Court Opinion

ID: 9576365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:23:41.945467+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:06:13.026539
License: Public Domain

GOLDBERG, Judge,
dissenting.
In my view, the step-down provision at issue in this case is sufficiently ambiguous to render it unenforceable. The provision states, “This exclusion applies only to the extent the limits of liability of this policy exceed the limits of liability required by law.” Ambiguity in a contract is determined from the viewpoint of a layperson, not a lawyer. Mut Serv. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Wilson Twp., 603 N.W.2d 151, 153 (Minn. Ct.App.1999). I believe that it is no accident that the insurance company crafted this murkily worded provision so that a reasonable person would be unable to readily interpret the language.
The provision notably makes no reference to which state’s law should apply or even what method will be used to choose the applicable law, e.g., a reference to the law of the state where the accident occurred.5 In Agency Rent-A-Car, Inc. v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 519 N.W.2d 483, 485 (Minn.Ct.App.1994), cited by the court, the Minnesota Court of Appeals found a provision referring to “the applicable motor vehicle financial responsibility laws of the state in which this agreement of rental was executed” to be unambiguous. However, this provision, at a minimum, provides the reader of the contract the ability to determine which state’s law will be applied, i.e., that state where the rental agreement was executed. In this case, even if we look beyond the Policy’s four corners to state law, we cannot determine with precision what law should apply in the provision. Thus, regardless if the rest of the provision’s meaning is discernable, if its application is unaseertainable, the provision is ambiguous. As the court pointed out, “any ambiguity in the insurance contract must be construed in favor of the insured.” State Farm Ins. Cos. v. Seefeld, 481 N.W.2d 62, 64 (Minn.1992). I thus respectfully dissent from the court’s opinion and I would affirm the district court’s decision.

. While the Policy was issued in South Dakota, the accident occurred in Minnesota. South Dakota law indicates a statutory liability minimum of $25,000. Minnesota law states a statutory liability minimum of $30,000.