Court Opinion

ID: 9723660
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:25:46.292633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:50.802554
License: Public Domain

LEWIS, J.
I respectfully dissent.
Ron’s Delivery Service bought a policy from Hartford Insurance Company which provided, in part:
“Bodily Injury Liability:
$250,000. Each Person
$500,000. Each Accident
“Our Limit of Liability is changed to read:
“A. Regardless of the number of covered autos, insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in the accident, our limit of liability is as follows:
“1. The most we will pay for all damages resulting from bodily injury to any one person caused by any one accident is the limit of Bodily Injury Liability shown in this endorsement for ‘each person’.
*34“2. Subject to the limit for ‘each person’, the most we will pay for all damages resulting from bodily injury caused by any one accident is the limit of Bodily Injury Liability shown in this endorsement for ‘each accident’.”
Ron’s Delivery Service negligently caused one accident. That accident caused only one person, Mr. Abellon, bodily injuries. As a result of the bodily injuries to Mr. Abellon, Mrs. Abellon, who was not present at the accident, suffered a loss of consortium. The issue here is not whether Mrs. Abellon has suffered a compensable loss, nor whether she had her own claim against Ron’s Delivery Service, nor whether her loss was foreseeable, nor whether Ron’s should compensate her. Neither is the issue here whether loss of consortium is the type of loss covered by the policy. It is covered, and Hartford does not contend otherwise. The issue here is rather how much insurance coverage Ron’s bought to cover all the claims of Mr. and Mrs. Abellon.
The coverage provisions in the policy Ron’s bought from Hartford are not written in legalese or insurance company doubletalk. They are written in the plainest English possible.
There is no doubt or ambiguity about what the policy says. It says the most Hartford will pay for all damages resulting from bodily injury to any one person is $250,000.
Only one person, Mr. Abellon, suffered bodily injuries, and Mrs. Abellon’s damages resulted from his injuries. Does that bring her damages within “all damages resulting from bodily injury to any one person?” The answer is a resounding “yes.” The simple, pure “all” is the most comprehensive word in the English language. There is no way to expand on it or improve it. Mrs. Abellon urges those policies involved in other cited decisions which elaborated on “all” or included partial lists of what was included in “all” are more clear. This suggestion should be rejected by us all. Unless Mrs. Abellon suffered a bodily injury of her own as a result of the accident, Hartford owes only $250,000 on its contract, which it has already paid.
Is Mrs. Abellon’s loss of consortium a bodily injury? Common sense says no, and the law agrees. No reported case has ever held that loss of consortium is a bodily injury, and the only case directly on the issue holds it is not. (United Services Automobile Assn. v. Warner (1976) 64 Cal.App.3d 957, 964-965 [135 Cal.Rptr. 34].) “The cause of action for loss of consortium does not arise out of a bodily injury to the spouse suffering the loss; it arises out of the bodily injury to the spouse who can no longer perform the spousal functions. It is the loss of conjugal fellowship, affection, society *35and companionship which gives rise to the cause of action.” (Citing Rodriguez v. Bethlehem Steel Corp. (1974) 12 Cal.3d 382, 405-406 [115 Cal.Rptr. 765, 525 P.2d 669].)
“Although a sensitive person may actually suffer physical illness as a result of being deprived of that conjugal affection, it is not that illness which gives rise to the claim. The fact that loss of consortium may have physical consequences does not convert the cause of action into an action for bodily injury to the spouse suffering the loss. Such consequences would be an element of damage, the consequential damage arising out of the bodily injury to the injured spouse.”
It should be noted this language is not limited to the issue of whether loss of consortium is a “bodily injury” as the words appear in any particular contract, but rather whether loss of consortium is a bodily injury at all. The majority here ask, “Did Jeanne sustain a bodily injury?” and without directly saying so are holding for the first time, and contrary to United Services Automobile Assn. v. Warner, supra, (64 Cal.App.3d 957), that she did. This conclusion goes against the grain of existing law and plain English.
Mrs. Abellon’s damages for loss of consortium are not payable under the “per occurrence” provisions of paragraph 2 because that paragraph is specifically “subject to the limit” for “each person.” That clearly means that since her damages “resulted from bodily injury to any one person caused by any one accident,” the most Hartford will pay for the combined damages of Mr. and Mrs. Abellon is $250,000.
Since there is neither doubt nor ambiguity about what the contract of insurance provides, the court is not called upon to interpret it. Were we so called upon, we would read the contract as a layman might read it. We are not referred to any evidence Ron’s Delivery Service understood or expected the interpretation Mrs. Abellon urges. Neither would any layman so read or interpret it. Only the most resourceful and imaginative lawyers could think of such an interpretation.
The judgment of the trial court was correct, and we should affirm.
A petition for a rehearing was denied May 8, 1985, and respondent’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied July 11, 1985.