Court Opinion

ID: 9844526
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:04:12.591433+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:36.963734
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice
(specially concurring).
While I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion, I disagree with'the burden it places on the insured who was only attempting to rely upon the insurance protection allegedly afforded him by the policy or policies which he purchased.
I do not believe that the record clearly indicates the existence or non-existence of facts which should be controlling in this action. Therefore a dissent is perhaps not justified. In my judgment, however, certain inferences flow from the facts which are of record and make questionable the validity of the majority opinion insofar as it releases American Casualty from any liability.
The American Casualty policy requires that the insured must give written notice of an “accident” or “an occurrence.” The policy also requires that the Company shall be notified of any claim or suit brought against the insured. The policy further provides that no action shall lie against the Company without full compliance with the foregoing conditions. The majority opinion cites relevant case law to the effect that non-compliance with policy conditions should discharge an insurer. While I agree with such authority, I disagree with the conclusions of the majority opinion that the record before us indicates noncompliance with the policy conditions regarding notification of accident and of suit.
Bowles purchased both the Aetna and the American Casualty policies through one insurance company, to-wit: Summers-*38Brooks. Following the accident Bowles notified that insurance agency of the accident. The Summers-Brooks Agency in turn referred the matter to the General Adjustment Bureau which purportedly represented Aetna. There is a dispute as to whether an American Casualty adjuster was also notified of the accident. The record does not reflect whatever negotiations may have been conducted by General Adjustment Bureau, nor does the record reveal any negotiations between American Casualty and the plaintiff Viani. In any event Viani filed the action against Bowles. The record only indicates that Bowles forwarded the summons and complaint to the law firm of Moffatt, Thomas, Barrett and Blanton.
The parties, the lower court and this court have been attempting, and continue to attempt, to resolve the question as to which insurance policy Bowles must look to for protection. I believe it is illogical to presume that Bowles, after having been sued by Viani, made a conscious decision as to which law firm representing which company he should advise of the litigation. Rather I think it is more logical to assume that Bowles advised his insurance agency that he had been sued and was advised by that agency to deliver the summons and complaint to a particular law firm. I think we may further assume that Bowles could have cared less to which law firm or insurance adjuster he was directed. At that point in time Bowles could only have been interested in securing some insurance protection from some company. Insofar as the record indicates, the same insurance agency represented both Aetna and American Casualty.
I strongly disagree with that portion of the majority opinion which required Bowles to notify both insurance companies of the accident and the law suit, notwithstanding that -Bowles had purchased both policies through the same agency and had notified the agency of the accident and the litigation. From the standpoint of Bowles and Viani it was nothing but froward circumstance that the insurance agency saw fit to notify one of its principals, to-wit, Aetna, of' the accident and the litigation, while at the same time failing to notify its other principal, American Casualty, of the litigation. If the controlling facts which are not reflected in the record support the presumptions in which I have indulged, then the majority opinion is erroneous insofar as it releases American Casualty from liability.