Court Opinion

ID: 9533471
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:32:01.387846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:03.774463
License: Public Domain

Justice ERICKSON,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
Although I agree with the majority that, at the time of his injury, Phillip McMichael was “using” the truck as that term is used in the policy issued by Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (Aetna) which is at issue here, see Kohl v. Union Ins. Co., 731 P.2d 134 (Colo.1986), I agree with Chief Justice Vollack that section 10 — 4-609(1), 4A C.R.S. (1994), does not compel insurers to offer Uninsured Motorist/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) to all persons and entities covered by the liability provisions of an automobile liability policy. *105I also agree with Justice Vollack that the plain language of section 10-4-608, 4A C.R.S. (1994), exempts the policy at issue in this case from compliance with section 10-4-609(1). I write separately to clarify why the situation in this case differs from that with which we were confronted in Passamano v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 882 P.2d 1312 (Colo.1994).
In Passamano, based on legislative history, we determined that the definition of “policy” in section 10-4-601, 4A C.R.S. (1994), did not limit the scope of section 10-4-609, the uninsured motorist provision. Passamano, 882 P.2d at 1318-22. Before making that determination, however, we stated:
[W]e must give full effect to the language of the General Assembly requiring all insurers to offer uninsured motorist coverage, as set forth in section 10-4-609, as well as the definitional provisions of section 10-4-601(2). However, we must also consider the introductory language to the definitional provisions of section 10-4-601, which provides that in some contexts the definitions contained therein, including the definition of the term “policy,” might not be applicable.
We thus consider the legislative history....
Id. at 1319.
In this ease, we are not confronted with a situation in which the applicability of a statutory provision is determined by its context. Because section 10-4-608 unequivocally states that “[tjhis part 6 shall not apply ... to any policy insuring more than four automobiles,” (emphasis added), a resort to the “interpretive rules of statutory construction” is inappropriate. See General Elec. Co. v. Niemet, 866 P.2d 1361, 1364 (Colo.1994). The “statutory terms should be given effect according to their plain and ordinary meaning.” See Bertrand v. Board of County Comm’rs, 872 P.2d 223, 228 (Colo.1994). Section 10-4-608 exempts the policy at issue here from the requirements of section 10-4-609 because the policy covered more than eighty vehicles.1
Accordingly, I concur in part and dissent in part. In my view, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment for the defendant, Aetna, and the court of appeals erred in reversing that judgment.
I am authorized to say that Justice KOUR-LIS joins in this concurrence and dissent.

. We noted the potential applicability of § 10-4-608 to cases involving § 10^1-609 in Passamano. 882 P.2d at 1318 n. 6.