Pacific Indem. Co. v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 08 September 1960
• Docket Number: No. 35337
• Citation: Pacific Indem. Co. v. Thompson, 355 P.2d 12, 56 Wn.2d 715 (Wash. 1960)
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: PACIFIC INDEMNITY COMPANY, a corporation, Respondent, v. William THOMPSON and Jane Doe Thompson, his wife, and Wesley Thompson, Defendants, Martha Margaret Harris, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Nicholas Harris, Deceased, Appellant.

Page 715

56 Wn.2d 715

355 P.2d 12

PACIFIC INDEMNITY COMPANY, a corporation, Respondent, v.William THOMPSON and Jane Doe Thompson, his wife, and Wesley Thompson, DefendantsMartha Margaret Harris, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Nicholas Harris, Deceased, Appellant.

No. 35337.

Supreme Court of Washington, Department 2.

Sept. 8, 1960.

Edwin R. Johnson, Tacoma, for appellant.

Guttormsen, Scholfield, Willits & Ager, by Jack P. Scholfield, Seattle, for respondent.

FOSTER, Judge.

Respondent insurance company, by declaratory judgment procedure, sought adjudication of the extent of its liability under a family automobile liability policy in which defendantWilliam Thompson is the named insured.The judgment declares that the insurance is limited to ten thousand dollars for injury or death of one person.Martha Harris, both in her own right and as administratrix of her husband's estate, appeals.Her husband was killed in a collision with a car driven by the son of the insured William Thompson, which car was one of three covered by respondent's insurance policy.

Because the policy limits on each of the three cars owned by the Thompsons is ten thousand dollars, appellant contends that the maximum coverage is, therefore, three times that sum.The argument, based on condition No. 4 of the policy (which provides that all of the policy's terms shall apply separately to each described automobile), is that contributing coverage is thereby afforded.However, that provision merely assures the applicability of the policy to whichever car is involved in an accident, or to all the cars, and does no more.

The contract limits the company's liability for bodily injury or death of one person arising out of one occurrence to a maximum of ten thousand dollars,...