwise, against the Insurance Company.

At the trial in the tort action a nonsuit was taken against J. P. Trant and Company, Incorporated, and judgment entered against Williams alone. He lives at St. Brides, Virginia, and works for the Trant Company as a laborer in its lumber operations. The truck which he was driving at the time of the accident was a 1947 International and was one of a fleet of trucks owned and operated by the Trant Company and covered by a blanket insurance policy in which thirteen trucks were insured.

At the time the truck in question was purchased, for certain reasons the Trant Company had the title to the truck placed in the name of its foreman, W. B. Sorey, and upon the title a lien was reserved in its favor for $2,550.42. The evidence discloses very clearly that the Trant Company was the sole owner of the truck and had it placed in the name of Mr. Sorey for matters of convenience. The truck was left in his custody along with other trucks and other equipment. Sorey had the right to use the truck for his own private purposes. On Sunday, April 24, 1949, the day of the accident, Williams desired to transport his wife several miles to visit her sick mother, and he and Joshua Alexander Lee, his uncle, asked Mr. Sorey if he would lend the truck to Lee so that Williams' wife might be driven over to her mother's home. The request for Lee to go with him to ask Sorey for the use of the truck was due to the fact that Williams had no driving permit, but Lee did have one and Williams stated, 'I knew he would not let me have the truck. ' Lee worked regularly for Mr. Sorey as a truck driver and had a proper driving license. Mr. Sorey gave permission for the truck to be used for the purpose indicated, if Lee did the driving.

Lee drove the truck to the home of the wife's mother and left it there in the yard. He then took a bus to Norfolk stating that he would return at 6 o'clock in the...