Case Title: Sellers v. Allstate Insurance Company

Citation: 113 Ariz. 419, 555 P.2d 1113

Docket Number: 12562-PR

State: arizona

Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Date: 1976-09-09T00:00:00Z

Document:
113 Ariz. 419 (1976) 555 P.2d 1113 Gerald D. SELLERS, Doris Sellers, Danny Sellers, a minor, Timothy Sellers, a minor, Barbara Sellers, a minor, by and through their Guardian ad Litem, Gerald D. Sellers, Appellants, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. No. 12562-PR. Supreme Court of Arizona, In Banc. September 9, 1976. *420 Matz & Jurkowitz by Theodore Matz, Phoenix, for appellants. Robbins, Green, O'Grady & Abbuhl by Robert H. Green, Harriet C. Babbitt, Phoenix, for appellee. STRUCKMEYER, Vice Chief Justice. This is an action brought by George and Doris Sellers for themselves and on behalf of their minor children against Jerry Collison to recover damages suffered in an automobile accident. After trial in the Superior Court, a judgment was entered for $830,000 in the Sellers' favor. They caused a writ of garnishment to be served on appellee Allstate Insurance Company. After a tender of issue in which Allstate denied any liability, a summary judgment was granted to Allstate and the Sellers appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We accepted review. Opinion of the Court of Appeals, 25 Ariz. App. 482, 544 P.2d 699 (1976) vacated and judgment of the Superior Court reversed. Jerry and Evelyn Collison married approximately two months prior to the automobile accident out of which this litigation arose. At the time of the accident, Jerry Collison was driving a 1957 Cadillac which he had owned prior to marriage. Evelyn Collison owned a 1964 Chrysler automobile, insured by Allstate Insurance Company, which was in a garage undergoing repairs on the day of the accident. The accident occurred when Jerry Collison was driving the Cadillac on his way to the Lowboy Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona, to have a beer and cash a check. It was his intention after leaving the lounge to pick up his wife at her place of work and drive her home. The Sellers' position is that the policy of insurance issued by Allstate Insurance Company to Evelyn Collison covering the Chrysler automobile also covered Jerry Collison and the Cadillac at the time the accident happened. The Allstate policy provides: It defines certain of the relevant terms in this manner: It is evident that Allstate's policy covered Jerry Collison as Evelyn Collison's husband while he was driving her Chrysler and any replacement, additional or temporary substitute automobile within the definitions of the policy. The Sellers urge that the Cadillac was an automobile temporarily substituted for Evelyn Collison's Chrysler. The Arizona Court of Appeals has previously explained and defined the significance of substitute automobile provisions in insurance policies: In the present case, on weekdays Evelyn Collison normally drove to and from work in the Chrysler automobile. The accident occurred on Tuesday. If Jerry Collison had driven his wife home in his Cadillac after she finished work, in a sense it would have been a substitute for her Chrysler because it would have furnished her transportation. But in actual practice, at the time when the accident occurred Jerry Collison in driving to the Lowboy Lounge was using the Cadillac on a personal mission of his own and for his personal convenience. Since Jerry Collison normally drove the Cadillac, he was not using it as a temporary substitute for his wife's Chrysler in trips for his personal convenience. Cf. Strozewski v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co., 46 Wis.2d 123, 174 N.W.2d 550 (1970). The Sellers argue that the "additional automobile" clause which is very similar in effect to the newly acquired automobile clause, the so-called "automatic insurance" clause, provides a legal basis for coverage of the accident. See 12 Couch on Insurance 2d § 45:173 (1964). It is their position that the additional automobile clause applies because Evelyn Collison acquired an ownership interest in the Cadillac automobile under Arizona's community property laws. While ownership is not defined in the policy, the ownership of such additional automobile by the named insured means such ownership as the ordinary person would contemplate by that term. Hopkins v. Martinez, 73 N.M. 275, 387 P.2d 852 (1963). Equitable ownership is included: In Arizona, the status of property as to whether community or separate is established at the time of marriage. Assets which are the separate property of one spouse before the marriage retain that character after the marriage, but can be altered *422 by an agreement between the spouses, Armer v. Armer, 105 Ariz. 284, 463 P.2d 818 (1970), or by gift of one to the other, Blaine v. Blaine, 63 Ariz. 100, 159 P.2d 786 (1945); Lincoln Fire Insurance Co. v. Barnes, 53 Ariz. 264, 88 P.2d 533 (1939). A married couple is free to determine what the status of their property is to be. Rodieck v. Rodieck, 9 Ariz. App. 213, 450 P.2d 725 (1969). Jerry Collison testified in a deposition on December 30, 1971: Evelyn Collison testified in her deposition taken December 30, 1971: We think there is a factual question as to whether the 1957 Cadillac brought by Jerry Collison to the marriage retained that status. A motion for summary judgment is not designed to resolve factual issues. If there is the slightest doubt as to the facts, summary judgment must be denied. City of Phoenix v. Space Data Corporation, 111 Ariz. 528, 534 P.2d 428 (1975). Here the trier of fact could possibly find that the Cadillac automobile was intended by Jerry Collison to be part of the community estate. For the foregoing reason, we think a factual issue was raised and it was error for the lower court to grant summary judgment to Allstate. Allstate relies on Taylor v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. (La. App.), 185 So. 2d 41 (1966) and Boyd v. U.S. Fidelity and Guaranty Co. (Fla.), 256 So. 2d 1 (1971), but those cases are not similar to the present case. In each, the policy of insurance provided coverage for a newly acquired automobile if it replaced an owned automobile. Such clauses are common to automobile insurance policies. See 12 Couch on Insurance 2d §§ 45:182, 45:209 to 45:214 (1964); Anno. 34 A.L.R.2d 936-947 (1954). However, in the insurance policy being construed there is no requirement that an owned automobile be replaced. The policy specifically speaks of an "additional" vehicle and provides for an adjusted preimum should one be acquired. The Sellers also contend that under the doctrine of estoppel Allstate's insurance covered this risk. They point to certain conversations with the Allstate claims representative after the accident to the effect that Allstate would provide excess coverage above the insurance carried on the Cadillac. However, the overwhelming weight of authority holds that the doctrine of estoppel is not available to bring within the coverage of an insurance policy risks not covered by its terms. Connolly v. *423 Great Basin Insurance Co., 6 Ariz. App. 280, 431 P.2d 921 (1967). Moreover, the instant case lacks an essential element of estoppel. As a minimum, reliance to the prejudice of the Collisons must be shown. See Hall v. Motorists Insurance Corp., 109 Ariz. 334, 509 P.2d 604 (1973). None is shown or even asserted. The judgment of the court below is reversed. CAMERON, C.J., and HAYS, HOLOHAN and GORDON, JJ., concur.