Opinion ID: 1112384
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Law as Written

Text: By its literal terms, the Direct Action Statute applies to  all liability policies. La.Rev. Stat. 22:655(D) (emphasis added). Likewise, this court held in Quinlan v. Liberty Bank and Trust Co., 575 So.2d 336, 347 (La.1990), that the statute applies to any insurance against the liability of the insured for the personal injury or corporeal property damage to a tort victim, regardless of whether the policy is framed in liability or indemnity terms ... (emphasis added). Additionally, the Louisiana Insurance Code classifies Marine protection and indemnity insurance as one of five types of Marine and transportation (inland marine) insurance and defines P & I insurance as insurance against, or against legal liability of the insured for, loss, damage, or expense incident to ownership, operation, chartering, maintenance, use, repair or construction of any vessel, craft or instrumentality in use in ocean or inland waterways, including liability of the insured for personal injury, illness or death or for loss of or damage to the property of another person. La.Rev.Stat. 22:6(13)(e) (emphasis added). Considering the plain meaning of the language in the Direct Action Statute, the language in Quinlan, and the Insurance Code definition of P & I insurance, it would seem to follow that the Direct Action Statute applies to P & I insurance as well as to other types of liability insurance. [8] Moreover, as we observed in Quinlan: [I]t is well settled that the statute is remedial and should be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose of affording a person suffering loss or damage a direct action against a tortfeasor's insurer. It is consistent with the principle of liberal construction to uphold the direct action when an insurer, charged with knowledge of the law, issues a policy specifically insuring against liability, rather than indemnifying against loss, in the face of the Direct Action Statute, which applies to every policy or contract of liability insurance and proclaims that all liability policies within their terms and limits are executed for the benefit of all injured persons. Quinlan, 575 So.2d at 353 (citations omitted). When the Direct Action Statute is interpreted in reference to other provisions in the Insurance Code, however, the law is not so clear and unambiguous. [9]