Martinez v. Idaho Counties Reciprocal Management Program , 134 Idaho 247 ( 2000 )

Chief Justice TROUT,

dissenting.

Because I believe that the insurance contract is not illusory, I respectfully dissent from the Court’s opinion in this case. According to the majority opinion, the contract is illusory because, once the ambiguous uninsured motorist provision is construed against ICRMP, the contract purports to provide uninsured motorist coverage but then essentially excludes all persons who could claim such coverage in the policy exclusions. Under the terms of the policy, the Automobile Liability section of the insurance contract extends coverage to “any person using an owned automobile or a hired automobile, and any person or organization legally responsible for the use thereof, provided the actual use of the automobile is by the Named Assured or with his permission,.... ” The majority interprets this provision as requiring that a claimant under the policy be both using the vehicle and legally responsible for the use of that vehicle. Therefore, because the only persons who could qualify as claimants under this language are employees, and employees are denied coverage under the policy exclusions, the majority finds that the contract is illusory.

While I would agree that the majority’s interpretation of the contract renders the contract illusory, I believe that this interpretation is unnecessarily narrow. Under the ordinary rules governing the interpretation of contracts, “[i]f the contract is clear and unambiguous, the court gives effect to the language employed according to its ordinary meaning.” Bilow v. Preco, Inc., 132 Idaho 23, 27, 966 P.2d 23, 27. In my view, the ordinary meaning of the policy extends coverage not just to any person using and legally responsible for the use of a City owned or hired vehicle, but rather to any person using the vehicle, as well as any person or organization legally responsible for the use of that vehicle. I believe that this interpretation is mandated by the use of the word “organization” in the second part of the sentence. Clearly an organization cannot “use” the vehicle, but they can be legally responsible for its use. Therefore, the use of the word “organization” indicates that this provision was intended to make it clear that, in the case of an accident in which the person using the City vehicle is at fault, the contract will cover not just a suit against the City and the person operating the vehicle, but also the person or organization who authorized the use of the vehicle. Consequently, in order to claim coverage under the contract, a claimant would only have to fall under one of the two categories — that they were a person using the vehicle, or that they were a person or organization legally responsible for the use of the vehicle. Thus, the contract provides coverage, specifically uninsured motorist coverage, to any person, not a city employee, who is using a city owned or hired automobile. Under this interpretation, uninsured motorist coverage would therefore be extended to any non-employees riding in City owned vehicles, a significant group of people.

Therefore, because I believe that the contract extends coverage to a significant number of people, I believe that the contract is not illusory. Consequently, I would affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to ICRMP.