Opinion ID: 1606898
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Determination of the Ambiguity Issue.

Text: Here, the insurance policy states: We will pay: (1) all sums the insured is legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or driver of the uninsured motor vehicle. The damages must result from bodily injury sustained by the insured, caused by the accident. The schedule of coverages shown on the declarations page clearly provides West with uninsured motorist coverage including underinsured motorist coverage. The material part of the declarations page is as follows: West urges the schedule of coverage provides property damage and bodily injury coverage for a combined single limit of $500,000 under the underinsured motorist provision. The trial court held the policy clearly shows there is no underinsured motorist coverage for property damage. The court of appeals concluded the declarations page indicates both property damage and bodily injury coverage. Because of the perceived ambiguity, it construed the policy coverage favorably to the insured and held that West is covered for property damage under the policy. We agree with the trial court that the insurance policy is not ambiguous in defining its uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. The policy clearly states the damages must result from bodily injury. The term bodily injury is clear on its face. Dahlke v. State Farm Bureau Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 451 N.W.2d 813, 815 (Iowa 1990). The policy language expressly limits the coverage to bodily injury damages and is easily understandable to an ordinary person. This is not a case where broad coverage is diminished by specific exceptions or exclusions. The coverage provided is that required to be offered under Iowa Code section 516A.1 (1987). The declarations page makes no attempt to define the various coverages offered; it merely identifies them, and sets the limits of liability and the amount of the premium. The abbreviation CSL is understood by both parties to mean combined single limit. CSL relates only to the limit of liability, not the risk covered. Although the liability coverage identified on the declarations page expressly combines both bodily injury and property damage with a combined single limit of $1 million, the underinsured motorist coverage does not expressly combine bodily injury and property damage.