Court Opinion

ID: 9565195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:16:39.565451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:27.545313
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
Today’s opinion produces an absurd result, which, because it is not binding on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, may not carry the day, depending on the integrity of that court in fulfilling its ultimate obligation of making its own final determination — lawfully its obligation, not ours. This Court holds that Idaho public policy does not invalidate an insurance clause that excludes coverage for damages arising out of an accident involving an underinsured tort-feasor and a vehicle not insured by the victim’s insurance company. The Court arrives at this result without any principled reason.
All parties here involved concede that I.C. § 41-2502 invalidates clauses such as the one involved in this case with respect to uninsured tort-feasors. That statute requires insurance policies to provide protection to the insured from injury by uninsured drivers. The policy reasons are manifestly apparent: innocent victims need to be protected from irresponsible drivers who cannot indemnify such victims for the harm their conduct causes. Why, then, does this Court make the difference between underinsured and uninsured tortfeasors vis a vis the insured-victim’s ability to be reimbursed for the harm suffered? No reason is readily apparent; the distinction made by the Court is without a difference.
As far as the innocent victim is concerned, it matters little whether the tortfeasor has no insurance or merely inadequate insurance, for in either event the result is that the victim is going to have to shoulder alone a large or complete burden for the harm suffered. For public policy reasons I.C. § 41-2502 was enacted to rem*602edy that wrong with respect to uninsured motorists. Only a myopic court can ignore the fact that the same public policies underlying § 41-2502 also support prohibiting enforcement of exclusionary clauses involving tort-feasors who have some but not enough insurance coverage. The fact that the legislature has not spoken explicitly as to undierinsured coverage is of little consequence; the exact reasons upon which the legislature enacted I.C. § 41-2502 apply to underinsured issues as well.
The issue before us needs to be kept well in mind — it is not whether underinsured coverage must be provided to insured people in the State of Idaho; rather, it is whether an exclusionary insurance clause, concededly invalid as to uninsured tort-feasors, is also invalid as to underinsured tortfeasors. Only one reasonable conclusion is possible, and that conclusion is a resounding “yes.”
Today’s decision puts the innocent victim in the absurd position of hoping beyond all hope that his or her tort-feasor does not have the statutorily required amount of insurance, but has, instead, broken Idaho law and driven uninsured. Only then can the victim be guaranteed coverage for the damages suffered. Today’s decision also makes fools of the legislature, for it says that that august body of legislators intended the result we have in this case — a result which is illogical and unsound.
The Ninth Circuit should understand that three cases are presently before this Court which involve issues that directly impact this case. They are: Hammon v. Farmers Insurance Co., Sup.Ct. No. 15888; Dullenty v. Rocky Mountain Fire & Casualty Co., Sup.Ct. No. 15889; and Miller v. Farmers Insurance Co., Sup.Ct. No. 15104, all argued before this Court on April 16, 1985. In all due fairness, this case should not have been decided until the above three have been considered, and the Ninth Circuit might be well-advised to abide a bit.
HUNTLEY, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent for the following reasons:
(1) The underinsured motorist coverage as offered by the Transamerica policy is part and parcel of the uninsured motorist coverage in the offering and in the policy language.
(2) The same public policy considerations apply both to uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under the uninsured motorist coverage mandate of the Idaho Legislature.
(3) The “owned but uninsured” exclusion as it applies to uninsured motorist coverage is void as against the policy of I.C. § 41-2502, Since the underinsured coverage as offered by Transamerica and as provided for in the policy language are inseparable, the exclusion as to one necessarily rises or falls as it applies to the other.
(4) At best there is an ambiguity in the policy which must be construed in favor of the insured.