Court Opinion

ID: 9777041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:52:23.846373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:46.490324
License: Public Domain

Frank Holt, Justice. The court, sitting as a jury, awarded appellee $5,000 death benefits pursuant to the terms of an automobile insurance policy issued to appellee’s decedent by appellant. Appellant asserts the judgment of the trial court is not supported by substantial evidence. The policy provided coverage from death resulting from “being struck by an automobile.” In denying coverage, the appellant invoked the provision of the policy which provides that coverage is excluded whenever bodily injury is sustained in the course of one’s occupation when engaged “fi]n duties incident to the operation, loading or unloading of, or as an assistant on a ... . commercial automobile.” Appellant argues that the decedent was in the performance of his duties which were incident to the operation, loading or unloading of a truck and there is no substantial evidence to support the court’s finding that the exclusionary clause was inapplicable. In determining whether there is any substantial evidence to support the findings of the court, we view the evidence, even though contradicted, and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the appellee. Green v. Harrington, 253 Ark. 496, 487 S.W. 2d 612 (1972). In Blissett v. Frisby, 249 Ark. 235, 458 S.W. 2d 735 (1970), we said: It is only where there is no substantial evidence to support the verdict, where fair-minded men can only draw a contrary conclusion or where there is no reasonable probability that the incident occurred according to the version of the prevailing party, that a jury verdict on these questions will be disturbed on appeal. Courts are required “to strictly interpret exclusions to insurance coverage and to resolve all reasonable doubts in favor of the insured who had no part in preparation of the contract.” Security Ins. Co. v. Owen, 252 Ark. 720, 480 S.W. 2d 558 (1972); and First Pyramid Life Ins. Co. v. Thornton, 250 Ark. 727, 467 S.W. 2d 381 (1971). The decedent, a welder, was employed as part of a crew on a construction project. On the date of the accident, a truck, equipped with an A-frame and hoist, was being used to transport steel beams from a stacked position on the ground to the construction site of a building. The beams were then swung to an overhead position, lowered, positioned, and bolted into place by other crew members. The decedent’s duties, as a hookup man on this particular day, consisted of attaching a steel cable and a guide rope to a beam and guide the beam as it was being attached to the A-frame. This prevented the beam from swinging after being attached to the boom. Another crew member would then transport the beam by the truck to the construction site. When the truck arrived the beam was maneuvered into position by the workers there and the guide rope would be disengaged by them from the beam and cast aside. The positioning of a beam at the site would take at least twenty minutes. It appears that it would take about five minutes for the truck to move from one site to the other. At the time of the accident, the operator of the truck had completed the delivery and positioning of a beam. When he was backing up the truck to return to the stacked beams, the truck hit a depression in the ground dislodging the A-frame and hoist which struck and killed appellee’s decedent. The deceased was rolling up the discarded tag line or rope approximately twenty feet from the truck. He was completely unaware that the truck was moving or that he was in danger until someone shouted a warning to him which was to no avail. In the circumstances, when we view the evidence most favorable to the appellee as we must do on appeal and strictly construe the exclusionary clause relied upon, we cannot say there is no substantial evidence to support the fact finder that the exclusionary clause does not conclusively preclude recovery of its award of benefits. In other words, the fact finder could fairly infer that the decedent was not in an act incidental to the actual operation, loading or unloading of the truck at the exact time of the fatal incident. Affirmed. George Rose Smith, Fogleman and Hickman, JJ., dissent.