Court Opinion

ID: 9570235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:21:24.779077+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:11.300286
License: Public Domain

Hill, Chief Justice,
concurring.
In my view, it is also important to consider what the insurance company chose not to exclude from coverage. It could have excluded, but did not, any automobile “while racing or speeding.” Instead, the insurance company chose to exclude any automobile “while used or operated in any racing event, speed contest or exhibition.”
Clearly, the drivers here involved were engaged in a “drag race” along a public road at night. They were not engaged in a stunt car show or any other type of “exhibition.” Although racing, they were not engaged in a “racing event.” If it were otherwise, the word “event” could have been omitted. And although speeding, they were not engaged in a “speed contest,” when the word “contest” is considered in context with the words “event” and “exhibition.”
It is unnecessary for us to decide exactly what the insurance company meant when it used the words “racing event, speed contest or exhibition.” The company is under an obligation to avoid ambiguity and lack of clarity in its policies and it could have used the words “racing or speeding,” yet it did not. It is only necessary for us to decide whether an impromptu drag race is a “racing event” or “speed contest” within the meaning of the policy. It is not, and I therefore join the majority opinion.
I am authorized to state that Justice Smith joins in this concurring opinion.