Connolly v. Standard Casualty Company
Connolly v. Standard Casualty Company
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiffs brought this action against the Standard Casualty Company on a public liability policy for indemnification on account of the satisfaction of a judgment obtained against them in a personal injury action. From a judgment for plaintiffs entered May 24, 1954, defendant appeals.
The record shows that on November 5, 1948, an employee of the plaintiffs while operating a pickup truck became involved with a motor ambulance driven by one L. W. Anderson. An action was brought by Anderson against C. H. Connolly and Michael Connolly and their employee Leo Lanning. The case was brought to this court on appeal and the judgment in favor of plaintiff Anderson was affirmed. Anderson v. Lanning, 74 S.D. 161, 50 N.W.2d 57.
Defendant insurance company issued to “John L., C. H., & Michael J. Connolly d/b/a C. H. Connolly” a policy which is designated as a “Comprehensive Farm Liability Policy”. Under its terms the insurer agreed “hnpay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of * * * bodily injury * * * sustained by any person” and “injury to or destruction of property”. The policy contains an exclusionary clause
The defendant disclaims liability on the ground that the policy did not cover the place of the accident. For better understanding of the facts, a photostatic copy of a plat of Section 33 used in evidence, Exhibit 2, is here inserted.
The employee of the plaintiffs driving the pickup truck proceeded from the farm buildings in a northwesterly direction on U. S. Highway 77 and turning left at the intersection to drive south on the highway along the west line of Section 33 collided with the ambulance.
The pickup truck which was involved in the accident bearing South Dakota registration plates was an automobile within the terms of the policy and not a farm implement. So far as applicable to insured’s automobiles, the obligation to indemnify for accidents caused thereby is limit-immediately adjoining”. The accident in question having occurred off such premises, the question presented is whether the accident and resulting injuries which became the basis for the claim against the defendant occurred on a way “immediately adjoining” the premises.
The word “adjoin” as defined in Webster’s International dictionary, 2d Ed., means “to lie contiguous to”; “to be in contact with”; “to abut upon”. It is sometimes inaccurately used to mean lying in proximity to or near. But when
The court found specficially that plaintiffs in their farming operations have for the past forty years mowed and taken off the hay on the railroad right of way between the railroad tracks and the highway in Section 33 extending southeasterly from the highway intersection where the accident occurred to the land owned by the plaintiffs and beyond for an undisclosed distance and that the premises in Section 33 occupied and used by plaintiffs including such hay land does not exceed 320 acres.
Plaintiffs contend that in the absence of a clear limitation of coverage to premises owned or under control of the plaintiffs the coverage should not be so limited and because this is kn appropriate case for the application of the familiar rule that ambiguous terms of a policy should be construed most strongly against the insurer where they are reasonably susceptible of such a constuction the coverage should be construed to apply to the farming operations of plaintiffs on the railroad right of way. We cannot, however, by construction do violence to the language of the policy and read something into it that is not there. It is true that the land owned by or under the control of the plaintiffs in Section 33 and the area on the railroad right of way on which plaintiffs mowed hay did not exceed the 320 acres named in the declarations in the policy. “Farm premises” is not an apt expression to include an area devoted principally to the operation of a railroad and from which without lease or similar right hay is cut and removed. The term “farm” or “farm premises” denotes a tract of land used wholly or pricipally for agricultural purposes and under one control. 35 C.J.S., Farm pp. 746-749; State Industrial Accident Commission v. Eggiman, 172 Or. 19, 139 P.2d 565; Williams v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co., 228
It is asserted that plaintiffs in reliance on the designation “Comprehensive Farm Liability Policy” printed on the outside and at the top of the contract were led to believe that they had coverage on all their farming operations. While it may be proper in the case of ambiguity or conflict in determining the intention of the parties to consider words printed on the back of a policy purporting to sum up what is included within the policy, they cannot have the effect of affording a measure of protection broader than the expressed stipulations of the policy. If this contention were sustained no effect would be given to the exclusionary provisions contained in the insurance contract. When no reference is made thereto in the body of the policy, notations on the back or in places other than in the body of the instrument do not constitute a part of the insurance contract. Ehrke v. North American Life & Casualty Co., 71 S.D. 376, 24 N.W.2d 640; see also Annotation in 168 A.L.R. 555. The designation in question is not referred to in the policy and cannot be regarded as a part of the contract. While the designation was not intended to be a part of the contract and we are not warranted in so construing it, we do not sanction the practice of giving the appearance of broader coverage than the terms of the policy in fact provide. If the designation had read “Comprehensive Farm Liability Policy, as herein limited and provided” or words of like import, attention would have been directed to the fact that the measure of protection is governed by the terms of the policy.
The judgment appealed from is reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting)
The Insurance Company having elected to include these several tracts of land, operated as a unit, in the one policy, I am inclined to the view that the highway immediately adjoining one tract at the gate of that tract should be held to be immediately adjoining the premises for the purpose of farm operation throughout its course in connecting the several tracts.
I generally concur in the views of the trial court as expressed in the first and last paragraphs of his memorandum opinion as follows:
“The Comprehensive Farm Liability Policy issued by defendant company to plaintiffs insured the plaintiffs against liability as to coverages stated in the policy arising from custom farming operations on 800 acres of land located in four sections as shown by the plat, Ex. 1. From the farm'buildings in Section 33, other parts of the land in Sections 34, 27 and 22 could not be reached except on connecting public highways, portions of which were not immediately opposite to any part of the land. The defendant company through its agents knew the nature of plaintiffs’ farming operations and the location of the land with reference to public highways. * * *
“The policy involved was written by the defendant with knowledge of the nature of the plaintiffs’ farming operations and the location and accessibility of the 800 acres of land with reference to the highways. The meaning of the term ‘ways immediately adjoining’ must be determined by reference to the facts and circumstances of this particular case. What was the intention of the parties in light of the fact situation? I think it reasonable to so construe the term that the use of the truck in the farming operations on a way necessarily traveled in going from one part of the land to another was not so far separated from the premises covered as to come within the exclusion. At the time of the collision the truck was on a way which connected the separate tracts and was necessarily used in farming the land described in the policy. Based upon the fact situation in this case, I hold that the collision occurred on a way immediately adjoining the premises within the meaning intended by the parties in writing the policy contract.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CONNOLLY Et Al., Respondents v. STANDARD CASUALTY COMPANY, Appellant
- Cited By
- 22 cases
- Status
- Published