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Titan Indemnity Company v. Estes9/5/2002
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - INSURANCE
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND RENDERED-09/05/2002
. This appeal concerns insurance coverage applicable to a vehicle- fire engine collision which occurred on March 7, 1996, and resulted in the deaths of Hailey Elizabeth Estes and her passenger, Mindy Carlson.
FACTS
. At approximately 11:00 p.m. on March 7, 1996, all personnel at Station 2 of the City of Natchez fire department were dispatched to a house fire in the northern part of the city. Captain Bobby Stutzman was driving the fire engine en route to the house fire. Firefighter Henry Floyd was riding shotgun. As the fire engine approached the intersection of Sargent S. Prentiss Drive and Melrose-Montebello Parkway, it was traveling between 55-60 miles per hour. According to all eyewitnesses, including firefighter Henry Floyd, as the fire engine approached the intersection, the traffic control signal facing Captain Stutzman was red. Hailey Estes and Mindy Carlson were crossing the intersection in a 1993 Mazda on a green light. After having been warned twice of the approach of the Estes vehicle by firefighter Henry Floyd, Captain Stutzman finally applied the brakes of the fire engine 30 feet from the point of impact. Hailey Estes and Mindy Carlson were killed as a result of the accident.
. A blood test performed on Captain Stutzman revealed the presence of the drugs Ultram, Tranxene, Xanax and Chlorzoxazone. Captain Stutzman was later indicted by the Adams County Grand Jury for felony DUI /negligent homicide, and his employment with the City of Natchez Fire Department was terminated. Captain Stutzman appealed his termination to the Natchez Civil Service Commission and urged as a basis for the appeal that Chief Gary Winborne and all others in the fire department knew that he had a long history of taking pain medication and that on the day of the accident, he had requested that he be relieved of the responsibility of driving the fire engine.
. The record reveals that on the morning of March 7, 1996, Captain Stutzman asked his immediate supervisor that a relief driver be called in so that he would not have to drive and operate the fire engine. Chief Winborne was made aware of this request, but refused it stating, "drive or take you're a-- home. I am not authorizing overtime."
. The City implemented a drug testing policy in October, 1992. This policy specifically provided for the mandatory termination of any employee whose initial positive test result was confirmed by a mandatory second test on the same sample. Captain Stutzman tested positive for the use of opiates on at least two occasions prior to the accident on March 7, 1996. These tests were performed at a time when Winborne was either Interim Chief or Chief of the Natchez Fire Department. Captain Stutzman was able to obtain statements from his physicians explaining that the medications prescribed by them would result in a positive drug screen. In spite of Captain Stutzman's reputation as a drug user and concerns that Captain Stutzman represented a danger to both the public and to other firemen, no limitations were placed on Captain Stutzman's duties.
. At the time of the accident, the City had three insurance policies; a business auto policy that provided a maximum limit of liability in the amount of $500,000, a commercial general liability ("CGL") policy that provided a maximum limit of liability in the amount of $500,000, and a public officials policy that provided a maximum limit of liability in the amount of $500,000.
. The family of Mindy Carlson was paid $250,000 by the City of Natchez' insurer, Titan Indemnity Company ("Titan"), under the busine
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