Court Opinion

ID: 9742143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:07:27.758198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:05.732076
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, dissenting: Illinois, like virtually every other state, has enacted a redistributive scheme commonly known as the uninsured-motorist statute. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 73, par. 755a. Section 143a of the Insurance Code requires that every liability insurance policy issued for any motor vehicle registered in Illinois provide coverage for bodily injury or death caused by an uninsured or hit- and-run motorist. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 73, par. 755a. The statute is specifically designed to shift the risk of loss associated with uninsured motorists from the injured victim of a motor vehicle accident to the insurance industry, which in turn spreads the risk across the insurance buying public by adjusting premiums. The statute, however, does not provide the uninsured motorist’s victim with a full recovery or even a fair recovery. Rather, recognizing the enormous costs inherent in mandating uninsured-motorist coverage, the legislature expressly limited the minimum amount of coverage in section 7 — 203 of the Illinois Vehicle Code to what has become known as the "statutory minimum.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 951/2, par. 7 — 203. Thus, as this court.has consistently recognized, "the purpose of the uninsured-motorist statute is to place the insured policyholder in substantially the same position he would occupy if the uninsured driver had been minimally insured.” Luechtefeld v. Allstate Insurance Co., 167 Ill. 2d 148, 152 (1995), citing Hoglund v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 148 Ill. 2d 272, 277 (1992); Menke v. Country Mutual Insurance Co., 78 Ill. 2d 420 (1980); Putnam v. New Amsterdam Casualty Co., 48 Ill. 2d 71, 89 (1970). The insurance policies at issue provided the policyholders with uninsured-motorist coverage in the amounts of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence — that is, coverage in excess of the statutory minimum. But under the plain language of the policies, the insureds were not entitled to such coverage if they were injured in a car other than their own for which other insurance was in effect. The policies expressly state: "We will not provide insurance for a vehicle other than your insured car, unless the owner of that vehicle has no other insurance applicable to this part.” Here the insureds bargained for uninsured-motorist coverage in excess of the statutory minimum but clearly subject to the above exclusion. Because each of the insureds in this consolidated case was driving an employer’s vehicle (i.e., a vehicle other than his or her own) and the employer’s vehicle was covered by an insurance policy, the insureds were not entitled to recover under their own policies. Each insured did, however, recover under his employer’s insurance policy, which provided uninsured-motorist benefits of $20,000 per person and $40,000 per occurrence — the minimum amount of coverage mandated by statute. As this court has repeatedly stated, the purpose behind the uninsured-motorist statute is " 'to place the policyholder in substantially the same position he would occupy, so far as his being injured or killed is concerned, if the wrongful driver had had the minimum liability insurance required by the [Illinois Vehicle Code].’ ” Squire v. Economy Fire & Casualty Co., 69 Ill. 2d 167, 176 (1977), quoting Ullman v. Wolverine Insurance Co., 48 Ill. 2d 1, 4 (1970). This purpose is not frustrated so long as the policyholder receives the statutory minimum. Luechtefeld, 167 Ill. 2d at 153-54. In Luechtefeld, this court interpreted a similar exclusionary clause and voted unanimously to enforce the clause which excluded uninsured-motorist coverage when the policyholder was in. a vehicle which he owned but which was covered by another policy: "As long as the coverage under the other policy equals or exceeds the minimum sums set forth in the Illinois Vehicle Code [citation], there is no conflict between the exclusionary clause in [the] policy and section 143a.” Luechtefeld, 167 Ill. 2d at 153. The exclusionary clause at issue here only applies if the insured is injured in a vehicle covered under another policy. Enforcement of this exclusion by its plain terms would never frustrate the purpose behind the uninsured-motorist statute because the provision operates to exclude coverage only when the insured can seek recovery under another policy. Thus, enforcement of this exclusionary clause would never leave an insured without coverage. A majority of this court — discontented with the result which would obtain in this case under the sound application of traditional contract principles — has seen fit to rewrite the parties’ insurance contract. The majority declares the exclusionary clause to be "contrary” to the statute and thus void. Simply stated, the uninsured-motorist statute requires only that an insured recover the statutory minimum. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 73, par. 755a; Luechtefeld, 167 Ill. 2d at 153, 159. An exclusion or limitation in an insurance policy does not violate the statute unless it deprives the insured of the statutory minimum. Luechtefeld, 167 Ill. 2d at 153. The insureds here recovered the statutory minimum under their employers’ insurance policies; nothing in their own policies or the statute entitles them to more. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.