State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Brown

Ebbrhardt, Judge.

We are met at the outset with the contention that State Farm, in its designated capacity as “nominal defendant,” was not authorized to file a demurrer to the petition for damages. As an abstract proposition we would think that a “nominal defendant” would have the right at least to challenge the authority of the plaintiff to so name it, whether the challenge came by way of demurrer or motion. The par ticular circumstances of this case affirm that right. The granting of the motion to purge would have the effect of eliminating State Farm as a party defendant as would also the…