Court Opinion

ID: 9537843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:25:42.783045+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:04.746373
License: Public Domain

McINERNEY, Justice:
(concurring specially) .
I concur in the opinion and judgment of the Court, with this additional comment.
A careful examination of the policy reveals that, in its terms, it is heavily weighted toward creating in the insured the impression that he is receiving insur.ance to the full amount respecting each item of coverage opposite which there is inserted a premium amount or expense. When, for an increased premium, the insured is told that he buys, by coverage C, medical payments for “bodily injury caused by accident” to described persons, including the plaintiff passenger herein, with a limitation as to “Each Person” of $500 as a measure of the “Company’s liability for all expenses incurred by or on behalf of each person who sustains bodily injury as a result of any one accident” (emphasis supplied), there results the strong impression, arising from the cumulative effect of all these provisions, that the insured, by his extra premium, is buying in coverage C a completely separate and independent medical payment benefit for the advantage of “Each Person” who comes with coverage C’s terms. The financial responsibility of the insured to his passengers is thus reduced to the extent of the coverage afforded.
To counteract this cumulatively emphasized impression, there is only the obscurely worded paragraph, tacked on at the end of the affirmative portion of the “medical payment” paragraph of coverage C, not included in the enumeration of “Exclusions” from coverage C, which says merely that payments under coverage C shall be “applied toward the settlement of any claim or the satisfaction of any judgment for damages entered against any insured because of bodily injury to such person arising out of any accident to which bodily injury liability (Coverage A) applies.” The language, standing alone, is unambiguous; yet the sentence, so inconspicuous to a layman, is contradictory to the impression created by the insuring provisions. The insurer’s own choice of arrangement contrasts with the incidence of policy language and form which stress the cumulatively independent nature of coverages A and C in large letters at the beginning of the policy. Resolution of the issue presented against the insurer under these circumstances is in accord with established principles. Great American Indemnity Co. v. Deatherage, 175 Okl. 28, 52 P.2d 827 (1936); Great Northern Life Ins. Co. v. Cole, 207 Okl. 171, 248 P.2d 608 (1952); Continental Cas. Co. v. Beaty, Okl., 455 P.2d 684 (1969).
In considering the coverage afforded the insured by an insurance policy, the following quotation is found in Thomas v. Continental Casualty Company (10th Cir., 1955) 225 F.2d 798, 801:
“The language used belongs to the drafter and it is from the professional mind and hand. But, it is to be interpreted in the mind’s eye of the layman who buys it upon the representations and inducements conveyed by the bold type, not the fine print.”
I agree. In my opinion, the bold type conveys the impression that the insured’s passengers will receive the medical pay coverage within the limits set out, with the concomitant result of reducing the financial responsibility of the insured. The use and location of the language suggested in the final caveat of the majority opinion, or language of similar import, will possibly eliminate in the future the reasonable impression of additional coverage conveyed *335to the insured by the form and arrangement employed in this policy.
I am authorized to state that Justice BLACKBIRD joins in the views expressed herein.