Buckeye Union Insurance v. Bradley

291 N.E.2d 499, 32 Ohio Misc. 234, 61 Ohio Op. 2d 482, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 189
CourtCourt of Common Pleas of Ohio, Franklin County, Civil Division
DecidedMay 31, 1972
DocketNo. 242027
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 291 N.E.2d 499 (Buckeye Union Insurance v. Bradley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Common Pleas of Ohio, Franklin County, Civil Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buckeye Union Insurance v. Bradley, 291 N.E.2d 499, 32 Ohio Misc. 234, 61 Ohio Op. 2d 482, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 189 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

Flowers, J.

The present action is for a declaratory judgment under R. C. 3937.18, the uninsured motorist statute, and comes on for consideration upon a motion for summary judgment as filed by plaintiff insurance company. The material facts are not in dispute and the fpattpp hag [235]*235been submitted to the court upon the pleadings, interrogatories, briefs and argument of counsel. On or about April 22, 1969, defendant was involved in an auto accident with an uninsured motor vehicle. At the time, defendant was operating a vehicle furnished to him by the U. S. Post Office Department for his regular use in connection with his employment in the Special Delivery Department. Defendant has made claim against plaintiff insurance company under the uninsured motorist coverage of a policy issued on an owned vehicle.

The questions presented are:

(1) Whether the plaintiff’s family automobile policy applies to defendant while operating a government owned motor vehicle that is supplied to him daily for use in the scope and course of his assigned duties as a post office employee ;

(2) if such coverage does apply, the effect and operation of the uninsured motorists coverage of said policy.

R. C. 3937.18, as enacted in 1965 and applicable to policies issued after January 1, 1966, provided as follows at the time of the subject accident:

“Mandatory offering of uninsn,red motorist coverage.
“No automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policy of insurance insuring against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or death suffered by any person arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, in limits for bodily injury or death set forth in Section 4509.20 of the Revised Code, under provisions approved by the superintendent of insurance, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death, resulting therefrom; provided, that the named insured shall have the right to reject such coverage; and provided further that, unless the named insured requests [236]*236such coverage in writing, such coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal policy when the named insured has rejected the coverage in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer.”

The field of uninsured motorist law is one of fairly recent origin, first by contract and then by the enactment of mandatory requirements in most of the states. The case law is by no means uniform between states nor voluminous within Ohio — particularly interpretations of the foregoing statute. Consistent with the development, questions of insolvency, subrogation and workmen’s compensation benefits have been answered by subsequent amendment.

The present policy, a family automobile policy, contains the standard provisions for protection against uninsured motorist coverage in Part IV, Coverage J. Under definitions therein “insured automobile” means:

“(d) A non-owned automobile while being operated by the named insured * *

Further definition appears as follows:

“ ‘ Non-owned automobile’ means an automobile or trailer not owned by or furnished for the regular use of either the named insured or any relative, other than a temporary substitute automobile.”

(Part I, incorporated by reference.)

“Exclusions. This policy does not apply under Part IV:

“(a) to bodily injury to an insured while occupying an automobile (other than an insured automobile) owned by the named insured or a relative, as through being struck by such an automobile; * * * ”

Defendant in the present case relies heavily upon the case of Motorists Mutual Insurance Company v. Bittler, 14 Ohio Misc. 23, decided by Judge McMonagle, Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County, on February 20, 1968. The syllabus thereof reads as follows:

“1. A standard uninsured motorist’s endorsement to an automobile insurance policy provides the named insured a limited personal accident insurance effective at all [237]*237times and under all circumstances in which he sustains injury caused by an accident as a result of the operation of an uninsured automobile.
“2. Under a standard uninsured motorists endorsement. coverage is not excluded where injury results to the named insured while operating a non-owned automobile furnished for his regular use, nor does it exclude such coverage unless he was operating or occupying an ‘insured automobile ’ as defined in the policy to which such endorsement is attached.” (Emphasis supplied.)

That case involved an accident of November 20, 1961, prior to the enactment of R. C. 3937.18. Accordingly, the decision was governed by a standard uninsured motorist’s endorsement, although the foregoing act was in force at the time of decision and was discussed by the court. The case is distinguishable from the present in a number of respects. It was decided on the lack of any language of limitation regarding “furnished for regular use” in the uninsured endorsement (as distinct from the other provisions of the policy). At page 33 of the decision, the court stated as follows:

“Since the uninsured motorists protection chiefly constitutes indemnification in the nature of personal accident insurance for the named insured, there is, in the absence of any special provision or exclusion, no need for his procuring and paying for two such contracts for one injury * * (Emphasis supplied.)

Specific exclusion does appear in the uninsured endorsement involved in the present case as previously quoted and considered in more detail hereinafter. The propriety of specific language of limitation in uninsured motorist coverage was recognized in the later decision of the Ohio Supreme Court in Ohio Farmers Ins. Co. v. Wright, 17 Ohio St. 2d 73. The syllabus reads as follows:

“1. An endorsement to an automobile insurance policy by which the insurer agrees to pay to the insured all sums which the insured shall he legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured automobile because of bodily injury sustained by the insured [238]*238caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of such uninsured automobile, in the absence of specific language of limitation, is not restricted to coverage in cases where the named insured, at the time of his injury, is using an [74] ‘insured automobile’ as defined in the endorsement.
“2. In the absence of specific language of limitation in an autmobile insurance policy or

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Bluebook (online)
291 N.E.2d 499, 32 Ohio Misc. 234, 61 Ohio Op. 2d 482, 1972 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buckeye-union-insurance-v-bradley-ohctcomplfrankl-1972.