Court Opinion

ID: 9715724
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:13:02.545434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:37.589194
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE DAVIS, also dissenting: I join in the dissent of Chief Justice Underwood and also make the following observations: There are two questions presented in this case: first, under the policy provisions of the insurance contract was Mrs. Barnes’s automobile “an uninsured automobile”; and second, if not, were the policy provisions which denied Mrs. Barnes the right to recover under the uninsured motorist coverage contrary to the public policy of this State and unenforceable. The first query is easily answered. The parties concede that under the insurance contract, the plaintiff’s own automobile was not an uninsured motor vehicle. Also, there were no insurance proceeds available to the plaintiff under the liability portion of the insurance contract because of the specific exclusion for any injury to “the spouse or any parent, son or daughter of the insured or spouse, or the named insured.” The remaining question is whether the insurance contract in question, which specifically excludes liability coverage for injury to the insured or his own family, may also deny uninsured motorist coverage to these same persons through appropriate policy exclusions. Contrary to the majority view, I believe that such contract is valid and does not violate the public policy expressed by the mandatory uninsured motorist coverage provisions of section 143a of the Insurance Code of 1937. Ill.Rev.Stat. 1969, ch. 73, par. 755a. We are dealing with a question of rights and obligations created by contract. The insurer, under the liability provisions of its contract, has excluded from its undertaking those cases where an insured is the tortfeasor, injuring either the named insured or a member of his family. This concept is common and it is not shocking to reason. The purpose of this insurance coverage is to protect an insured from exposure to liability over which he has no control. If one wrongfully injures a stranger, he may expect that stranger to hold him liable. If, however, one wrongfully injures a member of his immediate family, he normally will not expect that family member to hold him liable for such wrongful action. The liability policy excludes such coverage becaüse it is a liability policy and not an accident policy. Such a liability exclusion does not contravene any public policy of this State.