Opinion ID: 2617139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Is Personal Injury Coverage Limited to Enumerated Offenses?

Text: The insurers contend that because the plaintiffs in the suits maintained against the County did not allege that the County committed any of the precise offenses that are enumerated in the personal injury coverage provisions, there is no coverage. More to the point, they note that the various plaintiffs claimed trespass, nuisance, and interference but did not claim that the County committed the offenses of wrongful entry or eviction or other invasion of the right of privacy. Thus, they argue that [b]ased on this simple comparison between the underlying complaints and the terms of the personal injury provisions, no coverage exists under this part of the policies. Br. of Certain Insurers at 29. The insurers cite E-Z Loader Boat Trailers, Inc. v. Travelers Indem. Co., 106 Wash.2d 901, 726 P.2d 439 (1986) and Seaboard Sur. Co. v. Ralph Williams' Northwest Chrysler Plymouth, Inc., 81 Wash.2d 740, 504 P.2d 1139 (1973), as support for this argument. In our view, these cases do not lend support to the argument. This court simply concluded in those two cases that it would not impose on an insurer the responsibility of providing coverage for a liability that was not set forth in the policy. We do not withdraw from that position to any degree. Those cases simply do not answer the primary question before uswhether the claims against the County for trespass, nuisance, and interference are equivalent to claims for wrongful entry or eviction or other invasion of the right of private occupancy. If they are, then they are claims for personal injury. Therefore, we devote our attention to that question in the remainder of this opinion.