Court Opinion

ID: 9727394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:33:38.403998+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:36.950868
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
The insurance policy is by far the dominant means in our society of providing motorist financial responsibility. Financial responsibility must be maintained in the amount of $25,000 by means of an insurance policy, however, a bond, a deposit of money, or a certificate of self-insurance may also be sufficient. Ind.Code § 9-25-4-7; 1.0. § 9-25-4-11. The intent of the legislature is evident. Each such means carries an equivalent protective value. The bond, the deposit, and the certificate of self-insurance are seen as sufficient, equivalent substitutes for the policy. Indeed, expressly, a bond must be equal to a policy. 1.C. § 9-25-4-9. 1.0. § 27-7-5-2 added the requirement that insurance policies initially provide uninsured motorist coverage. This became part of financial responsibility, not only where an insurance policy is used, but, through the intent to authorize equivalent means, where, as here, self-insurance or a certificate of self-insurance, is used.
1 would hold therefore, as did the trial court, and the Court of Appeals, that self-insurers such as the City of Gary must provide uninsured motorist coverage as required by 1.0. § 27-7-5-2. Since the majority does not reach the exemption question considered in the Court of Appeals, I find no reason to do so.
DICKSON, J., concurs.