Opinion ID: 739129
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Insurance against any and all kinds of loss of or damage to:

Text: 37 (a) Vessels, craft, aircraft, cars, automobiles and vehicles of every kind, as well as goods, freights, cargoes, merchandise, effects, disbursements, profits, moneys, bullion, precious stones, securities, choses in action, evidences of debt, valuable papers, bottomry and respondentia interests and all other kinds of property and interests therein, in respect to, appertaining to or in connection with any and all risks or perils of navigation, transit or transportation, including war risks, on or under any seas or other waters, on land or in the air, or while being assembled, packed, crated, baled, compressed or similarly prepared for shipment or while awaiting the same or during any delays, storage, transshipment, or reshipment incident thereto, including marine builders' risks, and all personal property floater risks including bailees' customers risks; 38 (b) Person or to property in connection with or appertaining to a marine or inland marine, transit or transportation insurance, including liability for loss of or damage to either, arising out of or in connection with the construction, repair, operation, maintenance or use of the subject matter of such insurance (but not including life insurance or surety bonds nor insurance against loss by reason of bodily injury to the person arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of automobiles);.... 39 (2) Marine protection and indemnity insurance meaning insurance against, or against legal liability of the insured for, loss, damage or expense arising out of, or incident to, the 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. 40 Or.Rev.Stat. § 731.174. 41 Unless the bond constitutes a contract of marine and transportation insurance under Section 174, it cannot be deemed a wet marine insurance contract under Section 194. 42 Subsection 1(a) of the general marine and transportation insurance statute enumerates no fewer than twenty specific categories of things, insurance against loss of or damage to which is marine insurance. These are, generally, modes of conveyance (boats, cars, planes), goods and cargo, media of exchange (cash, bullion), gems, financial documents (evidences of debt, securities), choses in action, and maritime hypothecations (respondentia and bottomry interests). The general term which follows the statutory enumeration of the foregoing categories of things is all other kinds of property and interests therein.To conclude that the bond meets the definitions in Section 174(1)(a) would violate the principle ejusdem generis. Where general words follow the enumeration of specific classes of things, the general words must be construed as restricted to things of the same type as those specifically enumerated. State v. Brantley, 201 Or. 637, 271 P.2d 668, 672 (1954); Skinner v. Keeley, 47 Or.App. 751, 615 P.2d 382, 385 (1980); 2A Norman J. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47.17, at 188-90 (5th rev. ed.1992). The rule derives from the recognition that if the legislature had intended the general words to be used in their unrestricted sense they would have made no mention of the particular classes. Brantley, id. 43 The principle ejusdem generis requires the phrase all other kinds of property and interests therein to be interpreted to include only objects similar in nature to those objects enumerated by the preceding specific words. Id.; Sutherland, id. § 47.17. The subject of the surety bond at issue in the present appeal--timely redelivery of the barge at the conclusion of the charter period--is simply so unlike any of the things enumerated in subsection 1(a) that it cannot reasonably be said to be included in the catchall. In addition, surety bonds are explicitly excluded from the types of contracts defined as maritime insurance in subsection 1(b). 44 Subsection 2 of the statute includes, in its list of types of contracts declared to be marine and transportation insurance, insurance against ... legal liability of the insured for ... expense arising out of, or incident to ... operation chartering ... of any vessel.... Or.Rev.Stat. § 731.174(2). The language of the surety bond itself precludes a finding that the bond purchased by Mike Banks from Polaris Insurance insured Banks against his liability for failure to redeliver the barge. The bond only guarantees performance of Banks' obligations under the charter party in the event of a default by Banks; it does not, in the event of such a default, absolve Banks of any liability under the charter party. 8 And the clause in the charter party requiring Banks to obtain the guarantee bond explicitly provided that [t]his bond does not release Charterer from payment schedules as set forth elsewhere herein. 45 In sum, the surety bond is not marine and transportation insurance under any of the definitional subsections of Or.Rev.Stat. § 731.174. Wet marine and transportation insurance is a subset of marine and transportation insurance. Or.Rev.Stat. § 731.194. Because the bond is not marine and transportation insurance within the meaning of Section 174, it cannot be wet marine and transportation insurance under Section 194. Aqua-Marine's civil action against Polaris Insurance on the bond is thus not one arising out of any policy of ... wet marine and transportation insurance. Or.Rev.Stat. § 746.360(1). Polaris may not invoke Section 360's wet marine exemption from the litigation bond requirement contained in Or.Rev.Stat. § 746.340(1).