Case Name: LUMBERMEN'S MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. v. Calvin RUIZ
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1954-12-10
Citations: 77 So. 2d 84
Docket Number: No. 3914
Parties: LUMBERMEN’S MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. v. Calvin RUIZ.
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 77
Pages: 84–87

Head Matter:
LUMBERMEN’S MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. v. Calvin RUIZ.
No. 3914.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana. First Circuit.
Dec. 10, 1954.
Dugas, Bean & Bertrand,.Lafayette, for appellant.
Harry B. Garland, Felix A. Dejean, Jr., Opelousas, for appellee.

Opinion:
ELLIS, Judge.
On September 26, 1950 at approximately 4:30 P.M. two miles east of Opelousas in St. Landry Parish on U. S. Highway 190, the defendant had a flat on his Oldsmobile automobile, and left it parked on the highway. At about 7:00 P.M. the plaintiff's insured, Aldest Zeringue, was driving on said highway and ran into the rear of the defendant's parked car. The plaintiff, as the insurer of Zeringue, paid his $567.49 which represented the damage done to his car as a result of the collision, less $50 deductible as provided by the policy, and $36.50 for medical treatment, making a total of $603.-99. Accordingly plaintiff has filed this suit to recover the amount so paid.
Plaintiff alleged that at the time of the settlement it secured from its insured a receipt and act of subrogation of all his rights with respect to the loss and damage arising out of the collision of September 26, 1950 "which said act of subrogation will be produced on trial hereof."
There was filed a prayer for oyer of the receipt and act of subrogation. In answer, the plaintiff filed a "subrogation receipt" dated October 31, 1952 and signed by Aldest Zeringue on the date. The accident having occurred on September 25, 1950, the suit having been filed on the 24th of September, 1951, and the subrogation receipt filed in answer to the prayer for oyer being the date October 31, 1952, the defendant filed an exception of no right or cause of action which was referred to the merits by the district judge.
The defendant filed his answer which was a general denial of the allegations of plaintiff's petition and in the alternative a plea of contributory negligence.
The case was tried on its merits and plaintiff offered the original proof of loss which contained a settlement and subrogation agreement signed by its insured on October 16, 1950 before L. Austin Fontenot, Notary Public. To this offering counsel for defendant objected on the ground that it constituted an enlargement of the pleadings and further that plaintiff in answer to the prayer for oyer had filed a subrogation dated October 31, 1952 which was depended on in the preparation of the case.
At the completion of the testimony the district judge overruled the exceptions and rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff as prayed for, from which the defendant has appealed.
The defendant is re-urging its exception of no right or cause of action on the ground that the subrogation agreement was dated after prescription was run and after the actual filing of the suit, and on the further ground that the subrogation was not taken at the time of payment.
Recently this Court in the case of John M. Walton, Inc., v. McManus, 67 So.2d 130, 132, had occasion to somewhat discuss the law with regard to subrogation in cases of this kind, and we stated:
"Although there is no act of subrogation to the insurance company in the record, we believe that the said company still might assert its rights under the laws of our state. The courts of this state have held that where an insurer has paid damages to an automobile as a result of a collision with vehicle of another, the right of subrogation to the extent of said payment exists by virtue of Article 2315 of the LSA-Civil Code, which gives a right of action to any one who is injured or damaged through the fault of another. In London, Guarantee & Accident Insurance Co. v. Vicksburg, S. & P. R. Co., 153 La. 287, 95 So. 771, 772, the Supreme Court, in discussing the contention as to whether an act of subrogation is necessary in such a situation said that the right of an insurer to sue in such a situation:
" ' arises from the general provisions of article 2315 of the Civil Code. The article gives a right of action for damages to any and every one who is injured by another's fault. If the loss of $515 which the surety company has sustained was caused by the fault or negligence of the railroad company, the latter is answerable directly to the surety company for the loss.' "
It was only necessary for plaintiff to allege and prove payment in accordance with its contract of insurance and this it clearly did.
Article 15 of plaintiff's petition is as follows : "That at the time of this settlement, petitioner secured from said Aldest Ze-ringue a receipt and act of subrogation against all persons whomsoever of all of his rights with respect to the loss and damage arising out of said collision on September 26, 1950, which said act of subrogation will be produced on trial hereof."
The proof of loss which also contained a stipulation of subrogation signed on October 16, 1950, which was introduced on the trial of the case, did not affect plaintiff's cause of action which under the law and the case cited arose at the time the plaintiff insurer paid its insured. It did not have to secure an act of subrogation in this case. The exception of no cause or right of action was properly overruled.