Case Name: FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY of Arkansas, Inc. v. Danny Joe MITCHELL
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Arkansas
Decision Date: 1970-10-12
Citations: 249 Ark. 127
Docket Number: 5-5313
Parties: FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY of Arkansas, Inc. v. Danny Joe MITCHELL
Judges: Jones, J., dissents.
Reporter: Arkansas Reports
Volume: 249
Pages: 127–138

Head Matter:
FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY of Arkansas, Inc. v. Danny Joe MITCHELL
5-5313
458 S. W. 2d 395
Opinion delivered October 12, 1970
Cockrill, Laser, McGehee, Sharp <ir Boswell, for appellant.
Hall, Tucker & Lovell, for appellee.

Opinion:
George Rose Smith, Justice.
This action was brought by the appellee, Danny Joe Mitchell, to recover for personal injuries and property damage sustained by him in a collision between his car and that of Sally A. Haley. Mrs. Haley proved to be an uninsured motorist within the coverage of a motor vehicle insurance policy issued by the appellant, Farm Bureau Mutual, to Danny Joe's father. Danny Joe was an insured person under the policy. In his complaint Danny Joe sought $37,500 in tort damages from Mrs. Haley and $8,000 in contract damages from Farm Bureau Mutual, that being the extent of the insurer's remaining liability under the uninsured motorist clause when the suit was filed. The insurance company denied liability and asserted that the collision was caused by Danny Joe's negligence and by that of a third motorist who no longer plays any part in the litigation.
The jury found that Mrs. Haley's negligence was the sole cause of the collision. The verdict in Danny Joe's favor, against Mrs. Haley, was in the amount of $23,300. Farm Bureau Mutual admits its liability for $8,000 of that amount, but the insurer insists that the trial court erred in awarding Danny Joe a judgment for the statutory penalty and attorneys' fee. That insistence presents the only question on appeal.
According to the complaint, Farm Bureau Mu tual's policy provided, among other coverages, "an uninsured motorist coverage, to pay for all sums which the insured . . . shall be legally entitled to recover for damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured highway vehicle because of bodily injuries sustained by the insured, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of such uninsured highway vehicle." In this court the appellant argues that such uninsured motorist coverage is not within the various types of insurance falling within our penalty and attorneys' fee statute.
We do not find that argument to be sound. In Empire Life & Hosp. Ins. Co. v. Armorel Planting Co., 247 Ark. 994, 449 S. W. 2d 200, we looked to the definitions contained elsewhere in our Insurance Code in deciding whether a particular policy came within the purview of the penalty and attorneys' fee section of the Code. Specifically, we held the policy in that case to be casualty insurance within the Code's definition of that term.
So here. The penalty and attorneys' fees are recoverable upon policies of casualty insurance. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 66-8238 (Repl. 1966). Casualty insurance includes vehicle insurance, which is defined to include insurance against accidental injury to individuals while in a vehicle, if the insurance is issued as an incidental part of insurance on the vehicle. Section 66-2405 (1) (a). To the same effect, coverage against accidental injury as incidental to and part of vehicle insurance is deemed to be vehicle insurance. Section 66-2405 (2). Thus under the unmistakable language of the Code the uninsured motorist coverage constitutes casualty insurance.
We are not impressed by the suggestion that Farm Bureau Mutual's responsibility to its insured, Danny Joe Mitchell, was in the nature of a tort liability that did not become fixed or definite until the jury returned its verdict. That notion was rebutted by our holding in MFA Mutual Ins. Co. v. Bradshaw, 245 Ark. 95, 431 S. W. 2d 252 (1968), where we said: "The uninsured motorist provision is not intended to afford coverage to the uninsured motorist, but to provide protection to the insured against the perils of injury by an uninsured motorist."
In the case at bar Farm Bureau Mutual did not insure Mrs. Haley, the uninsured motorist. Instead, its coverage was in the nature of accident insurance to protect Danny Joe Mitchell against bodily injuries for which the owner or operator of an uninsured highway vehicle was legally liable to Danny Joe. When Danny Joe was injured and asserted a claim against the company, the insurer was of course entitled to a reasonable time in which to make its necessary investigation. Taylor v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of N. Y., 193 Ark. 251, 98 S. W. 2d 944 (1936). But when the insurance company decided that it was not liable and elected to defend the suit brought against it by its own insured, its decision carried with it the risk of having to pay the penalty and attorneys' fee if the insured recovered the full amount of his demand under the contract. That possibility is what proved to be true.
Affirmed, with the appellee to recover an additional $750 for the services of his attorneys in this court.
Jones, J., dissents.