Case Title: Transport Indem. Co. v. Wyatt

Citation: 417 So. 2d 568

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1982-07-23T00:00:00Z

Document:
417 So. 2d 568 (1982)
TRANSPORT INDEMNITY COMPANY, a Corporation
v.
Kenneth Parker WYATT, Sr., et al.
81-159.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 23, 1982.
Bibb Allen of London, Yancey, Clark & Allen, Birmingham, for appellant.
Jack B. Porterfield, Jr., and William T. Mills, II, of Porterfield, Scholl, Clark & Harper, Birmingham, for appellees.
SHORES, Justice.
This is a declaratory judgment action.
The facts in this case are stipulated. Kenneth Wyatt, Sr., was hurt while in the line and scope of his employment with Deaton, Inc., in binding a load on a truck. He filed actions against several defendants, all of whom are either executive officers or directors of Deaton, Inc., and charged the defendants with various acts which contributed to his injury. The employees sued are the appellees in this case.
The employees claim the benefits of an insurance contract written by appellant Transport Indemnity Company, which was in full force and effect at the time of the accident. The policy specified Deaton, Inc., as the named insured and "any executive officer or director of a corporate named insured."
The provisions of the policy pertinent to this appeal were:
Transport denied coverage and filed a bill for declaratory judgment.
In its final decree, the court stated in pertinent part:
*571 Transport then filed this appeal. We affirm.
Transport argues that the trial court was in error in determining that United States Fire Insurance Company v. McCormick, supra, is controlling, and for several reasons. First, it argues that while in McCormick the exclusion provision excluded coverage where the injured person was employed by the insured, this case is different because this policy uses the words "employment by any insured."
Second, it argues that this case does not contain the same type of severability of interest clause as was found in McCormick. Therefore, Transport argues, the case that should be controlling is Michigan Mutual Liability Company v. Carroll, 271 Ala. 404, 123 So. 2d 920 (1960). In Carroll, the Court, after reviewing a policy which did not contain a severability of interest clause, determined that where a person who qualified under the policy as an additional insured injured an employee of the policy's named insured, the additional insured was prevented from claiming coverage because of an exclusion provision which contained the words "employee of the insured." The court found that Clause III of the policy which stated, "[t]he unqualified word `insured' includes the named insured and also any person while using the automobile," provided for a broader application than just to mean "employee of the insured against whom the suit is being brought." We cannot agree that Carroll is controlling under these facts.
The policy in McCormick contained a provision which provided:
We are persuaded that this provision, although somewhat ambiguous, is analogous to that in McCormick in that its purpose is to limit liability but is in no way designed to limit coverage under the policy.
We also agree with the trial court that the term "any insured" in Exclusion B of Part II of the policy is ambiguous. The wording could be interpreted either to mean only singularly "any one of the insureds" or could apply collectively to the whole group of insureds. We also agree with the trial court that Exclusion D, when read along with Exclusion B of Part II(1), also creates ambiguity in determining the extent of coverage.
Employers Insurance Company v. Jeff. Gin Company, 378 So. 2d 693, 695 (Ala.1979). Also, "[i]t is axiomatic that, if a policy is subject to more than one interpretation, it is to be construed to afford coverage and against the insuror." Miles v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 381 So. 2d 13, 14 (Ala.1980).
For the foregoing reasons, the trial court's judgment is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
FAULKNER, JONES, ALMON, EMBRY, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
TORBERT, C. J., concurs specially.
TORBERT, Chief Justice (concurring specially).
I concur specially because I am not persuaded that the severability of interests clause in the insurance contract is pertinent to a decision in this case.
However, I do find ambiguity in Exclusion B of Part II of the policy and further *572 find ambiguity when comparing Exclusion B with Exclusion D.
It is apparent that as a result of this Court's decisions respecting co-employee liability generally, we will be called upon to consider provisions of insurance contracts relating to this type of coverage. In Home Indemnity Co. v. Reed Equipment Co., 381 So. 2d 45 (Ala.1980), the question of insurance coverage was considered in light of an agreement which provided:
In that case, this Court held that the provision excluded as an insured any employee who is sued by a co-employee as a result of bodily injuries sustained in the course of employment. The Court also found that for the purpose of the insurance policy, the executive officers of the corporation were considered "fellow employees" and therefore were not insureds according to the terms of the policy.
[*]  The trial court later amended its decree to specifically determine which of the defendants named in Wyatt's suit were covered by Transport's policy: E. N. Conaway, J. W. Carpenter, J. O. Fox, G. E. Tickle, R. E. Thrasher, Buddy Moore, Steve Thomason, and Bill Wideman. All of these, along with Wyatt, are appellees in this appeal.