Court Opinion

ID: 9734583
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:38:25.017888+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:49.227202
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WELCH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. As set forth in the majority opinion, the insurance policy provides that Allstate will “pay for direct and accidental loss to YOUR insured AUTO” (collision coverage) and that Allstate will “pay for direct and accidental loss to YOUR insured AUTO *** not caused by collision” (comprehensive coverage). Allstate does not dispute that the term “loss” could include a vehicle’s diminished value. In addition, there is no dispute that the policy fails to explicitly exclude from coverage, after the vehicle’s repair, the loss sustained because of the vehicle’s diminished value. Because the provisions in the policy do not exclude the loss sustained by a repaired vehicle’s diminished value, I believe there is an ambiguity in the policy that must be construed against Allstate as the drafter. If Allstate, the drafter of the insurance policy, did not want its insureds to reasonably believe that they would be compensated for the entire loss, including the diminished value of the vehicle, Allstate should have specifically so stated in the policy. The policy could have stated, “The term ‘loss’ in this policy does not include the diminished value of an insured vehicle,” to avoid any ambiguity regarding this coverage. Because I believe that a reasonable person, after reviewing the policy, would believe that the coverage would return him or her to the same financial position he or she was in immediately prior to the accident, I must respectfully dissent.