 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Arredondo v. Avis Rent a Car System3/27/2001
Third District, Salt Lake County The Honorable Dennis M. Fuchs
Eddie, Noe, and Orilyn Arredondo filed a complaint against Kai Walston, Ortrud Walston, Avis Rent A Car System, Inc., and Continental Casualty Company. The Arredondos sought to recover damages for injuries arising from an accident allegedly caused by Kai Walston's negligent and reckless driving of a car that his mother, Ortrud Walston, rented from Avis. The Arredondos also sought a judgment declaring that the insurance policy Ortrud Walston purchased from Avis and Continental provided liability insurance coverage for Kai Walston in this case. The Arredondos filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the declaratory judgment issue, and Avis and Continental filed a cross- motion for partial summary judgment on the same matter. The trial court granted Avis and Continental's cross-motion and dismissed Continental from the case, as it was not a party to any of the Arredondos' other claims. The court then directed entry of final judgment on the issue under rule 54(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. The Arredondos appeal the trial court's entry of partial summary judgment and subsequent dismissal of Continental as a party. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
"In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we view the facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. . . . We state the facts in this case accordingly." Tretheway v. Miracle Mortgage, Inc., 2000 UT 12, 2, 995 P.2d 599 (citations omitted).
Ortrud Walston rented a 1996 Chevrolet Lumina from Avis on April 17, 1996. As part of the written rental agreement executed by Ortrud Walston (the "rental agreement"), she purchased liability insurance, which the Pathfinder Insurance Company provided to her as a renter of an Avis vehicle. The Pathfinder policy was designated as "primary" coverage and provided coverage to Ortrud Walston as well as certain other potential drivers of the rental car, namely, the renter's spouse, employer, "a regular fellow employee incidental to business duties[,] or someone who appears at the time of rental and signs an additional driver form." The Pathfinder policy would only apply to these other potential drivers, however, if Ortrud Walston gave them permission to drive the car and they were "at least 25 years old and . . . capable and validly licensed driver ." Additionally, the agreement extended liability insurance coverage under the Pathfinder policy to a non-permitted driver "where the law extends coverage to a non-permitted driver." The policy covered "up to the minimum financial responsibility limits required by applicable law."
As another part of the rental agreement, Ortrud Walston opted to purchase additional liability insurance, which Continental provided. The Continental Policy was designated as "excess" or "additional" coverage and provided up to $1,000,000 of liability coverage. It purported to apply only to "those persons renting a car from Avis . . . who have agreed in writing to accept additional liability insurance" and to "any authorized driver of the car . . . as such drivers are described in the rental agreement."
On April 19, 1996, two days after Ortrud Walston rented the car and purchased the Pathfinder and Continental policies, her seventeen-year-old son, Kai Walston, was driving the car on Jordan Canal Road in Taylorsville, Utah, when, allegedly, as a result of his negligent and reckless driving, the car struck Eddie Arredondo, who was riding a bicycle along the roadway. Eddie Arredondo suffered extensive injuries, resulting in over $350,000 in medical expenses.
The Arredondos filed a complaint against K
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Utah Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|