Court Opinion

ID: 9760948
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:25:18.594263+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:19.004519
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
KENNEDY, Justice.
Appellant argues on rehearing that an insurance policy ambiguous with respect to the identity of the insured, should be interpreted in favor of the persons claiming to be the insured. Likewise, the dissenting opinion also assumes ambiguity in the policy based upon an interrogatory, answered by St. Paul, which was extraneous to the actual policy of insurance.
Rules applicable to construction of insurance policies are the same as those used in interpreting ordinary contracts. Iowa Mutual Insurance Co. v. Faulkner, 157 Tex. 183, 300 S.W.2d 639 (1957). When the policy language is clear, the courts will not create a new contract for the parties by arbitrary judicial construction or technical interpretation. Entzminger v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co., 652 S.W.2d 533, 537 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist] 1983, no writ). The question of whether a contract is ambiguous is one of law to be determined by the court. O’Shea v. Coronado Transmission Co., 656 S.W.2d 557 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1983, writ ref’d n.r.e.). If a contract is worded in a manner that it can be given a certain or definite meaning, it is not ambiguous. Id. at 561. When no ambiguity exists, parol evidence is not admissible to create an ambiguity. Entzminger, 652 S.W.2d at 537.
Here, the contract was unambiguous. It clearly insured the trustees and only the trustees. The policy was susceptible to only one meaning. Absent an ambiguity in the policy, no fact issue was created concerning the identity of the insured.
We overrule the motion for rehearing.
NYE, C.J., dissented with opinion.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING