Firemen's Fund Insurance Company v. Thien

63 F.3d 754 (8th Cir. 1995)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

A small aircraft crashed. It was owned and operated by Mid-Plains Corp., an air courier business. The pilot, a Mid-Plains employee, and the passenger, Charles Benedict, were killed. Benedict was associated with Mid-Plains as an employee who ran errands and did 'odd jobs' for the company. Benedict's parents, Kenneth and Hallowgene Benedict, and his son, Chad Benedict (the Benedicts), brought a wrongful death action in a Missouri circuit court against Mid-Plains, Thien, and Richard Lund, defendant ad litem for the pilot. Firemen's Fund Insurance Company (P), denied coverage to Thien and Lund because, at the time of the accident, Benedict was a Mid-Plains employee acting within the scope of his employment and thus fell under an exclusionary clause in the liability policy. P, denied coverage to Thien and Lund because, at the time of the accident, Benedict was a Mid-Plains employee acting within the scope of his employment and thus fell under an exclusionary clause in the liability policy. The district court granted P's motion for summary judgment based on evidence that Benedict was an employee acting within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident. D and Lund appealed and a panel reversed the judgment of the district court and remanded the case for trial. The parties agreed that Benedict was a Mid-Plains employee until at least August 31, 1989, but at trial presented conflicting evidence as to his status at the time of the accident. Conflicting evidence was also presented as to whether Benedict was traveling on the Mid-Plains airplane for business or personal purposes. Martina and Chris Benedict were both members of 'Zion's Endeavor,' a religious group of which D was the pastor. The court admitted testimony that the church consisted of 'a group of folks who met in D's] basement, about 30 people. The court admitted testimony that Chris worked for a company owned by D and was 'close' to D. The court excluded evidence of a specific tenet of Zion's Endeavor that participation in civil litigation is in violation of biblical law. The Benedicts proposed to introduce testimony regarding this specific tenet as the reason why Martina and Chris were not parties to the state court wrongful death action brought by the Benedicts, and why Chad delayed in joining that action. The jury found that Benedict was an employee acting within the scope of his employment when the accident happened and P was not obliged to indemnify D and Lund for any liability arising from Benedict's death. The Benedicts appealed. In part, they argue that the court erred in excluding evidence that P's witnesses Martina and Chris Benedict were under the control or influence of D, due to their membership in a small church group led by D.