Court Opinion

ID: 9760390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:51:32.244772+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:20:50.574136
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the result achieved by the majority opinion that the decision of the Court of Appeals should be affirmed and that the named driver exclusion endorsements are invalid and unenforceable as contrary to public policy of compulsory minimum liability insurance pursuant to the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act.
One of the principal purposes of the MVRA is to require owners and operators of motor vehicles to obtain liability insurance. K.R.S. 304.39-020(1); K.R.S. 304.39-080(5). The law specifies the minimum amounts of coverage which are required *65and the legislature allowed for no exclusions from minimum coverage although it could have done so. Bishop v. Allstate Ins. Co., Ky., 623 S.W.2d 865 (1981) noted that the legislature established for the first time a system of compulsory liability insurance for owners and operators of motor vehicles. Bishop, supra, held that a household or family exclusion clause in an automobile insurance policy was void and unenforceable and contrary to the purpose of compulsory insurance, Staser v. Fulton, Ky.App., 684 S.W.2d 306 (1984) held that a household exclusion would be void only to the extent that such a clause would eliminate the required minimum liability insurance. Such an exclusionary clause could be enforced to reduce an insurer’s liability coverage limits to the statutory minimum. The Bishop holding was again followed in Mosley v. West American Ins. Co., Ky.App., 743 S.W.2d 854 (1987) when the Court of Appeals refused to enforce a policy exclusion for intentional acts. As argued by State Farm, there appears to be a growing number of cases throughout the nation which have invalidated exclusionary clauses in automobile liability insurance policies. See Cotton States Mutual Ins. Co. v. Neese, 254 Ga. 335, 329 S.E.2d 136 (1985); Iowa Mutual Ins. Co. v. Davis, 231 Mont. 166, 752 P.2d 166 (1988).
Initially this case seems to be a dispute between two insurance companies but the crucial issue is whether a named driver exclusion endorsement should be allowed in automobile liability insurance contract. Clearly the public policy of Kentucky is to require automobile insurance. The rights and duties of all persons involved are the legitimate concern of state government. There are situations where members of the public who are innocent victims of automobile accidents could be uncompensated or only marginally compensated for their injuries or damage if such exclusions were not declared void. Cf. Neese, supra.
The coverage and cost of automobile insurance is a matter of almost universal public concern. It is the responsibility of government at every level to be sure that the responsibility for fair and equitable automobile insurance coverage be carefully reviewed. Public policy matters are the responsibility of the legislature but the court is charged with the duty to determine that the public policy established by the legislature is equitably enforced.