Court Opinion

ID: 9733082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:52:59.273594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:38.281872
License: Public Domain

White, J.,
concurring.
A demurrer by the City of Alliance addressed to the appellant’s petition was sustained by the trial court. The petition was dismissed without prejudice as to the City of Alliance by the plaintiff. As the city was no longer a party to the suit, any judgment against Mayor Zellaha was not binding on it either factually or legally.
While Zellaha could not question the court’s finding that he was acting officially as mayor, the city was under no such constraints, nor was its insurer. And as the dismissal was without prejudice, the issue was finally properly presented for the first time to the trial court, which held against the appellant. There is sufficient evidence in the record to support that finding. Therefore, the case is properly affirmed.
I do not, however, agree that the judgment was produced by collusion or fraud. The Employers Mutual Casualty Company voluntarily declined to defend Zellaha and the city. Zellaha was entitled to take such steps as he deemed convenient, including the entry of a consent judgment to protect himself from possible financial ruin. Any holding to the contrary would permit the insurer to deny coverage or representation, and thus to deny to the insured any protective remedy, and give the insurer the right to try the issue of the validity of the judgment. The law does not allow this result. See Metcalf v. Hartford Acc. & Ind. Co., 176 Neb. 468, 126 N.W.2d 471 (1964).