Rusthoven v. Commercial Standard Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 23 May 1986 |
| Docket Number | Nos. C5-84-1329,C0-84-1433,s. C5-84-1329 |
| Citation | 387 N.W.2d 642 |
| Parties | Andrew RUSTHOVEN, Jr., Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMERCIAL STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY, Respondent, Western National Mutual Insurance Company, Petitioner, Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Contradictory endorsements concerning liability limitations rendered the insurance policy at issue ambiguous. Therefore, the policy is to be construed in favor of the insured.
John Kallestad, Willmar, for Rusthoven.
Bruce D. Elliott, Minneapolis, for Western.
Theodore J. Smetak, Minneapolis, for respondent.
Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.
Andrew Rusthoven, Jr., and Western National Mutual Insurance Company appeal from the court of appeals and district court decisions limiting to $25,000 the liability under the uninsured motorist coverage provided by his employer's insurance policy issued by respondent Commercial Standard Insurance Company. We reverse.
On March 8, 1981, Rusthoven was injured in an accident involving a tractor-trailer unit he was driving in the course of his employment. He asserts that an approaching car crossed over the centerline, forcing him onto the shoulder of the road and causing the tractor-trailer to slide into the adjoining ditch and overturn. The car has not been identified or located. The tractor-trailer was rented by R.E.T.E.N.O. Carriers, Inc., Rusthoven's employer. Rusthoven sustained serious and allegedly permanent injury.
R.E.T.E.N.O. was insured under a truckers' policy issued by Commercial. The policy provided liability insurance, personal injury protection, and uninsured motorist coverage, and covered commercial autos owned or rented by R.E.T.E.N.O. The policy contained no schedule of either owned or rented autos, and the premium was calculated on the basis of R.E.T.E.N.O.'s gross receipts. On the date of Rusthoven's accident, R.E.T.E.N.O. leased all 67 of its vehicles.
The relevant sections of the policy are contained in original endorsements CA 2X 17, CA 21 07, and CA 21 24. CA 2X 17, which provides uninsured motorists insurance, states in part:
Regardless of the number of covered autos, insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in the accident, the most we will pay for all damages resulting from any one accident is the limit of UNINSURED MOTORISTS INSURANCE shown in the declarations.
The declarations sheet does not set out a dollar limit of liability under uninsured motorists coverage, but refers to endorsement CA 21 07. That endorsement, entitled SPLIT UNINSURED MOTORISTS LIMITS, provides for the following liability limitations:
Bodily Injury $25,000 Each Person
$50,000 Each Accident
Property Damage $ Each Accident
The endorsement further declares that the foregoing provision of CA 2X 17 is changed to read as follows:
Regardless of the number of covered autos, insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in the accident, our limit of liability is as follows:
a. The most we will pay for all damages resulting from bodily injury to any one person caused by any one accident is the limit shown in this endorsement for "each person".
b. Subject to the limit for "each person", the most we will pay for all damages resulting from bodily injury caused by any one accident is the limit shown in this endorsement for "each accident".
Endorsement CA 21 24, entitled CHANGES IN UNINSURED MOTORISTS INSURANCE, sets out three changes, one of which alters the same paragraph of CA 2X 17 so that it reads as follows:
Regardless of the number of insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in the accident, the most we will pay for all damages resulting from any one accident is the limit of UNINSURED MOTORISTS INSURANCE shown in the declarations. If there is more than one covered auto our limit of liability for any one accident is the sum of the limits applicable to each covered auto.
(Emphasis added.) The parties disagree about the effect of this endorsement on the limits of the uninsured motorist coverage.
At the time of the accident, Rusthoven was the named insured on a policy covering Rusthoven's three personal vehicles and issued by Western. The stacked limits of the uninsured motorist coverage afforded by this policy amount to $75,000.
Rusthoven brought suit against both Commercial and Western in Kandiyohi County District Court. Before trial, the parties submitted to the court the issues of the limit of the uninsured motorist coverage under the Commercial policy and the order in which the Commercial and Western policies should apply to Rusthoven's claim. The judge ruled that the applicable coverage under the Commercial policy was limited to $25,000 (which Commercial had already paid) and that, the limits of the primary coverage having been exhausted, the stacked limits of the uninsured motorist coverage under the Western policy were applicable to the claim. The court set for trial the issue of the amount recoverable under the Western policy. Western then stipulated to the entry of judgment against it in the amount of $75,000. Rusthoven and Western both appealed.
