Title: Alabama Farm Bureau Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Cain
Citation: 387 So. 2d 195
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: August 29, 1980

387 So. 2d 195 (1980)
ALABAMA FARM BUREAU MUTUAL CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation,
v.
Martha Faye CAIN and W. C. B. Cain.
79-42.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
August 29, 1980.
L. Merrill Shirley, Elba, for appellant.
No brief for appellees.
MADDOX, Justice.
There is one question involved in this appeal:
Was an unmarried daughter, who was living in an apartment separate from her parents, a "resident of the household" of her father, and, therefore, an "insured" under two automobile liability policies?
Farm Bureau issued two policies of insurance (A130756 and A208619), to W. C. B. Cain, agreeing to insure two automobiles, a 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air, and a 1963 Chevrolet pickup owned by W. C. B. Cain. Martha Faye Cain, the daughter of W. C. B. Cain, was living with her parents when the policies were issued, but was living in an apartment when the accident, which is the subject of this controversy, occurred. Martha Faye Cain was driving her personal 1967 Chevrolet, which also was insured by Farm Bureau, but the question of coverage under that policy is not the issue which is presented *196 here. Martha Faye made claims against Farm Bureau for medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage as an "insured" under the two policies of insurance on which her father, W. C. B. Cain, was the named insured. Martha Faye claimed that she was entitled to benefits under the two policies because she was injured when she was forced off the road by an unidentified motorist.
Farm Bureau denied coverage under the two policies on the ground that Martha Faye was not "a resident of the same household" and, therefore, was not an "insured," under the terms of the policies.
At the time of the accident, January 24, 1974, Martha Faye was an employee of Kleinert's. From the time she began work with Kleinert's in 1971, until October, 1973, she lived with her father and mother. In October, 1973, she moved to Bullard's Apartments in Elba. She testified, "I was 22 years old and wanted to move out .. and be on my own for awhile."
Initially, Martha Faye shared the apartment with Loretta Young, but Loretta married and moved out. At the time of the accident, Martha Faye was living alone. Before the accident, Martha Faye listed Bullard Apartments as her mailing address. She would visit her parents occasionally and spend the night. After moving into the apartment, she would call her parents and tell them where she was going if she was going out of state, but she did not believe she had to have their permission to go; she only wanted them to know where she was going.
The two policies of insurance issued to W. C. B. Cain pursuant to the uninsured motorist provision, provide as follows:
Under Insuring Agreement III the following definition of insured reads:
Martha Faye claimed medical payments protection and coverage under the policies of W. C. B. Cain. Those policies provide:
*197 Each policy, as it applies to coverage C, Medical Payments, defines "owned automobile" as follows:
Regarding medical payments coverage protection, the policies have the following exclusions:
As already stated, Martha Faye, at the time of her accident was not operating either the 1959 Chevrolet Bel-Air or the 1963 Chevrolet pickup, the vehicles described on the declaration for policy A130756 and A208619, respectively.
After hearing testimony of three witnesses and considering Martha Faye's deposition, the trial court declared that Martha Faye was covered under both policies as an "insured." We reverse.
On review, we indulge all reasonable presumptions in favor of the findings made by the trial court, but after reviewing the facts of this case, we are convinced that the findings by the trial court are palpably wrong. Orton v. Gay, 285 Ala. 270, 231 So. 2d 305 (1970).
Furthermore, this appeal involves a mixed question of law and fact. In such cases, we need not find that the trial court's findings of fact are "plainly and palpably wrong"; we need only to say that we differ with the trial court, not on the facts, but on its application of the law to those facts. See Ex parte Shoaf, 186 Ala. 394, 64 So. 615 (1914), which is quoted in Ex parte Newbern, 286 Ala. 348, 239 So. 2d 792 (1970).
This is not the first time Alabama appellate courts have been called upon to determine who is and who is not a "resident of the same household." In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Hanna, 277 Ala. 32, 166 So. 872 (1964), this Court, construing a similar definition of an insured as is present here, found that the named insured, a college student, was not living in the same household with his father, a claimed insured. In Crossett v. St. Louis Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 289 Ala. 598, 269 So. 2d 869 (1972), this Court, again construing the definition of an "insured," but this time, in a case involving a homeowner's policy, held that a college student, under the facts of that case, was an "insured."
Hanna and Crossett have been criticized as being inconsistent. See special concurring opinion by Justice Somerville in Crossett. Hanna and Crossett do reach contrary results, but the factual settings are different. In Hanna, the named insured's intention to remove himself from the household was clear, and in Crossett, under somewhat different facts, the intention of the claimed insured to remain a member of the named insured's household was sufficiently shown by the evidence.
The most recent case coming to our attention is that of Gulf American Fire and Casualty Company v. Azar, 364 So. 2d 332 (Ala.Civ.App.1978); cert. den. 364 So. 2d 335 (Ala.1978), wherein the Court of Civil Appeals, citing both Hanna and Crossett, held:
Under the facts of this case, at the time of the accident, Martha Faye Cain was not living with her father. She was living in an apartment separate and apart from her parents. She was not an insured under the two policies of insurance owned by her father.
The judgment of the trial court holding otherwise is due to be reversed.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C. J., and JONES, SHORES and BEATTY, JJ., concur.