Court Opinion

ID: 9472932
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:15:06.110298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:13.987993
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I would affirm the district judge in Kentucky who carefully distinguished Breeding v. Massachusetts Indemnity & Life Insurance Co., 633 S.W.2d 717, decided April 20, 1982, from the facts in this case and held that Fuller precisely applied. He found that claimant insured “was supplied with a certificate of insurance, even though he may not have thoroughly read same, which reasonably set forth a summary of his coverage and limitations of his coverage.” (Emphasis added). This finding has not been demonstrated by this *551court to be clearly erroneous. The certificate does, in my view, set out reasonably the extent of coverage in a mine accident situation, and the district court awarded the maximum allowable under the coverage. (See Joint Appendix at 22-25.)
I find no basis, moreover, for concluding that the alleged failure to attach a document containing the 25% limitation to the master policy was done purposefully, or that there was a deliberate omission in the certificate furnished the insured.
Finally, the majority concedes that the question of whether the policy at issue is a “Group Health Policy” under Ky.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 304.18-020 (Michie 1981) involves a resolution that is not free from doubt. This question should be certified to the Kentucky Supreme Court for resolution in the event that Breeding were held applicable to this fact situation.
I therefore respectfully dissent.