DETENBER v. AMERICAN UNIVERSAL INSURANCE CO., 389 U.S. 987 (1967)
U.S. Supreme Court
DETENBER v. AMERICAN UNIVERSAL INSURANCE CO. , 389 U.S. 987 (1967)389 U.S. 987
Pearl DETENBER, Administratrix,
etc., et al., petitioners,
v.
AMERICAN UNIVERSAL INSURANCE CO.
No. 483.
Supreme Court of the United States
December 4, 1967
Josephine P. Hughett and Henry G. Fischer, for petitioners. John P. Sandidge, for respondent.
Petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Denied.
Mr. Justice BLACK, dissenting.
I would grant certiorari here and reverse the action of the District Court and the Court of Appeals for rendering a summary judgment against petitioners in flagrant disregard of the right to trial by jury guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution. The case arose in this way. Two children riding in a car were killed in a collision with a bus. The car was driven by one Clark, who was protected by a policy of liability insurance issued by the respondent, American Universal Insurance Company. The insurance company undertook the defense of Clark in a suit for damages brought by petitioners on behalf of the deceased children. Clark claimed that the lawyer for the insurance company conducted his defense in bad faith and assigned to petitioners his claim for damages against the company.
During the settlement negotiations prior to the suit against Clark and the bus company, the insurance company lawyer urged lack of actionable negligence by Clark, and Clark later testified (in depositions taken in relation to the present action) that he went to trial with the understanding that his defense would be lack of negligence. On the day of trial of the action for damages against Clark a lawyer appeared for the insurance company and filed an amended answer in which the lawyer-on behalf of his client Clark-asserted the defense of assumption of risk, charging that the deceased children had known Clark was drunk and should not have ridden with him. The insurance company lawyer never discussed with his client Clark the alternative defenses available to him or
the significance of the filing of the amended complaint. Indeed Clark was never even advised of the fact that an amended complaint had been filed, in which he was pleading his own drunkenness in an effort to escape liability for damages. As the Court of Appeals noted in the present case, no satisfactory explanation has ever been offered for these omissions. At trial, the lawyer not only abandoned the position that the accident had been caused solely by the negligence of the bus driver but made very effort to put Clark in the worst possible light. He offered evidence that Clark had been speeding and had gone through a stop sign at the intersection, and in his summation he urged the jury to disbelieve his own client's testimony to the contrary. In addition, he permitted Clark's guilty plea in a related criminal action to be introduced without objection, and he gave Clark no opportunity to explain it. This was contrary to a specific agreement between insurance company counsel and Clark's personal lawyer (who did not take part in the trial of the civil case). The general tenor of this so-called 'defense' is indicated by the insurance company lawyer's closing argument to the jury:
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* * * [389 U.S.
987 , 989]
U.S. Supreme Court
DETENBER v. AMERICAN UNIVERSAL INSURANCE CO. , 389 U.S. 987 (1967) 389 U.S. 987 Pearl DETENBER, Administratrix, etc., et al., petitioners,v.
AMERICAN UNIVERSAL INSURANCE CO.
No. 483. Supreme Court of the United States December 4, 1967 Josephine P. Hughett and Henry G. Fischer, for petitioners. John P. Sandidge, for respondent. Petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Denied. Mr. Justice BLACK, dissenting. I would grant certiorari here and reverse the action of the District Court and the Court of Appeals for rendering a summary judgment against petitioners in flagrant disregard of the right to trial by jury guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution. The case arose in this way. Two children riding in a car were killed in a collision with a bus. The car was driven by one Clark, who was protected by a policy of liability insurance issued by the respondent, American Universal Insurance Company. The insurance company undertook the defense of Clark in a suit for damages brought by petitioners on behalf of the deceased children. Clark claimed that the lawyer for the insurance company conducted his defense in bad faith and assigned to petitioners his claim for damages against the company. During the settlement negotiations prior to the suit against Clark and the bus company, the insurance company lawyer urged lack of actionable negligence by Clark, and Clark later testified (in depositions taken in relation to the present action) that he went to trial with the understanding that his defense would be lack of negligence. On the day of trial of the action for damages against Clark a lawyer appeared for the insurance company and filed an amended answer in which the lawyer-on behalf of his client Clark-asserted the defense of assumption of risk, charging that the deceased children had known Clark was drunk and should not have ridden with him. The insurance company lawyer never discussed with his client Clark the alternative defenses available to him or Page 389 U.S. 987 , 988 the significance of the filing of the amended complaint. Indeed Clark was never even advised of the fact that an amended complaint had been filed, in which he was pleading his own drunkenness in an effort to escape liability for damages. As the Court of Appeals noted in the present case, no satisfactory explanation has ever been offered for these omissions. At trial, the lawyer not only abandoned the position that the accident had been caused solely by the negligence of the bus driver but made very effort to put Clark in the worst possible light. He offered evidence that Clark had been speeding and had gone through a stop sign at the intersection, and in his summation he urged the jury to disbelieve his own client's testimony to the contrary. In addition, he permitted Clark's guilty plea in a related criminal action to be introduced without objection, and he gave Clark no opportunity to explain it. This was contrary to a specific agreement between insurance company counsel and Clark's personal lawyer (who did not take part in the trial of the civil case). The general tenor of this so-called 'defense' is indicated by the insurance company lawyer's closing argument to the jury: