Court Opinion

ID: 9456442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:53:15.623507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:58.739016
License: Public Domain

*238HASTINGS, Senior Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result only. I would reverse and remand to the district court for the hearing of extrinsic evidence relevant to the meaning of the contract language on the sole and express ground that such language, particularly in paragraph (4), swpra,,1 is ambiguous, of double or doubtful meaning and in need of interpretation.
The majority opinion evidences considerable research and study of the application of the parol evidence rule. However, with deference, I think the conclusions in this regard are unnecessarily broad as applied to the decisional law of Illinois. As I read the opinion, parol evidence may be introduced and admitted in evidence in any contractual interpretation consideration, no matter how clear and unambiguous the contract language itself may be. Further, such extrinsic evidence may be applied in such interpretation, except, of course, for the purpose of modifying or curtailing its terms. In short, where no ambiguity exists, parol evidence is always admissible. The net effect of this would seem to be to abrogate the parol evidence rule and proscribe the use of parol evidence only for the purpose of changing the writing.
Further, I am concerned that the majority opinion, in forecasting what the Illinois Supreme Court would say, goes beyond what it has said. In the cited and quoted opinion, Martindell v. Lake Shore National Bank, 15 Ill.2d 272, 283, 154 N.E.2d 683, 689 (1958), the court there concludes, “Similarly, under well recognized exceptions to the parole evidence rule, extrinsic evidence is admissible to show the meaning of words used in a contract where there is an ambiguity, or when the language is susceptible of more than one meaning." It seems to me that, rightly or wrongly, this presently represents the outer limit to which that court has gone and to which we should go at this time in applying Illinois law.
I fully agree with the majority when it states that “the language and holdings of the various Illinois cases involving the parol evidence rule cannot be harmonized * * This is particularly true in the ever present field of insurance law concerning the interpretation of insuring agreements and exclusionary provisions in insurance policies. It is also true of the holdings of our own court. See, for example, a decision just handed down in Douglas Equipment Co., Inc. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 7 Cir., 435 F.2d 1024 (December 29, 1970). How often have some of us written as we did there, “This exclusionary language is too plain to be susceptible of interpretation.” We further noted the general Illinois rule to be employed in the interpretation of contracts of insurance by citing the recent Illinois case of Automobile Underwriters, Inc. v. Hardware Mutual Casualty Company, 120 Ill.App.2d 159, 166, 256 N.E.2d 463, 466 (1970). There the Illinois court said, “We are confronted with the task of interpreting the contracts of insurance and determining liability and responsibility thereunder. We must make this determination from the language used in the policies. Where the terms of an insurance policy are clear and unambiguous the court must give effect to the intent of the parties to the contract in accordance with the clear expression of agreement.” (Emphasis added.)
Finally, I suggest that the ultimate conclusions reached in the majority opinion do not require its broad limitation of the parol evidence rule. I agree when the majority says, “The terms of this contract are not so plain and clear that there can be no question as to their meaning.” Similarly, I agree that, “The intended effect and meaning of ‘reinvestment’ can only be discovered through the process of interpretation, and the use of extrinsic evidence in aid of that interpretation is necessary and proper. The interpretation arrived at by the trial court from its investigation of the docu*239ment alone is not inevitable.” In short, it is ambiguous, susceptible of more than one interpretation.
The foregoing final conclusions, arrived at without extrinsic evidence for our consideration, alone amply justify and require the use of well recognized and established exceptions to the parol evidence rule. In reversing and remanding, I would rely upon them and in this instance would go no further.

. Set out in footnote 1 in the majority opinion.