Court Opinion

ID: 9520318
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:36:14.355391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:46:00.005633
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Ward and I dissent and are of the opinion that the circuit court correctly dismissed plaintiff’s complaint for want of equity. Insofar as pertinent to this case, the automobile insurance policy contained two separate and distinctly different definitions of the term “insured.” Part I of the policy contained the liability coverage agreements and provided that “ ‘Insured’ means a person *** described under ‘Persons Insured’,” which provided: “The following are insureds under Part I: (a) with respect to the owned automobile, (1) the named insured and any resident of the same household, (2) any other person using such automobile with the permission of the named insured, provided his actual operation or (if he is not operating) his other actual use thereof is within the scope of such permission, and (3) any other person or organization but only with respect to his or its liability because of acts or omissions of an insured under (a) (1) or (2) above; (b) with respect to a non-owned automobile, (1) the named insured, (2) any relative, but only with respect to a private passenger automobile or trailer, provided his actual operation or (if he is not operating) the other actual use thereof is with the permission, or reasonably believed to be with the permission, of the owner and is within the scope of such permission, and (3) any other person or organization not owning or hiring the automobile, but only with respect to his or its liability because of acts or omissions of an insured under (b) (1) or (2) above.” Part IV of the policy provided “Protection against uninsured motorists.” It contained the following provision: “The definitions under Part I, except the definition of ‘insured,’ apply to Part IV, and under Part IV: ‘insured’ means: (a) the named insured and any relative; (b) any other person while occupying an insured automobile; and (c) any person, with respect to damages he is entitled to recover because of bodily injury to which this Part applies sustained by an insured under (a) or (b) above.” The endorsement which the majority holds excludes James Phelan from the uninsured-motorist coverage provided in the policy is headed “Restricted Named Operator Endorsement” and refers to him as an “operator.” The policy contains no definition of the term “operator.” A comparison of the foregoing definitions of “insured” shows that the status of an “insured” as an operator of a vehicle was material to the risk assumed by the insurer under part I of the policy and was wholly irrelevant to the liability imposed on the insurer under part IV. The occurrence out of which this litigation arose did not in any manner involve the insured automobile. The uninsured automobile which James Phelan had driven to the station was not the vehicle which caused his injury. He was struck and injured by a vehicle which, it is undisputed, was an “uninsured automobile” within the definition contained in part IV of the policy. On these facts, whether he was an “operator” is completely irrelevant, and the cases upon which the majority relies deal with a question not presented on this record. The clear and unequivocal provisions of part IV of the policy imposed liability on plaintiff because James Phelan, a “relative” of its named insured, William Phelan, was “entitled to recover because of bodily injury” from the operator of a vehicle which came within the definition of an “uninsured automobile” contained in part IV of the policy. The majority agrees “that the legislative intent was to provide extensive uninsured-motorist protection for those who are ‘insureds’ under an automobile liability policy.” (59 Ill.2d at 395.) A common-sense reading of the policy leads to the obvious conclusion that the restrictive endorsement was designed to avoid liability under part I of the policy as the result of the operation of an automobile by James Phelan. To engraft this restriction onto the definition of “insured” contained in part IV results in an erroneous construction of the policy, and serves to defeat the clearly expressed legislative intent in providing for uninsured-motorist coverage.