Patterson v. Reliance Ins. Companies
| Decision Date | 07 September 1984 |
| Citation | 332 Pa.Super. 592,481 A.2d 947 |
| Parties | Maynard J. PATTERSON, Appellant, v. RELIANCE INSURANCE COMPANIES. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Submitted April 30, 1984.
Karl K. Baldys, Williamsport, for appellant.
John A. Carpenter, Sunbury, for appellee.
Before SPAETH, President Judge, and WIEAND and CIRILLO, JJ.
This is an appeal by appellant, Maynard J. Patterson, from a summary judgment entered in favor of appellee. The issue on appeal is whether the personal injury endorsement to Williamsport's general liability policy provided for an obligation to defend additional insureds in criminal actions or to reimburse those insureds for the costs of such a defense. We hold that it did not and thus affirm the summary judgment.
Appellant was the Chief of Police of Williamsport, Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1975. In 1974 appellant was charged in a nine count criminal complaint. A jury found him guilty of five counts. On appeal to the Superior Court the conviction was overturned and the defendant was discharged. Commonwealth v. Patterson, 257 Pa.Super. 206, 390 A.2d 784 (1978).
The instant action comes from Chief Patterson's attempt to be reimbursed for the legal fees which were the result of his successful defense. Reimbursement is sought under a general liability policy issued to the City of Williamsport (City) by the Reliance Insurance Company (Reliance). Such a policy had been issued to the City for approximately ten years prior to 1974. However, in the Fall of 1973, during negotiations between the City and the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) for the 1974 policemen's contract, the F.O.P. for the first time requested "false arrest insurance". This result was due to a recent spate of civil and criminal complaints filed by arrestees as retaliatory actions against officers. In response to this request, the City's general liability insurance policy was amended to include a personal injury endorsement and an extension of coverage to City employees. The endorsement reads, in relevant part:
1. COVERAGE P--PERSONAL INJURY LIABILITY
The company will pay on behalf of the Insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of injury (herein called "personal injury") sustained by any person or organization and arising out of one or more of the following offenses committed in the conduct of the named Insured's business:
Group A--false arrest, detention or imprisonment, or malicious prosecution;
Group B--the publication or utterance of a libel or slander or of other defamatory or disparaging material, or a publication or utterance in violation of an individual's right of privacy; except publications or utterances in the course of or related to advertising, broadcasting or telecasting activities conducted by or on behalf of the named Insured;
Group C--wrongful entry or eviction, or other invasion of the right of private occupancy if such offense is committed during the policy period within the United States of America, its territories or possessions or Canada, and the company shall have the right and duty to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such personal injury even if any of the allegations of the suit are groundless, false or fraudulent and may make such investigation and settlement of any claim or suit as it deems expedient, but the company shall not be obligated to pay any claim or judgment or to defend any suit after the applicable limit of the company's liability has been exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.
In addition to this printed endorsement, there was a typed addendum defining personal injury for purposes of the policy.
"Personal Injury" means false arrest, erroneous service of civil papers, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, assault and battery, libel, slander, defamation of character, violation of property rights or deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America or Canada, for which law enforcement officers may be held liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress: However, no act shall be deemed to be, or result in Personal Injury unless committed in the regular course of duty by the Insured.
Appellant's principal contention is that the policy coverage includes an obligation to defend the insured in criminal actions as well as an obligation to defend and pay damages in civil actions. Appellant raises three specific issues in this regard. First, appellant contends that the language of the policy is ambiguous and requires judicial interpretation. We disagree.
The interpretation of an insurance policy is a question of law for the court. Timbrook v. Foremost Ins. Co., 324 Pa.Super. 384, 471 A.2d 891 (1984). However, a court "may not rewrite an insurance contract or construe clear and unambiguous language to mean other than what it says." Blocker v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, 232 Pa.Super. 111, 114, 332 A.2d 476, 478 (1975). In determining whether an insurance policy provision is ambiguous, the test to be applied is this: "[a] provision of a policy is ambiguous [only] if reasonably intelligent men on considering it in the context of the entire policy would honestly differ as to its meaning." Adelman v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., 255 Pa.Super. 116, 123, 386 A.2d 535, 538 (1978) quoting, Celley v. Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, 229 Pa.Super. 475, 481-82, 324 A.2d 430, 434 (1974) (brackets in the original). With this in mind, we must examine that language in the endorsement and addendum which appellant claims creates ambiguity.
Appellant suggests that the use of the word "offense" in the endorsement indicates the intent of the insurer to extend coverage to crimes as well as to torts. This argument is bolstered with the dictionary definition of the word. Appellant's contention that the word carries more the connotation of criminal rather than civil impropriety is correct. However, we must view the word in context. The phrase "the following offenses" precedes a list of eleven torts and is followed by the phrase "such offenses" which refers to the same list. Taken in this context, there can be no doubt as to the meaning of "offense".
Appellant would also have us view the phrase "or other proper proceeding for redress" to include redress through the criminal courts. This we cannot do. Placed as it is within the definition of personal injury and following as it does "[a cause of action] for which law enforcement officers may be held liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity or other proper proceeding for redress", the intended meaning of the phrase is clear. Therefore judicial construction is unnecessary.
Additionally, we note that reference to the insured's obligation to defend is conditioned on there being a "suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such personal injury." No amount of interpretation is going to make that language suggest an intent to defend in other than a civil action.
Appellant's second issue on appeal is that insurance providing for insured's defense fees and costs is not violative of public policy. However, since the policy in question only contemplates an obligation to defend civil suits, appellant's argument is rendered moot.
Appellant's final issue on appeal is that the contract should be reformed due to the existence of a mutual mistake. This issue was not treated by the Court of Common Pleas.
The law with respect to the reformation of instruments is well...
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