Court Opinion

ID: 9859258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 19:29:38.199534+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:19:46.094734
License: Public Domain

Daly, J.
(dissenting). I do not agree with the conclusions that cancellation of the policy by the company can be effective without payment to the insured of the unearned premium, that the sole effect of the provision requiring the return of the unearned premium is to create an indebtedness of the company to the insured, and that the premium adjustment—payment to the insured of the unearned premium—is not a condition. In my opinion, the use of the words “may” and “shall” in the provision of the cancellation clause that premium adjustment “may be made at the time cancellation is effected and, if not then made, shall be made as soon as practicable after cancellation becomes effective” is significant. The word “may” connotes the insurer’s privilege, while the word “shall” manifests its self-imposed obligation. “When the words in an insurance policy are, without violence, susceptible of two interpretations, that which will sustain the claim of the insured and cover the loss must be adopted. In the light of this settled rule of construction, we must adopt, between two reasonably tenable constructions, that which is most favorable to the plaintiff, the insured. ‘In the presence of a reasonable doubt we must resolve it in favor of the insured. Between two interpretations, we are required by the rules of legal construction to adopt that which will sustain his claim.’ Dickinson v. Maryland Casualty Co., 101 Conn. 369, 379, 125 A. 866 .... The rule rests upon the ground that the company’s attorneys, officers or *275agents prepared the policy, and it is its language that must be interpreted. ... It lay in the power of the defendant to formulate the terms of the provision so as to remove any doubt as to its meaning and intent.” Scranton v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 141 Conn. 313, 315, 105 A.2d 780.
The plaintiff contends that the obligation to pay or tender to him the unearned premium as soon as practicable after cancellation was a condition and that because the defendant failed to fulfil its obligation the cancellation was not effective. I believe that this contention is valid and in harmony with our established rule of construction and that the trial court did not err in concluding that the policy was in effect at the time when the plaintiff’s car was damaged.
In this opinion Wynne, J., concurred.