Court Opinion

ID: 9728153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:00:15.744935+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:46.288866
License: Public Domain

BROWN (G. A.), P. J.
I concur with the reasoning and decision of the court. The evidence before the trial court makes clear that the Sharp truck was not the cause of nor did it contribute to the accident in which Cox was injured. The more restrictive definition of the use concept applied to those facts commands the result. So limiting the idea of use as that term is used in automobile liability insurance policies is logical, is doctrinally sound, and realistically responds to the equities involved.
I do not agree, however, with any implication that may be drawn from the language of the decision that such an interpretation is limited to situations where the dispute is between two insurance companies. The same interpretation should be applied whether the controversy is between an individual and an insurance company or otherwise. I see no justification for the popular idea that somehow an insurance company is to be judged by a different standard of justice than an individual or other litigant. In my opinion, all litigants should stand equal before the courts.
A petition for a rehearing was denied May 1, 1974, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Respondents’ petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied June 5, 1974.