Opinion ID: 1966651
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Insurance Provisions.

Text: The covered auto under the De Smet policy is Hubert's one-ton pickup. The insuring agreement under the De Smet policy provides coverage for Hubert, as the named insured, as well as Ackland ([a]ny person using `your covered auto') and Pedersen Machine under the following paragraph: For your covered auto, any ... organization but only with respect to legal responsibility for acts or omissions of a person for whom coverage is afforded under this Part. All agree this provision applies because Ackland was Pedersen Machine's employee and drove Hubert's vehicle in the course of his employment. Thus Pedersen Machine was vicariously liable for Ackland's conduct under the doctrine of respondeat superior. The other insurance clause of the De Smet policy states: If there is other applicable liability insurance, we will pay only our share of the loss. Our share is the proportion that our limit of liability bears to the total of all applicable limits. However, any insurance we provide for a vehicle you do not own shall be excess over any other collectible insurance. As already mentioned, De Smet's liability limit under the policy is $100,000. That brings us to the Deere policy. Pedersen Machine is the named insured (you) under this general liability policy covering its business. The WHO IS AN INSURED section of the Deere policy states: Anyone else is an insured while using with your permission a covered auto you own ... or borrow except: (1) The owner ... from whom you hire or borrow a covered auto. (Emphasis added.) The record is unclear whether the declarations page of the Deere policy listed Hubert's truck as a covered auto. But the parties seem to agree that Ackland, as a person using Hubert's borrowed vehicle with Pedersen Machine's permission, was an insured under the Deere policy. Deere's policy also contains an exclusion for [l]iability assumed under any contract or agreement, subject to the following exception: [T]his exclusion does not apply to liability for damages: a. Assumed in a contract or agreement that is an insured contract provided the bodily injury or property damage occurs subsequent to the execution of the contract or agreement; or b. That the insured would have in the absence of the contract or agreement. An insured contract is defined under the policy as [t]hat part of any other contract or agreement pertaining to your business (including an indemnification of a municipality in connection with work performed for a municipality) under which you assume the tort liability of another to pay for bodily injury or property damage to a third party or organization. Tort liability means a liability that would be imposed by law in the absence of any contract or agreement. Deere's other insurance clause states, in pertinent part: a. For any covered auto you own, this Coverage Form provides primary insurance. For any covered auto you don't own, the insurance provided by this Coverage Form is excess over any other collectible insurance.... c. Regardless of the provisions of paragraph a. above, this Coverage Form's Liability Coverage is primary for any liability assumed under an insured contract.  (Emphasis added.) Finally, Ackland's personal auto policy with Milwaukee Guardian provides $100,000 liability coverage for him, as the named insured, when using a car. Pertinent here is Milwaukee Guardian's other insurance clause: If there is other applicable auto liability insurance on a loss covered by this Part, we will pay our proportionate share as our limits of liability bear to the total of all applicable liability limits. Any insurance afforded under this Part for a vehicle you do not own, however, is excess over any other applicable auto liability insurance.