Betancourt v. U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
Betancourt v. U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
Opinion of the Court
An amended complaint was filed against the U. S. Fidelity and Guaranty Co., and Roberto Villafañe, also known as. Roberto Vizcarrondo, to recover compensation for damages. It was alleged, in brief, that an automobile belonging to; Roberto Villafañe, insured by the codefendant company and' driven by Miguel Cestari — mentioned in the record also under' the name of Miguel Chestary Carrion — “who at the time was acting as agent of codefendant within the scope of agent,
In deciding the motion for nonsuit the lower court stated, among other things, that “The evidence which the plaintiff has presented in this case shows that Miguel Chestary Carrion was driving the automobile of the defendant Roberto Villafañe, following the instructions of the latter, to take Villafañe’s children to school,” adding that, “Ches-
In our opinion the judgment should be affirmed insofar as Roberto Villafañe' is concerned, on the authority of our decision in Díaz v. Iturregui, supra, and reversed in respect to the U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
Once the appellant presented in evidence, with the consent of the defendants as we have said, a copy of certain clauses of - the insurance policy, among them the omnibus clause copied in footnote 1, the complaint became amended pursuant to the provisions of Rule 15(6) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, Arcelay v. Sánchez, 77 P.R.R. 782,
The third clause, on the subject, reads as follows: “With respect to the insurance for bodily injury liability and for property damage liability the . . . word ‘Insured’ includes the Named Insured and also includes any person while using the automobile and any person or organization legally responsible for the use thereof, provided the actual use of the automobile is by the Named Insured or with his permission. The insurance with respect to any person or organization other than the Named Insured does not apply: . . .”
It was considered that the testimony of the doctor lacked importance for the purpose of the motion for nonsuit.
There is no need to consider the motions filed by the appellant after the trial, but before the motion for nonsuit was granted, asking leave to conform the pleadings to the evidence. The complaint was amended, as we say in the opinion, from the moment in which a copy of the clauses of the insurance policy was admitted in evidence, with the consent of the defendants.
By Act No. 60 of April 17, 1952 (Sess. Laws, p. 128), § 175 of the Act known as the Insurance Law of Puerto Rico (No. 66 of 1921, Sess. Laws, p. 522) was amended, and since then such section has read thus: “Any clause in an insurance contract depriving the insured of his right to claim in the courts of justice, at any time after the occurrence of the accident against which the insurance was made, the amount of any loss suffered and which has been the object of such insurance, shall be illegal. When the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.