Court Opinion

ID: 9459319
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:17:00.722315+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:07.024904
License: Public Domain

RONEY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I agree that the judgment of the district court should be reversed, but I would hold that the plaintiff insurance company is entitled to standard premiums only and is not entitled to collect retrospective premiums.
This is a diversity case from Georgia and should be decided under Georgia law. The only Georgia case cited to us is Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Horace F. Allison d/b/a H. F. Allison Contract Hauling, Civil Action No. K-12,658, July 15, 1968, Hall County Georgia Superior Court. Although not compelling authority, it is the only Georgia law on point *1108and is from a Georgia court located within the jurisdiction of the district court. There is no reason for a federal court not to follow it. The Georgia court recognized that there are good arguments on both sides of this question, but held that the ambiguity of the policy requires the resolution of the conflict against the insurer, which wrote the policy.
Of the cases cited from other jurisdictions which involved the identical cancellation clause, two were decided in favor of the insured, Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. Swartout, 270 Minn. 216, 133 N.W.2d 32 (Minn.1965); Traveler’s Insurance Co. v. Jeffries-Eaves, Inc., 166 Colo. 220, 442 P.2d 822 (1968), and one was decided in favor of the insurer, Bituminous Casualty Corp. v. Lewis Crane Service, Inc., 173 So.2d 715 (Fla.App.1965). The wording of the cancellation clause was materially different in Wimpy v. Maryland Casualty Co., 223 F.2d 649 (5th Cir. 1955).