Engle v. Aetna Casualty Insurance

JENNINGS, J. The plaintiff instituted this action to recover from the defendants the sum of $355.50 for charges made for hospital care and nursing furnished to one Anna Angjelich. The complaint alleged that the defendants had employed plaintiff to furnish hospital care and nursing to the above-mentioned person and to pay the reasonable value thereof and that the sum specified was a reasonable charge for the services rendered. Subsequent to the filing of the above-described pleading a supplemental and amended complaint was filed wherein it was alleged that the defendants had employed a certain physician to furnish and perform professional services for “Anna Angjelich, minor child of the defendant, Sam Angjelich”, and agreed to pay to said physician the reasonable value of such medical services as he should render to said child, that,. pursuant to such agreement, the physician rendered services to the minor which were of the reasonable value of $550 and prior to the institution of the action sold and assigned to plaintiff his claim against the defendants. The prayer of the last-mentioned pleading was for judgment against the defendants for the total amount of the two claims. The defendants named in the action are Mrs. N. B. Jones, The Aetna Casualty Insurance Company and the parents of Anna Angjelich. The record shows that prior to the trial of the cause, the parents of the minor had failed to make an appearance in the case, their default had been entered, and judgment by default had been taken against the defendant, Sam Angjelich and that [688]the action had been dismissed as to the defendant Mrs. N. B. Jones. The trial, which -was had before the court without a jury, resulted in the entry of a judgment against the Insurance Company for the full amount demanded in the supplemental and amended complaint. From the judgment thus rendered the insurance company appeals.

■Examination of the transcript on appeal discloses that on June 14, 1932, in the city of Colton, Anna Angjelich was struck by an automobile which was owned by Mrs. N. B. Jones and as a result thereof the said minor sustained personal injuries which necessitated hospital care and medical attention. It further appears that on the above-mentioned date the injured child was taken to respondent’s hospital in the city of Colton where she remained for approximately two and a half months, during which time nursing care and services usually rendered in such an institution were furnished to her. It also appears that medical attention was required by the injured child and that such services were rendered by Dr. D. B. Williams. It further appears that Mrs. N. B. Jones, the owner of the automobile which caused the injuries, held an insurance policy issued by appellant, presumably of the type popularly known as a “Public Liability Policy”. The evidence presented during the trial disclosed that, on September 18, 1933, the said minor, through her father as guardian ad litem, brought an action against Mrs. N. B. Jones, the owner of the automobile, and Leonard M. Walker, who was operating the ear at the time of the accident, whereby she sought to recover general damages in the amount of $50,000 for the personal injuries suffered by her and special damages in the amount of $905.50, consisting of $550 for medical services and $355.50 for hospital care, that this action proceeded to trial on February 20, 1934, and resulted in the entry of a judgment in favor of the defendants based on the trial court’s findings that the defendants were in no respect guilty of negligence in the operation of the automobile and that plaintiff’s injuries were caused solely by her own negligence.