Opinion ID: 1658184
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Plainer or More Generous Use of Words

Text: Rule 5 states [t]he courts have no patience with attempts by a paid insurer to escape liability by taking advantage of an ambiguity, a hidden meaning, or a forced construction of the language in a policy, when all question might have been avoided by a more generous or plainer use of words. (Emphasis added.) Hooper, supra at 393. Not to say there are not plainer and better ways of drafting the so-called owned-automobile exclusion, but the few suggested italicized words inserted below in the text of the instant insurers' policies would go a long way toward putting the policy buyers and those dependent on the policy on notice: Persons Insured: The following are insureds under Part I: (a) with respect to the owned automobile [ as defined in the Definitions Section ] (1) the named insured and any resident of the same household,    (b) with respect to a non-owned automobile [ as defined in the Definitions Section ]

The failure of the drafters to be at least this open in their drafting demonstrates a clear disregard of Rule 5. In addition, clarity would seem to require that the owned-automobile exclusion should appear in the exclusions section in some form. In any particular policy these suggestions could prove insufficient and it would be necessary to judge their substance and form to see whether they make clear the exclusion. At this point it is informative, as noted by Justice LEVIN in his concurring opinion in Ruuska, to compare the lack of notice regarding the owned-vehicle exclusion with the notice required by the no-fault statute when a named person is excluded from liability coverage. The exclusion must be expressly authorized by the insured, and the following notice must appear, both on the face of the policy, the declaration page, or the certificate of the policy and on the required certificate of insurance carried by Michigan drivers: Warning  when a named excluded person operates a vehicle all liability coverage is void  no one is insured. Owners of the vehicle and others legally responsible for the acts of the named excluded person remain fully personally liable. MCL 500.3009; MSA 24.13009.[ [6] ]