lNSURANCE-RECOVERY-INSURER'S LIABILITY ON STATUTORY AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY POLICY FOR ASSAULT BY AGENT OF INSURED

Authors

George B. Berridge, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The negligence of a taxicab driver in backing his cab into plaintiff's automobile caused the bumpers of the two cars to lock. When plaintiff stepped out to inspect the situation, he was, without provocation, brutally beaten by the cab driver. Plaintiff recovered a judgment of $3,000 against the driver and the cab owner, and sought to garnishee the defendant, an insurance company which had issued to the cab owner a policy of automobile liability insurance. In 1946, when the assault occurred, the Illinois Motor Vehicle Law required the owner of a vehicle for the carriage of passengers for hire to maintain an indemnity bond, or an insurance policy insuring against ''liability for any injury to or death of any person resulting from the negligence of such owner or his agent, in the operation of such motor vehicle." The policy issued by defendant recited that it was issued pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Law, and its coverage provisions were written in the terms of that statute. On appeal from an order of the trial court discharging the garnishee, held, reversed. This policy extended insurance protection against injuries resulting from the assault by the agent of the insured. Hawthorne v. Frost, 348 ID. App. 279, 108 N.E. (2d) 816 (1952).

Recommended Citation

George B. Berridge, lNSURANCE-RECOVERY-INSURER'S LIABILITY ON STATUTORY AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY POLICY FOR ASSAULT BY AGENT OF INSURED, 51 Mich. L. Rev. 939 (1953).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol51/iss6/16