Court Opinion

ID: 9661365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:37:02.817514+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:27.900053
License: Public Domain

Hallows, J.
(concurring). I concur in the affirmance of the order of the circuit court but disagree with the reasons given by the majority for the affirmance.
In a summary-judgment case, this court is not to decide the facts or to draw inferences therefrom except such as can be done as a matter of law. Voysey v. Labisky (1960), 10 Wis. (2d) 274, 103 N. W. (2d) 9. The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment on the ground there was a question of fact to be determined.
The majority of the court concludes that in the absence of an express prohibition against permitting others to drive the automobile the fact that the named assured, the father, turned over the possession of the car to his son to take it 130 miles distance and there to use it for a period of several months will require a finding of fact that the father gave the second *182permittee implied permission to operate the car for the second person’s personal use within the meaning of sec. 204.30 (3), Stats. This on the ground the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the circumstances is that the son was to exercise the same control over the use made of the car that the owner would. Aside from the conflict over the issue of allowing others to drive the automobile this court is not warranted on the paucity of facts presented on the motion in drawing such an inference. If the majority means the facts will require such an inference by the jury as a matter of law and the majority has not drawn such an inference, then the case should go back to the trial court on the ground there exists a question of fact as herein contended. There are no circumstances or facts indicating the named assured had any reason to believe or know anyone else by permission of his son would drive the car, much less for a purpose unconnected with the son’s use or purpose. The majority view is the equivalent of saying the scope of the use granted to the son was so unlimited, broad, and unfettered that he was put in the shoes of the named assured and therefore was authorized to reloan the use and operation of the automobile to anyone for any purpose.
The omnibus coverage clause, sec. 204.30 (3), Stats., provides, “The insurance hereby afforded shall not apply unless the riding, use or operation above referred to be with the permission of the assured named in this policy, . . .” Since this language is positive when the extended insurance coverage is not to apply, the determination of “permission” as an exception requires some affirmative fact indicating such permission. The absence of an express prohibition is not controlling or probative. If the majority views the problem of construction from the standpoint that permission to use an automobile impliedly authorizes any use or operation of the car unless there is affirmative proof of either an express or implied limitation upon the use, purpose, area, driv*183ing, or in any other respect, then it is against the great majority of the decided cases in other states and those decided by this court. Even a liberal construction of the statute for the purpose of affording coverage to injured members of the public does not justify the assumption the permission is unlimited unless expressly or impliedly limited in some manner. Locke v. General Accident Fire & Life Assur. Corp. (1938), 227 Wis. 489, 279 N. W. 55; Dahlke v. Roeder (1961), 14 Wis. (2d) 582, 111 N. W. (2d) 487. Since a factual determination must be made of the scope of the initial grant of permission, I would affirm.
I agree with the proposition of law that an owner of an automobile who grants permission to another on such terms or under such circumstances as amounts to an unlimited or an unrestricted use, the equivalent of the authority of the owner over the use of the car, impliedly consents that the initial permittee may allow others to drive or to use the car for their private purposes. An owner could do as much. Such cases are not general or usual but the exception in present-day experience. The so-called implied permission of the named assured in such rare cases for any use or purpose flows from the nature of the original permission. Anything less than such unlimited or such general use raises a question in each case whether the limited authorization or permission regardless of degree of limitation has been violated. The majority rule is that the initial permission does not by implication include authority beyond the scope of the original permission. See Anno. Omnibus clause of automobile liability policy as covering accident caused by third person who is using car with consent of permittee of named insured. 160 A. L. R. 1195; 2 A. L. R. Blue Book, Supp. Dec. 1946-1952, p. 738; 3 A. L. R. Blue Book, Supp. Dec. 1952-1958, p. 668; 1963 A. L. R. Blue Book, Supp. Dec. p. 508; 7 Appleman, Insurance Law and Practice, p. 282, sec. 4361. The cases on the initial permission rule in Wisconsin were *184discussed and analyzed in Harper v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. (1961), 14 Wis. (2d) 500, 111 N. W. (2d) 480.
The defendant insurance company’s position on this appeal is that the permission granted the son to use the car was for his own personal use and did not include a right in the son to permit a third person to use the car for the third person’s use or purpose. The authorization, while broad in scope, still had its limitations for personal use and since the use made at the time of the accident was not within the scope of the permission, there was no coverage. If it is permitted to indulge in an inference, as the majority has, then I would infer from the few facts presented (and I believe a jury could reasonably draw the inference) that authority or permission granted the son was limited and did not clothe him with the attributes of an owner. Therefore, the use by Miller with permission of the son was beyond the scope of the original permission and cannot be assigned to the father under any theory of implied permission.