McAllister v. Century Indemnity Company of Hartford, Conn., A--143
| Decision Date | 01 June 1953 |
| Docket Number | A--143 |
| Citation | 97 A.2d 160,12 N.J. 395 |
| Parties | John L. McALLISTER, plaintiff-respondent, v. The CENTURY INDEMNITY COMPANY OF HARTFORD, CONN, defendant-appellant. No |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
On appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court, Appellate Division, whose opinion is reported at 24 N.J.Super. 289, 94 A.2d 345.
Morris Spritzer, New Brunswick, argued the cause for the appellant (John A. Lynch, New Brunswick, attorney).
Paul C. Kemeny, Perth Amboy, argued the cause for the respondent.
The judgment is affirmed for the reasons expressed in the opinion of Judge Bigelow in the court below.
For affirmance: Chief Justice VANDERBILT and Justices OLIPHANT, WACHENFELD, BURLING and JACOBS--5.
For reversal: Justices HEHER and BRENNAN--2.
It is unfortunate that respondent has pinned his hopes upon an insurance contract which appellant itself acknowledges is characterized by 'intricacy of composition, complexity of paragraph cross-reference, excessive verbiage and iteration, unhappy selection of a word to describe more than one thing where perhaps several words would have been better'; and it is to be hoped that appellant will soon revise the form of its policy, as its counsel on the oral argument told the court appellant would do regardless of the outcome of this litigation, in order to eliminate the justly criticized obscurities in the relationship of the various causes to each other. I agree with appellant, however, that obscurity and intricacy of arrangement do not, even in combination with the presumption against the insurer as the draftsman, amount to ambiguity in this case, and I believe that we are not at liberty to discount the plain meaning which a close reading of the whole contract reveals. The insured bought coverage under 'Division 1,' defined as 'including accidents (except accidents due to misdelivery) which occur after completion or abandonment of operations arising out of pick-up or delivery operations or the existence of tools, uninstalled equipment and abandoned or unused materials.' It is conceded that the action against the insured was not based upon an accident within the scope of this definition. On the other hand, the insured did not buy coverage under the reciprocal 'division 3,' defined as including 'operations * * * (other than pick-up and delivery and the existence of tools, uninstalled equipment and abandoned or unused...
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...its policy in respect to the claim that was asserted against plaintiff." An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1953, 12 N.J. 395, 97 A.2d 160. That Court affirmed on the basis of the opinion In the case of Heyward v. American Casualty Co. of Reading, Pa., D.C.1955, 129 F.S......
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