Court Opinion

ID: 9536948
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:10:04.45686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:55:36.956969
License: Public Domain

Neill, J.
(concurring) — As I understand the majority opinion, it reasons as follows:
(1) The statutory policy of RCW 48.22.030 vitiates any clauses in subject insurance contracts which, not being expressly sought and agreed to by the purchaser, attempt to make the meaning of “insured” for purposes of uninsured motorist coverage narrower than the meaning of that term under the primary liability section of the policy.
(2) Conversely, statutory policy does not impede separate clauses or definitions of “insured” for uninsured motorist purposes which afford a scope of coverage which is *336the same as or broader than that afforded by the primary definition of the term.
(3) The exclusion clause attacked in this appeal is invalid in light of the above noted statutory policy. There is no parallel provision in the primary liability section, and the exclusion has the prohibited effect of narrowing the meaning of “insured” for purposes of uninsured motorist coverage. The exclusionary clause is independent from definitions in the contract; so its invalidity does not affect those other provisions.
(4) The insurance contract contains a separate definition of “insured” for purposes of uninsured motorist coverage, which is broader in scope than that in the primary liability section of the policy. It is, therefore, valid. Plaintiff is an “insured” under this separate definition.
I agree with the result, and with the majority’s reasoning as I understand and have outlined it. I believe, however, that this brief concurrence is appropriate in order to set forth my perception of the majority rationale as the basis for concurrence.
In my view it would be a misreading of today’s decision to infer therefrom that the statutory policy prohibits the parties from agreeing to narrower definitions of “insured” than that found applicable in the contract before us. RCW 48.22.030 provides for uninsured motor vehicle coverage in automobile liability insurance contracts “for the protection of persons insured thereunder.” The statute nowhere mandates a particular definition of “persons insured” and the extent of that definition is thus left to voluntary agreement. In that respect, neither the terms nor the intent of the statute alters our general rule that parties are free to contract for any risk they choose, adjusting the premium to the risks assumed, and that courts may not modify or revise the intent of the parties under the guise of contract construction. West American Ins. Co. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 80 Wn.2d 38, 44, 491 P.2d 641 (1971); Tsapralis v. Public Employees Mut. Cas. Co., 77 Wn.2d 581, 582, 464 P.2d 421 (1970); Tucker v. Bankers Life & Cas. *337Co., 67 Wn.2d 60, 67, 406 P.2d 628 (1965); Jeffries v. General Cas. Co. of America, 46 Wn.2d 543, 283 P.2d 128 (1955).
The policy of RCW 48.22.030 requires that insurers make available uninsured motorist coverage to a class of “insureds” that is at least as broad as the class in the primary liability sections of the policy. It does not preclude the parties from reaching agreement as to the scope of that class in the first instance. The majority correctly removes the exclusionary clause in the contract before us, as a void attempt to sidestep the statutory policy. The additional conclusion, that plaintiff is an “insured” for purposes of uninsured motorist coverage, results from the terms of this contract rather than any statutory policy. Consistent with the statute, this contract need not have stated a separate definition of “insured” for uninsured motorist purposes, could as well have stated a separate definition having the same scope as that under the primary liability section, and even could have narrowed the meaning if the purchaser so agreed after rejecting the option for the broader coverage. The contract before us adopts none of these possibilities. Rather, by independent definition, it broadens the meaning of “insured” for uninsured motorist purposes, thereby including plaintiff within the covered class. That contract term is the source of defendant’s liability.
Stafford, J., concurs with Neill, J.