Opinion ID: 2460346
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Allstate's Right To Defend Itself

Text: There is yet a more compelling reason that the judgment of the trial court should be reversed. The agreement which Allstate signed and delivered to Hunt was not a confession of liability. It was a consent that one judgment would settle the issues between Hunt, Rose, and Allstate. This is the letter agreement: Please take this as the necessary written consent of Allstate Insurance Company under the policy that the results of the litigation of the tort question, if any, and the amount of damages sustained by Mr. Hunt, if any, (subject to the applicable limits within the policy) shall be binding upon Allstate Insurance Company so that these matters will be taken as established with relation to any claim of Mr. Hunt under his uninsured motorist coverage with Allstate Insurance Company. The situation on December 16, when this case was set for trial, was that Hunt had named Allstate as a co-defendant. Any question of conflict left the case when Hunt filed its amended petition and joined Allstate, who then had the legal right to defend itself. It is no answer to say that Allstate had agreed to be bound by the judgment in that case. It was willing to be bound by the one judgment. The consent to be bound became immaterial after the joinder of Allstate, because thereafter there could be only one judgment whether Allstate consented or not. The only escape from this conclusion is to make of the consent to be bound by one judgment a confession of liability. I can not find that meaning in the words stated above. The opinion of the majority will generate unnecessary litigation in cases such as this one, in which any possible conflicts arising out of a cross-action or the right to assert a subrogation claim have been eliminated. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Matlock, 462 S.W. 2d 277 (Tex.1970), we took a short step toward simplifying the practice involving uninsured motorist clauses. We alluded to Article 5.06-1, Insurance Code, and said that the code did not require the insured first to obtain a judgment against the uninsured motorist prior to commencing a direct action against the insurer. We disposed of that case, however, on a different point. Consistent with the spirit of Matlock, I would hold that an insured may also bring a direct action against the insurer and join the uninsured motorist so one suit could resolve the whole problem. I see no difference in the two situations. I would also hold that an insured may bring a direct action against his insurer, and that the insurer would be permitted to intervene on the side of the uninsured motorist. The opinion of the majority runs counter to Matlock and forces a practice of unnecessary prior suits before action may be commenced against the insurer. I respectfully dissent. I would reverse the judgments below and remand this cause to the trial court so Allstate can represent itself in the action in which it is a named adversary defendant. WALKER, STEAKLEY and REAVLEY, JJ., join in this dissent.