Court Opinion

ID: 9742880
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:22:07.205994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:37.417879
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Ward, dissenting: The view illustrated by such cases as Oregon Automobile Insurance Co. v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. (9th cir.), 195 F.2d 958, and Lamb-Weston, Inc. v. Oregon Auto Insurance Co., 219 Ore. 110, 341 P.2d 110, and described by the majority as the Oregon rule is to me plainly to be preferred to what I consider to be the inequitable result the majority reaches here. Too, I regard as erroneous the parenthetical conclusion of the majority that public policy would not be violated by its holding even if it were to be considered in the light of the mandatory uninsured motorist’s statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 73, par. 755(a)), which was enacted after the occurrence in this case. That statute requires that all motor vehicle public liability policies provide uninsured motorist’s coverage “for the protection of persons insured thereunder.” The result in Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Wells (4th cir.), 316 F.2d 770, from which the majority quotes .with approval, illustrates a reason for my disagreement with the majority on this question of public policy. In that case Wells, his wife and five other persons were riding as guests in an automobile owned and operated by Smith. A car negligently operated by an uninsured motorist collided with the Smith car, injuring all its occupants. Wells and Smith’s son died from their injuries. Smith recovered $30,000 from his insurance carrier under an uninsured motorist endorsement. The Smith policy, which was in the amount of $i5,ooo/$30,ooo as required by statute, was thus no longer available as a source of benefits for Wells and his wife. Travelers, Wells’s insurance carrier, had provided them also with uninsured motorist coverage in the amounts required by statute, $i5,ooo/$30,ooo. Travelers denied liability to Mrs. Wells individually and as the executrix of Mr. Wells on the ground that there was other similar insurance available at the time of the accident. The court of appeals reversed the district court, which had held for Mrs. Wells, saying: “Our conviction is that in this situation no uninsured protection whatsoever was due from Travelers to the Wells. It was explicitly excluded by the Other Insurance condition. The condition made Fidelity and Casualty the primary insurer, inasmuch as the Wells were ‘occupying an automobile [Smith’s] not owned’ by them. Travelers insurance then was confined to the amount by which its policy limit exceeded that of Fidelity and Casualty, the only other similar insurance. There was no ‘excess’ because the two policies were each written for the statutory limits and no more — $15,000 for one injured and $30,000 for two or more. Hence, under the Other Insurance condition Travelers never became answerable to the Wells to any extent. Their sole insurance was the Fidelity and Casualty policy. Its absorption by the claims of others did not generate a right in the Wells to resort to Travelers’ policy.” Thus, the Wellses could not recover under the Smith policy in which they were third party beneficiaries nor under their own policy in which they were direct beneficiaries. I would consider such a remarkable result contrary to the legislative intention underlying the statutory requirement that policies provide uninsured motorists coverage for the protection of assured persons. I would add that I believe the comment in the majority opinion concerning Ullman v. Wolverine Insurance Co., 48 Ill.2d 1, reflects a misguided analysis of the controversy involved. See the dissent in that case. 48 Ill.2d at p. 8. Mr. Justice Schaefer joins in this dissent.