{ "id": 8523471, "name": "GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, TERRY TILLEY EATON, PATSY CRABTREE CLAYTON, TOMMY FARR CLAYTON, THOMAS CHARLES WALE, SEAN THOMAS WALE, PEGGY HOLLOWAY and ALENE HOLLOWAY", "name_abbreviation": "Great American Insurance v. Allstate Insurance", "decision_date": "1986-01-07", "docket_number": "No. 8510SC729", "first_page": "653", "last_page": "657", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "78 N.C. App. 653" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.", "id": 14983, "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "251 S.E. 2d 419", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1979, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "296 N.C. 467", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8567655 ], "year": 1979, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/296/0467-01" ] }, { "cite": "283 S.E. 2d 518", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1981, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "304 N.C. 371", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8567849 ], "year": 1981, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/304/0371-01" ] }, { "cite": "246 S.E. 2d 215", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "295 N.C. 495", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "244 S.E. 2d 736", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "36 N.C. App. 495", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8554321 ], "year": 1978, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/36/0495-01" ] }, { "cite": "331 S.E. 2d 744", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1985, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "76 N.C. App. 102", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8526683 ], "year": 1985, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/76/0102-01" ] }, { "cite": "85 S.E. 2d 305", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1954, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "241 N.C. 397", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8611166 ], "year": 1954, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/241/0397-01" ] }, { "cite": "133 S.E. 2d 3", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1963, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "260 N.C. 402", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8574951 ], "year": 1963, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/260/0402-01" ] }, { "cite": "146 S.E. 2d 410", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1966, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "266 N.C. 430", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8561069 ], "year": 1966, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/266/0430-01" ] }, { "cite": "93 A.L.R. 3d 420", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 3d", "year": 1979, "pin_cites": [ { "parenthetical": "liability insurance" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "96 A.L.R. 3d 804", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 3d", "year": 1979, "pin_cites": [ { "parenthetical": "no-fault and uninsured motorist coverage" } ], "opinion_index": 0 } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 507, "char_count": 9208, "ocr_confidence": 0.82, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.9545300778599022e-07, "percentile": 0.7372061073830946 }, "sha256": "b0e96e6dffa53ac3af7f8e8bc3d69e16e07a86aaf83401309492075f5f6af2ae", "simhash": "1:b39ed2810f31de8e", "word_count": 1519 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T22:39:04.225821+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "Judges Arnold and Parker concur." ], "parties": [ "GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, TERRY TILLEY EATON, PATSY CRABTREE CLAYTON, TOMMY FARR CLAYTON, THOMAS CHARLES WALE, SEAN THOMAS WALE, PEGGY HOLLOWAY and ALENE HOLLOWAY" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "WELLS, Judge.\nThe essential facts surrounding the collision are not at issue in this case. The determinative question is whether at the time of the collision Sean Wale was a resident of his father Thomas Wale\u2019s household. The trial court, in effect, answered that question in the affirmative, ruling that the Allstate liability coverage applied and that the Great American uninsured motorist coverage was not applicable. We reverse and remand.\nThe Allstate policy contained the following pertinent provisions:\nWe will pay damages for bodily injury or property damage for which any covered person becomes legally responsible because of an auto accident. . . . \u201cCovered person\u201d as used in this Part means:\n1. You or any family member for the ownership, maintenance or use of any auto or trailer.\n\u201cFamily member\u201d means a person related to you by blood, marriage or adoption who is a resident of your household.\nThe forecast of evidence before the trial court showed that at the time of the collision, Sean Wale was an emancipated person who was enlisted in the United States Navy and stationed at Norfolk, Virginia. He enlisted in November of 1979. At the time he enlisted he gave his parents\u2019 home address in Salisbury as his home address. During his enlistment, he had no housing other than his military station. Also, during his enlistment, he visited his parents from time to time and, just prior to the April collision, he had completed a 14-day convalescent leave spent at his parents\u2019 home and was returning to his base in Norfolk. At the time of the collision, Sean gave the investigating highway patrolman a home address the same as his parents\u2019 home address in Salisbury. In June 1982, when asked by an insurance adjuster where he was, Sean answered, \u201cAt home,\u201d giving his parents\u2019 address. After he got out of the service in August of 1982, Sean stayed with his parents for several weeks while he looked for a place to live.\nWhen Sean left to join the Navy, he removed all of his personal belongings from his parents\u2019 home. When he visited his parents on leave, he slept on a living room couch and had no bed or dresser of his own. When he enlisted in the Navy, he never intended to return to his parents\u2019 home. He did not consider himself to be a resident of his parents\u2019 household at the time of the collision. Sean\u2019s parents did not consider Sean to be a resident of their household at the time of the collision.