Gross v. Green Mountain Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 24 March 1986
• Citation: 506 A.2d 1139
• Parties: Ramona GROSS, Personal Representative of the Estate of Burton Gross v. GREEN MOUNTAIN INSURANCE COMPANY.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 1139

506 A.2d 1139

Ramona GROSS, Personal Representative of the Estate of Burton Gross v. GREEN MOUNTAIN INSURANCE COMPANY.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued Jan. 6, 1986.

Decided March 24, 1986.

Charles E. Trainor (orally), Robert A. Laskoff, Lewiston, for plaintiff.

Berman, Simmons & Goldberg, P.A., Paul Macri (orally), Jeffrey Rosenblatt, Lewiston, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and NICHOLS, ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN and SCOLNIK, JJ.

NICHOLS, Justice.

The Plaintiff, Ramona Gross, Personal Representative of the estate of Burton Gross, appeals from an order of the Superior Court (Androscoggin County) granting summary judgment for the Defendant, Green Mountain Insurance Company, thereby precluding the Plaintiff from "stacking" the uninsured motorist coverages of two insurance policies. The Plaintiff argues that the Superior Court erred in ordering summary judgment because the court erroneously concluded that an exclusion provided in the insurance policy issued to the Plaintiff's decedent is valid.

We disagree and affirm the entry of summary judgment.

On June 13, 1984, Burton Gross sustained fatal injuries in a collision between an automobile and the motorcycle he was riding in Lewiston, at a time when Gross was insured under two separate insurance policies obtained through Green Mountain Insurance Co. for which he paid separate premiums. One policy named as the insured vehicle the Honda motorcycle he was operating at the time of the fatal accident; the other policy designated two automobiles as insured vehicles. The policy on the motorcycle provided uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $40,000; the policy on the two automobiles provided uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $100,000 for each person, $300,000 for each occurrence.

All proceeds available under the liability policy of the operator of the automobile involved in this fatality were turned over to the Plaintiff within several weeks of Gross' death.

With the limited coverage thus available to her, the Plaintiff claims that the operator of the automobile was an uninsured motorist under the terms of Gross' insurance policy and under 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2902(1) (Supp.1985). As such, the Plaintiff contends she is entitled as a matter of law to collect $90,000 from the Defendant; this being the difference between the $140,000 total of Gross' two insurance policies and the sum of $50,000 paid to Gross' estate by the automobile operator's insurance company.

The single issue on appeal is the validity of the provision in the insurance policy issued on Gross' motorcycle precluding an insured from "stacking" uninsured motorist coverage in separate policies owned by the insured when he is operating one of the several insured vehicles at the time of the accident.

The Plaintiff first argues that the exclusion is invalid because the very general coverage afforded to the named insured in the policy is substantially reduced by taking away in a later provision coverage granted him in an earlier provision. Exclusions and exceptions in insurance policies are generally not favored. See Appleman, Insurance § 7483 (1981). Standard insurance policies, having been drafted by the insurers, will be construed most strongly against them. Baybutt Construction Corp. v. Commercial Union Ins., 455 A.2d 914, 921 (Me.1983). Whether comprehensive general coverage provided in a policy will be excluded by virtue of the operation of separate clauses of exclusion depends upon whether, when viewed as a whole, the exclusion clauses unambiguously and unequivocally negate coverage. Id.

In the policy issued to Gross the general uninsured motorist coverage provides under the section entitled "Insuring Agreement:"

We will pay damages which a covered person is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle because of bodily injury:

1. Sustained by a covered person; and

2. Caused by an accident.

(Emphasis in original). The succeeding section entitled "Exclusions" provides inter alia:

A. We do not provide Uninsured Motorist Coverage for bodily injury sustained by any person:

1. While occupying, or when struck by, any motor vehicle owned by you or any family member which is not insured for this coverage under this policy. This includes a trailer of any type used with that vehicle.

(Emphasis in original). Otherwise stated, if an insured owns more than one vehicle, he has no uninsured motorist coverage when he is in the second vehicle unless he specifically insures the second vehicle for such coverage. The exclusionary language does limit the coverage afforded in the general coverage provision. However, the law is not that an insurer cannot place limits on general coverage provisions as the Plaintiff appears to argue; rather, the law is that if the insurer so limits coverage, it must be done unambiguously and unequivocally. The provision at issue here is not one of fifteen seemingly inconsistent exclusions as were those which were held invalid in Baybutt Construction. Rather, it is the first of six exclusions that immediately follow the general coverage provision and are clearly delineated in bold print as exclusions. Further, the exclusionary language is such that "an...