Court Opinion

ID: 9754186
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:48:27.806903+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:50.400695
License: Public Domain

*271Barnes, J.,
dissenting:
I dissent in this case because, in my opinion, the insured established that there was both a “forcible entry” into the truck and “visible signs” of this forcible entry at the point of entry. The relevant portion of the policy first quoted in the majority opinion must be construed as an entirety. See Gottlieb v. American Automobile Ins. Co., 177 Md. 32, 38, 7 A. 2d 182, 185 (1939). Its purpose is to require that the insured securely locks the truck and completely closes all windows, when leaving the vehicle unattended. It is obvious that this requirement substantially reduces the risk of theft from unattended vehicles and is an important limitation on the coverage afforded by the policy. The purpose of the last sentence in the quoted portion of the policy is to reinforce the basic requirement that the vehicle be completely closed and locked and therefore requires that the theft result from a “forcible entry” of which there is a “visible sign” at the point of entry. This provision was apparently inserted to assure that there will be some objective proof that the truck was completely closed and locked as required and to protect the insurance company from possible negligence or fraud on the part of the insured. This provision of the policy, however, does not state (a) the amount of force required for the entry or (b) how graphically the “sign” must appear to the eye. The insured, therefore, need only prove that “force” of any amount was used to effectuate the entry and substantiate this by showing that there was a “sign” of the use of that force at the point of entry which was “visible.” Tt is clear to me that force in some amount, however slight, is necessary to turn the lock in the door of the truck whether by the use of a skeleton key or by some other mechanical means and that the result of the use of that force, i.e., the change of position of the lock from a vertical to a horizontal position, was a “sign” which was “visible,” at the point of entry. Inasmuch as the stipulated facts establish that, the windows were completely closed, that the truck was securely locked when left unattended by the insured, and that there is no fraud or collusion on the part of the insured, it reasonably follows that a third person did use force to turn the *272locked truck and stole the tools in question. This conclusion is corroborated by the physical evidence of forcible entry visibly apparent at the point of entry, viz., the change in position of the lock on the door of the truck. Thus there was proof by the insured in the exact terms of the policy and, in my opinion, the insured established a case of coverage under the policy.
As the majority points out, one of the meanings of “forcible” is “effected by force.” If one turns to the definition of “force” one finds that one of its meanings in Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary, 715 .(2nd Ed. 1964) unabridged, is “in physics, the cause of motion, or of change or stoppage of motion, of a body,” with a subdivision “animal force; muscular power.” It thus appears that the use of a skeleton key or other mechanical means to turn the lock required the use of “force” and that an entry by the use of such means was a “forcible entry.” As Mr. Justice O’Connor of the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, aptly stated in Bernard v. Employees Liability Assurance Corp., 233 Ill. App. 229, 235 (1924) : “No one would contend that it did not take force to throw a bolt back into a lock, even if a key be used in doing it.” (Emphasis supplied.) (Quoting National Surety Co. v. Silverberg Bros., 176 S. W. 97, 98 (Tex. Civ. App. 1915))
The draftsman of the policy undoubtedly could have specified the degree of force, e.g., by requiring entry with “great” or “substantial” force, or have provided that there be “violent entry”, but this was not done. It could also have been provided that the forcible entry should be shown by some “visible marks” as many policies have provided and thereby bring the present policy within the purview of the many cases construing such language, but again this was not done.
The majority suggests, quite properly, that we are not at liberty to “make a new contract under guise of construction,” but alas, as I see it, this is what the majority has done in this case, so that the words of the insurance contract “forcible entry” have become “violent entry” or “entry with substantial forced’ and the words “visible signs’1 have become “visible marks.” To me, the words used in the policy are clear and unambiguous, but if there is any ambiguity, it should be resolved liberally in favor of the insured and against the insurer, who drafted the provision in *273question. Lowitt v. Pearsall Chemical Corp., 242 Md. 245, 259, 219 A. 2d 67, 75-76 (1966); Aviation Employees Ins. Co. v. Barclay, 237 Md. 318, 323, 206 A. 2d 119, 121 (1965); Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Sloan, 68 F. 2d 222, 225 (4th Cir. 1934), cert. denied 292 U. S. 625, 54 S. Ct. 630, 78 L. Ed. 1480 (1924).
As I have indicated, in my opinion, the “visible marks” cases cited by the majority are not apposite as the language in the policy in the present case is “visible signs” and not “visible marks.” There may well be no “mark” in the instant case, but there is a “sign”—the turned position of the lock.
It is quite true as the majority points out that the policy is not an “all risk” policy, but as I see it, the insured in this case has established a loss on a risk clearly covered by the language of the policy and he should have the benefit of the coverage for which he paid.
I would reverse.