\nThe interpretation of the terms \u201cresident of your household\u201d or \u201cresident of the same household\u201d or similar terms in insurance policies has been the subject of numerous appellate court decisions. See generally 96 A.L.R. 3d 804 (1979) (no-fault and uninsured motorist coverage) and 93 A.L.R. 3d 420 (1979) (liability insurance); see, e.g., Jamestown Mutual Insurance Co. v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 266 N.C. 430, 146 S.E. 2d 410 (1966); Newcomb v. Insurance Co., 260 N.C. 402, 133 S.E. 2d 3 (1963); Barker v. Insurance Co., 241 N.C. 397, 85 S.E. 2d 305 (1954); Davis v. Maryland Casualty Co., 76 N.C. App. 102, 331 S.E. 2d 744 (1985); Fonvielle v. Insurance Co., 36 N.C. App. 495, 244 S.E. 2d 736, disc. rev. allowed, 295 N.C. 495, 246 S.E. 2d 215 (1978), motion to withdraw petition for disc. rev. allowed 15 August 1978. As observed by our courts, the words \u201cresident,\u201d \u201cresidence\u201d and \u201cresiding\u201d have no precise, technical and fixed meaning applicable to all cases. Jamestown Mutual Ins. Co. v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., supra. \u201cResidence\u201d has many shades of meaning, from mere temporary presence to the most permanent abode. Id. It is difficult to give an exact or even satisfactory definition of the term \u201cresident,\u201d as the term is flexible, elastic, slippery and somewhat ambiguous. Id. Definitions of \u201cresidence\u201d include \u201ca place of abode for more than a temporary period of time\u201d and \u201ca permanent and established home\u201d and the definitions range between these two extremes, Barker v. Insurance Co., supra. This being the case, our courts have held that such terms should be given the broadest construction and that all who may be included, by any reasonable construction of such terms, within the coverage of an insurance policy using such terms, should be given its protection. Jamestown v. Nationwide, supra; Davis v. Maryland Casualty Co., supra.\nOur courts have also found, however, that in determining whether a person in a particular case is a resident of a particular household, the intent of that person is material to the question. Jamestown v. Nationwide, supra; Fonvielle v. Insurance Co., supra. The forecast of evidence before the trial court raises a question as to Sean Wale\u2019s intent to remain a resident of his parents\u2019 household or to assume that status from time to time. Sean\u2019s habit of returning to his parents\u2019 home for furloughs and leaves and his returning there after discharge from the Navy tends to show an intent to make his parents\u2019 home his own. On the other hand, the forecast is complicated by Sean\u2019s own statement that he did not intend to return to that residence after his enlistment; this statement tends to show an opposite intent from that shown by his habits and activities. Thus, a material issue of fact has been raised which must be determined by the finder of fact.\nIn other pertinent North Carolina cases we have examined, the issue of residency went to trial, but in the case now before us, defendant Allstate having demanded a jury trial, summary judgment would be appropriate only where, on undisputed aspects of the opposing evidentiary forecast, there were no genuine issues of fact and plaintiff was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Bone International, Inc. v. Brooks, 304 N.C. 371, 283 S.E. 2d 518 (1981). Summary judgment should be denied if there is a question of credibility of witnesses or if there is a question which can be resolved only by the weight of the evidence. Id.; Moore v. Fieldcrest Mills, Inc., 296 N.C. 467, 251 S.E. 2d 419 (1979). There being such a question in this case, summary judgment was improvidently entered.\nReversed.\nJudges Arnold and Parker concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "WELLS, Judge." } ], "attorneys": [ "Patterson, Dilthey, Clay, Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog, by Dan M. Hartzog and Theodore B. Smyth, for plaintiff-appellee.", "Boyce, Mitchell, Burns & Smith, P.A., by Robert E. Smith, for defendants-appellants." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, TERRY TILLEY EATON, PATSY CRABTREE CLAYTON, TOMMY FARR CLAYTON, THOMAS CHARLES WALE, SEAN THOMAS WALE, PEGGY HOLLOWAY and ALENE HOLLOWAY\nNo. 8510SC729\n(Filed 7 January 1986)\nInsurance \u00a7 87.1\u2014 automobile liability insurance \u2014driver as resident of father\u2019s household \u2014 jury question\nIn a declaratory judgment action to determine the respective contractual obligations under two policies of insurance where the determinative question was whether, at the time of the automobile collision in question, the driver was a resident of his father\u2019s household, the trial court erred in entering summary judgment and there was a material issue of fact where the evidence tended to show that the driver was an emancipated person who was enlisted in the Navy and stationed in Virginia; he had no housing other than his military station; his habit of returning to his parents\u2019 home for furloughs and leaves and his returning there after discharge from the Navy tended to show an intent to make his parents\u2019 home his own; but the driver himself stated that he did not intend to return to his parents\u2019 home after enlistment and did not consider himself to be a resident of his parents\u2019 household at the time of the collision.\nAppeal by defendants Allstate Insurance Company and Thomas Charles Wale from Bailey, Judge. Judgment entered 2 April 1985 in Wake County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 5 December 1985.\nPlaintiff Great American Insurance Company (Great American) brought this declaratory judgment action to determine the respective contractual obligations under two policies of insurance; one issued by Great American to Tommy F. Clayton, the other issued by defendant Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate) to defendant Thomas Charles Wale.\nIn its complaint, Great American alleged the following pertinent facts and circumstances. On 29 April 1982, Patsy Clayton was driving her husband\u2019s Pontiac automobile on Interstate Highway 85 when it was struck by a Chevrolet automobile owned by Terry Eaton and driven by defendant Sean Wale, who was driving Eaton\u2019s car with her permission. Personal injuries and property damage resulted from the collision. Terry Eaton had no liability insurance on her car. At the time of the collision, Sean Wale, a resident of his father Thomas Wale\u2019s household, was negligent in the operation of the Eaton car but Allstate has denied coverage. Great American\u2019s uninsured motorist coverage under the Clayton policy should not apply.\nGreat American petitioned the trial court to determine the rights, liabilities and legal relations arising under the two policies.\nAllstate answered admitting that Sean Wale was the son of Thomas Wale but denied that Sean was a resident of his father\u2019s household.\nBoth Great American and Allstate moved for summary judgment. From judgment entered for Great American, Allstate has appealed.\nPatterson, Dilthey, Clay, Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog, by Dan M. Hartzog and Theodore B. Smyth, for plaintiff-appellee.\nBoyce, Mitchell, Burns & Smith, P.A., by Robert E. Smith, for defendants-appellants." }, "file_name": "0653-01", "first_page_order": 685, "last_page_order": 689 }