Court Opinion

ID: 9843681
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:41:45.963552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:52.006492
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
[¶ 54] I agree with parts I, II A, II B, and III A of the majority opinion. I respectfully dissent from parts II C and III B.
[¶ 55] “Borrow,” in its most relevant sense, plainly means “to use as one’s own.” The American Heritage Dictionary 82 (2d college ed.1983). See also The Random House Dictionary 173 (unabridged ed. 1966)(“To use, appropriate, or introduce from another source”); Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 256 (1971)(“obtain the temporary use of’); The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary 99 (1989)(“to take into possession or use from another source”); and Black’s Law Dictionary 185 (6th ed. 1990)(“The term may be used to express the idea of receiving something from another for one’s own use.”). .There is no ambiguity in the policy’s coverage of a borrowed auto.
[¶ 56] “Borrow” means to “use.” By driving Dawn’s auto, plainly Kurry “used” it. Continental contracted to insure not only Kurry’s “ownership,” but also his “use” of a non-owned auto.3
[¶ 57] Kurry used and drove Dawn’s auto temporarily. Coverage 8 insured personal use of a borrowed auto. As part II B of the majority recognizes, Coverage 8 is not confined to “business use,” but covers any personal use. So, why Kurry drove and used Dawn’s auto, where he went with it, or who accompanied him is not material to the contracted coverage, and should not be used to create an ambiguity where none exists. Driving uses an auto.
[¶ 58] In concluding that “Lease, hire, rent and borrow are synonymous when used as used in this policy ...,” the trial court clearly erred. We construe “insurance policies as a whole to give meaning to each word and phrase.” Martin v. Allianz Life Ins. Co., 1998 ND 8, ¶ 15, 573 N.W.2d 823 (citing Symington v. Walle Mut. Ins. Co., 1997 ND 93, ¶ 17, 563 N.W.2d 400). While Kurry did hot lease an auto from a dealer, hire one from a neighbor, or rent one from a auto rental business to take his friend to a party, he did “borrow,” drive, and “use” Dawn’s auto to do so.4 ■ It does not matter whether *456he was a “designated driver” for his companion, why he did so, or where he went. Kurry personally “used” Dawn’s auto by driving it, and the policy covered his personal use of a borrowed auto without any language limiting the purpose of his personal borrowing and using.5
[¶ 59] Kurry’s insurance company contracted to insure him against liability not only “resulting from the ownership [or] maintenance ... of a covered ‘auto,’ ” but also “resulting from ... use of a covered ‘auto.’ ” (my emphasis). The policy insured Kurry’s generalized “use” of a “borrowed” auto, not his personal purpose. Under Continental’s Coverage 8, anyone’s “auto” that Kurry “borrowed,” drove, and “used” for his own purposes was covered, whether his use benefit-ted someone else or not.
[¶ 60] By concluding that “Kurry did not ‘borrow5 Hanneman’s car for his own use at ah” because “he was a ‘designated driver,’ ” the majority reads ambiguities and meanings into the policy that are not there. Kurry’s insurance company plainly contracted to cover him personally whenever Kurry drove and used any auto borrowed for personal reasons.6
[¶ 61] Since I would conclude Kurry was unambiguously insured while driving and using a borrowed auto, I respectfully dissent from part II C. Since Kurry was contractually insured by Continental, in my opinion, the analysis and the conclusion in part III B are also wrong, and I respectfully dissent from part III B, too. I would reverse and remand with directions to enter the appropriate judgment for Hannemans.
[If 62] MAKING, J., concurs.

. See 8 Couch on Insurance 3D § 111:35 ("Common or Ordinary Meaning ”): “ 'Use' is to be given its ordinary meaning. It denotes the employment of the automobile for some purpose of the user." See also 6B Appleman, Insurance Law and Practice § 4316: "The term 'use' is the general catch-all of the insuring clause, designed and construed to include all proper uses of the vehicle not falling within one of the previous terms of definition [ownership; maintenance].”

. The "Renewal Declaration" with the policy itemized a separate premium for the "Schedule of Hired or Borrowed Covered Auto Coverage and Premiums,” and listed the "Estimated Cost of Hire” as "if any.” In "Section II-Liability Coverage” of the policy the definition of "WHO

. 1 Rowland H. Long, The Law of Liability Insurance § 4.12(part):
The hired automobile provisions are also meant to deal with borrowers. All such provisions are similar to those dealing with non-owned automobile coverage which was discussed earlier. When borrowed automobile provisions are included in the policy, the rule is different from the rules applicable to hired automobiles and which have just been stated in this section. A borrower is one using the vehicle who is in possession of that vehicle.
(my emphasis).

. North Dakota law requires "proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents ... arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle” on its highways. N.D.C.C. § 39-16.1-02. See N.D.C.C. §§ 39-16.1-08 and 39-16.1-09. A satisfactory "motor vehicle liability policy” includes either an owner’s policy or an operator’s policy of liability insurance. N.D.C.C. § 39-16.1-11(1). An operator’s policy of liability insurance "must insure the person named as insured therein against loss from the liability imposed upon the person by law for damages arising out of the use by the person of any motor vehicle, either unlimited, or limited by excluding certain classes or types of motor vehicles, within the same territorial limits and subject to the same limits of liability as are set forth above with respect to an owner’s policy of liability insurance.” N.D.C.C. § 39-16.1-11(3). Kurry's personal "borrowed” auto coverage only excluded any auto borrowed from his employees, partners, or members of their households. Dawn was not an employee or partner of Kurry’s, nor a member of an employee’s or partner’s household. There is no other exclusion expressed in Kurry’s "borrowed auto” Coverage 8.