Court Opinion

ID: 9621235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:54:11.174168+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:02.921735
License: Public Domain

Felton, C. J.,
concurring specially. In such a policy as we have in this case, where the parties have not defined the word “windstorm,” several courts have defined the word to mean “a wind of sufficient violence to be capable of damaging the insured property, either by its own unaided action, or by projecting some object against it; that is to say, that any wind that is of such extraordinary force and violence as to thereby injuriously disturb the ordinary condition of the things insured, is tumultuous in character, and is to be deemed a 'windstorm’ within the purview of the policy in the absence of a provision therein to the contrary.” Adams Apple Prod. Corp. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, 170 Pa. Super. 269 (2, 3) (85 Atl. 2d 702); Gerhard v. Travelers Fire Ins. Co., 246 Wis. 625 (18 N. W. 2d 336, 337); Fidelity-Phenix Fire Ins. Co. of N. Y. v. Bd. of Ed. of Town of Rosedale, 201 Old. 250 (204 Pac. 2d 982, 985); and see *644Ohio Hardware Mutual Ins. Co. v. Sparks, 57 Ga. App. 830, 832 (196 S. E. 915). Under such a definition, the jury was compelled to find that an automobile left parked on a 3.5% grade in the direction in which it moved, unbraked and out of gear, was not in an ordinary condition. The least the word “windstorm” could mean, in my opinion, would be a wind capable of moving an automobile parked on a level, unbraked and out of gear, in which event the act of the owner in leaving the car unbraked and out of gear would not militate against him. Since there was no evidence whatever that the wind in this case was strong enough to move an automobile parked on a level, unbraked and out of gear, and since there was evidence that the United States Weather Bureau classified an 18 to 23 mile an hour wind as a “moderate breeze,” the verdict for the defendant was demanded. The basic question is what is a windstorm? If there was no windstorm, there could be no recovery whatever the facts showed otherwise. The fact that proof of a windstorm would authorize a recovery by the plaintiff despite the negligence of the plaintiff does not mean that proof of a wind less than a windstorm would authorize a recoveiy if the damage would not have occurred but for the negligence of the plaintiff. In other words, if the evidence shows damage from a hazard insured against, the negligence of the plaintiff does not defeat recovery. If the evidence does not show damage from a hazard insured against, there can be no liability even if the damage would not have occurred in the absence of the hazard which was not insured against. So, in this case, if the car would not have rolled down the driveway but for the wind, and the wind did not rise to the degree of intensity of a windstorm, no recovery could be had. Since the evidence demands a finding that a wind not amounting to a windstorm started the automobile in motion and a verdict for the defendant was demanded, the alleged errors of the court in the particulars complained of were harmless.