A divided court of appeals affirmed the district court. Rusthoven v. Commercial Standard Insurance Co., 363 N.W.2d 496 (Minn.App.1985). The majority concluded that the only reasonable interpretation of the Commercial policy limited the uninsured motorist coverage to $25,000. The dissent, however, found the policy to be ambiguous and argued that it should, therefore, be construed in the way most favorable to the insured.
The source of the difficulty here is, of course, the contradictory endorsements attached to the Commercial policy, each of which bears the exhortation: THIS ENDORSEMENT CHANGES THE POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY. The declaration sheet refers to endorsement CA 21 07 for limits of uninsured motorist coverage. CA 21 07 unequivocally states that, regardless of the number of covered autos, insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in an accident, the most Commercial will pay for bodily injury to one person in one accident is $25,000. The single split limit--i.e., $25,000 each person and $50,000 each accident--provided by CA 21 07 would be consonant with a premium calculated not on the number of insured vehicles, but on the insured's gross receipts. Endorsement CA 21 24, on the other hand, clearly states: "If there is more than one covered auto our limit of liability for any one accident is the sum of the limits applicable to each covered auto." Rusthoven and Western contend that CA 21 24 just as clearly provides for stacking one $25,000 limit for each vehicle covered at the date of the accident. Nothing in the policy explains the presence of these two apparently discordant endorsements in one policy or expressly provides for harmonizing them. Hence, the appellants argue, if CA 21 24 does not override the other endorsements, at least the endorsements are in conflict, creating an ambiguity which must be interpreted to provide the greater protection to the insured.
The policy may be read in ways that make clauses CA 21 07 and CA 21 24 harmonious. These interpretations lead to contradictory results, however, and there is no further indication which meaning was intended by the parties.
Under one possible interpretation, paragraph CA 2X 17 defines who is insured and the liability for uninsured motorists insurance, limiting the amount to that shown in the declarations. Endorsement CA 21 07 sets the limits at $25,000 for each person and $50,000 for each accident. Endorsement CA 21 24, however, indicates that there will be a different limit for uninsured motorists insurance. The endorsement provides that, if there is more than one vehicle covered by the policy, "our limit of liability for any one accident is the sum of the limits applicable to each covered auto." Since there were 67 leased vehicles insured in the present case, CA 21 24 controls and the limits of coverage under uninsured motorists insurance would be 67 times $25,000 for each person or $1,675,000. 1
The policy could also be read in such a way that endorsement CA 2X 17 and CA 21 07 are the controlling provisions concerning the limitations of liability for uninsured motorist coverage only when one covered vehicle is involved in an accident. CA 21 24 would be construed to extend damage limits in multiple vehicle accidents to the sum of the individual limits of each covered vehicle involved in any one accident. Thus, the second sentence of CA 21 24 would be interpreted to read as follows: "If there is more than one covered auto involved our limit of liability for any one accident is the sum of the limits applicable to each covered auto." (Underlined word added.)
Since CA 21 07 and CA 21 24 are irreconcilably inconsistent, the policy is ambiguous and, therefore, is to be strictly interpreted against the insurer. One of the ancient principles of contract law is that an ambiguous contract, especially an adhesion contract, is construed against the drafter. See Restatement (Second) of Contracts Sec. 206 (1982); ICC Leasing Corp. v. Midwestern Machinery Co., 257 N.W.2d 551, 555 (Minn.1977). One of the fundamentals of insurance law, it follows, is that ambiguous language in an insurance policy is to be construed in favor of the insured. See Nordby v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., 329 N.W.2d 820, 822 (Minn.1983) (); Security Mutual Casualty Co. v. Luthi, 303 Minn. 161, 226 N.W.2d 878 (1975); Hammer v. Malkerson Motors, Inc., 269 Minn. 563, 132 N.W.2d 174 (1964); 2 G. Couch, Cyclopedia of Insurance Law Sec. 15.74 (rev. 2d ed. 1984). See also 1 R....
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