Court Opinion

ID: 9739511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:16:44.482715+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:12.761943
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Among the many ambiguities in this litigation, one thing has always seemed fairly clear to me: the insurance policy which Meridian Mutual issued to the Richies and for which it billed them offers little but confusion in defining the extent of its underinsured motorist coverage. Justice Givan reinforces this notion by declaring today that he "misinterpreted" that portion of the policy which has been at issue. If a member of this Court can misinterpret the meaning of policy language in a case that was before us for more than a year, I suggest that the Richies could reasonably have found it ambiguous as well.
I have always thought that the language was ambiguous and that this case could be resolved on the basis of hornbook law: ambiguous language in a contract is read against the preparer of the contract. On this basis, I thought our decision directing a judgment for the insured was a sound one.