State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Spotten, 45A03-9205-CV-138
Decision Date | 16 March 1993 |
Docket Number | No. 45A03-9205-CV-138,45A03-9205-CV-138 |
Citation | 610 N.E.2d 299 |
Parties | STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant-Defendant and Counter-Claimant Below, v. Scott SPOTTEN, Appellee-Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant Below. |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Robert D. Brown, Spangler, Jennings & Dougherty, Merrillville, for appellant-defendant.
Kenneth L. Anderson, Highland, for appellee-plaintiff.
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 4(B)(6), this court granted a Petition for Interlocutory Appeal to address the following question of law: whether State Farm was entitled to summary judgment because injuries sustained by a policyholder who was shot by a passenger in an uninsured vehicle did not "arise out of the operation, maintenance or use of the uninsured vehicle."
We conclude that State Farm was entitled to summary judgment.
On February 17, 1991, Scott Spotten was driving his pickup truck in an easterly direction on Sibley Boulevard in Hammond, Indiana. As he paused at a stoplight, Spotten observed a GEO Tracker in the right hand lane next to his vehicle. One of the passengers in the Tracker fired a shotgun into Spotten's truck, striking Spotten and causing severe injuries.
On August 21, 1991, Spotten filed a complaint for damages against the driver and passengers of the GEO Tracker. Additionally, Spotten filed a claim under a State Farm insurance policy which provided uninsured motor vehicle coverage on the following terms:
State Farm moved to intervene in Spotten's action against the driver and passengers; the motion was granted by the trial court on October 2, 1991. Subsequently, State Farm filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that Spotten's injuries did not arise out of the operation, maintenance or use of an uninsured motor vehicle. Spotten cross-petitioned for summary judgment. Both petitions were denied by the trial court on April 20, 1992. On May 6, 1992, the trial court granted State Farm's petition for certification of interlocutory appeal; the interlocutory appeal was accepted by this court on July 7, 1992.
The interpretation and construction of insurance policy provisions is a function for the courts. State Security Ins. Co. v. Ottinger (1985), Ind.App., 487 N.E.2d 446, 447. When interpreting an insurance policy, our goal is to ascertain the intent of the parties as manifested in the insurance contract. American Family Mut. v. National Ins. (1991), Ind.App., 577 N.E.2d 969, 971, reh. denied. We will not remove from coverage a risk which the policy can be reasonably construed to protect against. Protective Ins. Co. v. Coca-Cola Bottling (1984), Ind.App., 467 N.E.2d 786, reh. denied, trans. denied.
Where an ambiguity in the contract exists, the contract should be construed liberally in favor of the insured. National Mut. Ins. Co. v. Eward (1987), Ind.App., 517 N.E.2d 95, 100. However, a contract is not ambiguous merely because litigants advance two different interpretations of a clause. An insurance policy is ambiguous, allowing construction in favor of the insured, only if reasonable people could differ as to the meaning of the language used. Id.
Spotten urges this court to broadly construe the phrase "arising out of the operation maintenance or use of an uninsured motor vehicle" in addressing this issue of first impression. He relies upon decisions of other jurisdictions which conclude that gunshot injuries sustained in a vehicular chase or altercation "arise from the operation, maintenance or use" of the motor vehicle involved.
See, generally: Wausau Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Howser (1992), 978 F.2d 1257 ( ); State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co. v. Davis (9th Cir.1991), 937 F.2d 1415 ( ); General Accident Ins. Co. of America v. Olivier (1990), R.I., 574 A.2d 1240 ( ); Continental Western Ins. Co. v. Klug (Minn.1987), 415 N.W.2d 876 ( ); Ganiron v. Hawaii Ins. Guaranty Ass'n. (1987), 69 Haw. 432, 744 P.2d 1210; Fortune Ins. Co. v. Ferreiro (Fla.App.1984), 458 So.2d 834 ( ); Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Novak (1984), Fla., 453 So.2d 1116 ( ); Quarles v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (1988), Fla.App., 533 So.2d 809 ( ).
State Farm urges a narrow construction, citing in turn a number of decisions contradicting those relied upon by Spotten. See generally: Coleman v. Sanford (Miss.1988), 521 So.2d 876 ( ); Curtis v. Birch (1983), 114 Ill.App.3d 127, 69 Ill.Dec. 873, 448 N.E.2d 591 ( ); Florida Farm Bureau Ins. Co. v. Shaffer (Fla.App.1980), 391 So.2d 216 ( ); Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co. v. Knight (1977), 34 N.C.App. 96, 237 S.E.2d 341, cert. denied (no causal relationship between the use of the vehicle and the injury); Ford v. Monroe (Mo.App.1977), 559 S.W.2d 759; Kessler v. Amica Mut. Ins. Co. (La.1991), 573 So.2d 476 ( ); Kish v. Central National Ins. Group (1981), 21 O.O.3d 26, 67 Ohio St.2d 41, 424 N.E.2d 288 (...
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