Government Employees Insurance Company v. Sweet

• Decision Date: 27 May 1966
• Docket Number: No. 131.,131.
• Parties: GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY, a Foreign Corporation, Appellant, v. Forest SWEET, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

186 So.2d 95

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY, a Foreign Corporation, Appellant, v. Forest SWEET, Appellee.

No. 131.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Fourth District.

May 2, 1966.

Rehearing Denied May 27, 1966.

W. David Rogers, Jr., of Gurney Gurney & Handley, Orlando, for appellant.

Richard W. Bates, Orlando, for appellee.

SMITH, Chief Judge.

On a stipulated statement of fact the court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff, appellee here, and against the appellant, Government Employees Insurance Company, on a finding that the medical payments provisions of a single insurance policy on two vehicles required payment of the maximum limits on each automobile for injuries received by a named insured in one accident. This appeal raises a question not previously determined in Florida.

The insurance company issued one policy to Sweet covering a Chevrolet and a Ford. By the terms of the policy his wife was a named insured. She was injured in an accident while in the Chevrolet. Her medical expenses exceeded $6,000.00. The limit of liability and premium is separately stated in the "Declarations" for the various coverages on each automobile. The medical payments coverage provides: (1) for the Chevrolet — limits of liability $3,000.00 each person — premium $6.60, and (2) for the Ford — limits of liability $3,000.00 each person — premium $5.40. In the medical payments section the company agrees to pay to or for the named insured all reasonable medical expenses caused by accident while occupying or through being struck by an automobile. The policy excludes medical expenses sustained by the named insured while occupying an automobile owned by or furnished for the regular use of the named insured other than an automobile described in the policy. It then contains the following clause: "The limit of liability for medical payments stated in the declarations as applicable to `each person' is the limit of the company's liability for all expenses incurred by or on behalf of each person who sustains bodily injury as the result of any one accident". In the general conditions the following provision appears: "When two or more automobiles are insured hereunder, the terms of this policy shall apply separately to each. * * *"

In urging that Sweet may recover only $3,000.00, the amount of the limits of liability as to one of the automobiles described in the policy, the insurance company contends that ambiguity exists only in the event there had been injury of the named insured while occupying an automobile neither owned by the named insured nor furnished for the regular use of the named insured, conceding that in that event it would be impossible to determine which automobile afforded coverage. On the other hand the insurance company contends that, since the injuries were incurred by occupying one of the two owned automobiles described in the policy, there is coverage to the named insured only under that part of the policy applying to the owned vehicle occupied when the injuries were received. In further support of their position of only one coverage, and to show consideration for the premium charged on the other automobile, they explain that this is to remove the other automobile from the specific exception applying to the named insured while occupying an owned vehicle not described in the policy. This, they...