Court Opinion

ID: 9794868
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:13:12.348802+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:21:54.104655
License: Public Domain

*133DISSENTING OPINION OF
WIRTZ, J.,
WITH WHOM TSUKIYAMA, C. J., JOINS.
I must respectfully register my dissent. The cases relied on by the majority are factually distinguishable and are neither persuasive nor compelling. The purpose and functions of the “Notice of Group Insurance Changes” was to govern the contractual relationship between the principal parties to the contract, the employer and the carrier. The contract of insurance was entered into by the employer with the carrier for the benefit of the employee. The inclusion in, or exclusion from, the insurance provided by the policy or the coverage of the particular employee was a matter of subsidiary agreement between the employee and employer. Here, the employee never was given to understand that he was to continue to be covered by the policy of insurance upon retirement. To the contrary, he knew he was not covered. Not only had he been told so but he ceased to make his contributions to the premium through the employer.
Under the insurance policy the company had the sole right to determine whether to provide the group insurance for its retired employees as a class and in the exercise of that right it determined that retired employees should not be covered. Having so determined, the company could not under the terms of the policy have provided the employee alone (without including all retired employees as a class) with insurance coverage after his retirement and, consequently, the company’s failure to notify the carrier of the termination of the employee’s insurance did not Create any rights in favor of the employee or appellant.