H. R. Oslund v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., a Corporation

Appellant, H. R. Oslund, was involved in an automobile accident with A. L. Brock in Oregon on May 22,1953. At the time of the accident A. L. Brock was operating an automobile owned by Robert H. Lafky, and insured by appellee, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Appellant sued Brock in the state court of Oregon and recovered judgment for the sum of $19,685 for personal injuries, An action was instituted in the United States District Court by Oslund under the omnibus clause of Lafky’s insurance policy against appellee. At the trial appellee Insurance Company claimed that Brock failed to forward suit papers in the original state action of Oslund v. Brock and also that the accident arose out of the operation of a garage within the meaning of an exclusion clause of the policy. Oslund claimed that appellee Insurance Company had denied coverage to Brock on the grounds that the accident arose out of the operation of a garage and that the failure of Brock to forward suit papers was excused. Oslund also denied that Brock was using the automobile in the course of his business as a garage mechanic at the time of the accident.

Brock testified that he and Lafky, the owner of the insured…