Case Name: Robert L. HENSLEY v. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1976-11-15
Citations: 340 So. 2d 603
Docket Number: No. 10961
Parties: Robert L. HENSLEY v. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY.
Judges: Before SARTAIN, COVINGTON and LOTTINGER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 340
Pages: 603–608

Head Matter:
Robert L. HENSLEY v. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY.
No. 10961.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
Nov. 15, 1976.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 20, 1976.
Writ Refused Feb. 18,1977.
John R. Olds, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellant.
David W. Robinson, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee.
Before SARTAIN, COVINGTON and LOTTINGER, JJ.

Opinion:
LOTTINGER, Judge.
This appeal is from a Judgment of the Trial Court sustaining defendant's peremptory exception of no cause of action. From this judgment, plaintiff has appealed.
According to plaintiff's petition, he was involved in a vehicular accident when the second car in front of him stopped abruptly at an intersection apparently for the purpose of making a left turn. The automobile in front of plaintiff was able to stop in time to avoid hitting the automobile which had stopped abruptly, but plaintiff who was behind both cars on a motorcycle ran into the rear of the automobile in front of him resulting in injuries to his person.
Plaintiff's petition alleges that the cause of the accident was not the car immediately in front of him but was the unidentified vehicle in front of that car which stopped abruptly to make a turn. Plaintiff has sued his own insurance company for his damages alleging that the unidentified vehicle is an uninsured vehicle within the meaning of his policy and LSA-R.S. 22:1406. LSA-R.S. 22:1406 D(l)(a). provides in part:
"No automobile liability insurance covering liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, in not less than the limits of bodily injury liability provided by the policy, under provisions filed with and approved by the commissioner of insurance, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured or underinsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death, resulting therefrom; . . ."
The pertinent portion of plaintiff's insurance policy was offered into evidence by stipulation. Said policy defines an uninsured automobile in two ways; first, as an automobile which does not have bodily inju ry liability insurance in at least the amounts specified by the financial responsibility law of the state, and secondly, as a hit and run automobile. A hit and run automobile is defined in the policy as "an automobile which causes bodily injury to an insured arising out of physical contact of such automobile with the insured or with an automobile which the insured is occupying at the time of the accident, . . . ."
The defendant filed a peremptory exception of no cause of action contending that since there was no physical contact between plaintiff's automobile and the alleged uninsured motorist's automobile, no cause of action had been stated against defendant under its policy of insurance.
Appellant argues that the requirement of physical contact in defining a hit and run as uninsured is restrictive of the rights granted by LSA-R.S. 22:1406, and thus invalid. Appellee counters by arguing that similar clauses have been upheld, citing Collins v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 234 So.2d 270 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1970), writ refused, 256 La. 375, 236 So.2d 503 (1970).
In deciding the validity of the exception of no cause of action, evidence is not admissible, LSA-C.C.P. art. 931, though once admitted without objection, the pleadings are considered enlarged. Rheuark v. Terminal Mud & Chemical Co., 213 La. 732, 35 So.2d 592 (1948). The Court must take the allegations of the petition as true, Ruddock Orleans Cypress Co. v. DeLuppe 119 La. 952, 44 So. 794 (1907), and the exception must be overruled unless the allegations exclude every possible hypothesis of admissible facts other than those negativing plaintiff's right to recover. Stanley v. Missouri Pac. R. Co., 179 So.2d 490 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1965). Even if it can be shown that even though plaintiff can prove every fact alleged in his petition he still cannot recover as a matter of law, the exception must be sustained. Black v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co., 37 So.2d 63 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1948).
As we interpret Collins v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., supra, and as approved by the Louisiana Supreme Court in the refusal of writs with the notation "on the facts found by the Court of Appeal, there is no error of law in its judgment", the plaintiff must prove one of two elements to be successful in his claim for uninsured motorist coverage, i. e.' (1) that there was physical contact under the "hit and run" definition of the insurance policy or (2) the identity of the operator of the mystery automobile or the mystery vehicle. Since plaintiff admits that there was no physical contact, and that he does not know the identity of the operator of the mystery automobile, we agree that he has not stated a cause of action.
Therefore, for the above and foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Trial Court is affirmed. All cost of this appeal are to be paid by plaintiff-appellant.
AFFIRMED.