Opinion ID: 198024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Dates of Coverage of RU-03000

Text: 29 The previous analysis has assumed, arguendo, that RU03000 covered U-Haul on the date of the June 4, 1985 accident. In fact, the district court concluded that RU-03000 was not actually in effect on that fateful day. According to plaintiffs, the district court made a simple and correctable error. 30 Plaintiffs maintain that the actual RU-03000 policy in effect at the time of the accident could not be located by Republic. As a result, the parties agreed to submit a successor policy, the RU-03000 policy which covered the period from April 1, 1986 to April 1, 1987, into evidence for the purpose of providing the court with the appropriate policy language. According to plaintiffs, the court overlooked or was unaware of this arrangement and, after noting the dates of the policy in evidence, mistakenly ruled that RU-03000 was not in effect at the time of the accident. In support of their contention that RU-03000 was in effect at the time of the accident, plaintiffs refer this court to an interrogatory wherein Republic unequivocally states that RU-03000 had been in effect since 1982. 31 Republic denies that any arrangement was ever made to substitute a later version of the RU-03000 policy into evidence in exchange for the policy in effect at the time of the accident. It contends that the RU-03000 policy entered into evidence was as close as Republic came to ensuring U-Haul with an RU-03000 policy during the time of the accident. It claims to have been confused or mistaken when it responded to the interrogatory in which it indicated that U-Haul had been insured under an RU-03000 policy since 1982. 12 32 We conclude, upon examination of the district court opinion, that the court did not make a factual finding regarding the authenticity of the RU-03000 policy in evidence. The opinion reveals that the court was unaware that the policy was alleged by plaintiffs to merely represent a surrogate exhibit, substituted for evidence which was lost or misplaced by Republic. We therefore remand to the district court for a factual determination on this question.