Court Opinion

ID: 9725773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:09:44.848274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:19.620155
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TRAPP, dissenting: I dissent because of a strong conclusion that the majority opinion disregards critical factors in evidence relating to the contractual liability of appellant. The opinion takes as an energizing premise that the premium paid was consideration for the issuance for the certificate of insurance. The date of plaintiff’s injury was August 20, 1980. The finding of the trial court, that Richard was notified of cancellation of his insurance policy on June 22,1980, is not an issue. The record shows that the reason for cancellation was nonpayment of premium. I cannot believe that nonpayment of premium may be transmogrified into consideration for liability coverage. The opinion cites Kerr v. Pusateri (1965), 64 Ill. App. 2d 172, 212 N.E.2d 263, as supporting authority. That opinion, however, involves a wholly different relationship in that it was admitted that no notice of cancellation of the policy was sent to the insured until after the collision causing plaintiff’s injury. The record is clear that by the endorsement of the policy, G & C Tracking Company, the contractor for the mail route, was an additional insured. Richard was a subcontractor under G & C. The postal service was not treated as an additional insured. The evidence deposition of Kenneth Wankoski, Manager, Transportation Management Office of the United States Postal Service, emphasizes that there were, and now are, no postal regulations concerning contracts for transporting mail that require that an insurance company notify the postal service of a cancellation of the liability insurance of a contractor. Rather the requirements for notice of cancellation of the insurance of a contractor are placed upon the contractor. Wankoski testified that while evidence of insurance is required of the contractor, all such insurance transactions are conducted directly with the contractor. He stated that insurance companies do not issue notice of changes in policy to the postal service and, in effect, that the postal service does not expect to deal with, or rely upon, the issuance of notice of such changes by the insurer. The net result of this opinion is to create a contractual duty which no party contemplated or agreed to, for which no consideration was paid, and which liability might continue as long as Richard managed to retain a subcontract for the transportation of mail. I would reverse the judgment of the trial court.