Riser v. Federal Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 March 1929
• Docket Number: 39554
• Citation: Riser v. Federal Life Ins. Co., 207 Iowa 1101, 224 N.W. 67 (Iowa 1929)
• Parties: MRS. EARL RISER, Appellee, v. FEDERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

224 N.W. 67

207 Iowa 1101

MRS. EARL RISER, Appellee, v. FEDERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant

No. 39554

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

March 12, 1929

Appeal from Grundy District Court.--GEORGE W. WOOD, Judge.

Action at law, to recover on a policy of accident insurance. Trial to the court, upon a stipulation of facts. Judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant appeals.

Reversed.

Parrish Cohen, Guthrie, Watters & Halloran, for appellant.

Raymond N. Klass and Rogers & Ruppelt, for appellee.

STEVENS J. ALBERT, C. J., and DE GRAFF, MORLING, and WAGNER, JJ concur.

OPINION

STEVENS, J.

Appellee is the mother of the insured, and is the beneficiary named in the policy. The insured, Thomas Basil Riser, was accidentally killed, on August 3, 1926, by being thrown from a horse on which he was riding. The terms of the policy, so far as they are material to this decision, are as follows:

"The Company will pay for loss of life $ 2,000 sustained by the wrecking or disablement of any vehicle or car operated by any private carrier or private person in which the insured is riding or by being accidentally thrown therefrom.

"This includes persons riding in or driving automobiles or any other motor-driven or horse-drawn vehicles, and by the wrecking of any passenger elevator (elevators in mines excepted) in which the insured is riding as a passenger."

The sole question in the case is: Does the foregoing provision of the policy include a horse, saddled and bridled, within the meaning of the word "vehicle," as therein used? The allegation in the petition is that the insured met his death by accidental means "by being thrown from a private vehicle, consisting of a horse, saddled and bridled, on which he was riding at the time."

As shown by the numerous citations of lexicographers in the briefs of counsel, the word "vehicle," as used in common speech, has a varied and somewhat extended meaning. We are not, in the construction of the terms of the policy involved, however, dealing with the word "vehicle" in the abstract. Abstractly, it may undoubtedly be properly used to include a horse, when used as a means or instrumentality of conveyance. The question for decision is: Is a horse, saddled and bridled, and being used as a means of conveyance or transportation, a vehicle, within the language of this policy? Counsel have not, in argument, given particular significance to the preposition "in," as employed in the paragraph of the policy under consideration. The preposition "in" and "on," when used to designate location, are never synonymous. "In" means "within"--the interior; "on" means "upon"--the surface. If the policy clearly contemplated a horse as a vehicle, within the meaning of that term as used, then the preposition "in" would have to be construed as intended to designate the surface. It seems to us that "in" must be given some weight in this instance, in determining the character of the vehicle intended. The reference in the first instance is to a vehicle or car, capable of being wrecked or disabled. It is also described as a vehicle or car operated by any private carrier or private person. Referring to the matter of location, the language is: "In which the insured is riding."

Referring further to the location of the insured, the policy is made to "include persons riding in or driving automobiles or any other motor-driven or horse-drawn vehicle." Words, in the construction of contracts, are to be given their usual and ordinary meaning, unless a different meaning is intended by the parties. It is also a well settled rule that the terms and provisions of insurance policies, which are prepared by the insurer, are to be construed most strongly against it. It would seem to be clear that the sort of vehicle contemplated by the policy is one that may be entered,--that is, that is capable of receiving the insured within. So far as specifically designated by the policy, the term includes, as stated, a car operated by a private carrier or person, and also automobiles; any motor-driven or...