Ceci v. National Indemnity Co.

603 A.2d 412, 26 Conn. App. 661, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 76
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 18, 1992
Docket10112
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 603 A.2d 412 (Ceci v. National Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ceci v. National Indemnity Co., 603 A.2d 412, 26 Conn. App. 661, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 76 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Daly, J.

The plaintiff, Michael Ceci, appeals from the trial court’s decision confirming an arbitration award rendered in favor of the defendant insurance company. The trial court concluded that because the policy was unambiguous, the plaintiff was not covered [662]*662by the policy issued to his employer, Victor Ceci Refuse, Inc., a family owned business. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The trial court found the following facts. On September 13, 1986, the plaintiff was a pedestrian when he was struck by an underinsured motorist. He requested uninsured motorist benefits pursuant to a business automobile policy of insurance issued by the defendant to Victor Ceci Refuse, Inc. The policy was effective from July 15, 1986, through July 15, 1987, and covered three pickup trucks and two trucks owned by the corporation. The policy identified Victor Ceci, Inc., as the “named insured” and did not identify any individual officers or employees. The policy classified the insured’s business as a corporation.

At issue in this case are the provisions of the insurance policy that dealt with uninsured motorist coverage. According to these provisions, the defendant would pay for damages caused by an uninsured vehicle. Individuals covered by this provision included: “(1) you or any family member (2) anyone else occupying a covered auto or a temporary substitute for covered auto.” The policy defined “ ‘Family member’ ” as “a person related to you by blood, marriage or adoption who is a resident of your household, including a ward or foster child.” The policy defined “occupying” as “in, upon, getting in, on or off.”

The plaintiff submitted his claim for uninsured motorist benefits to an arbitration panel. The arbitrators denied the plaintiff’s claim for coverage, finding that because the plaintiff was neither a family member of the named insured nor occupying any of the insured vehicles, he was not an insured under the policy. The plaintiff filed an application to vacate the arbitration award. The defendant asserted a counterclaim seeking to confirm the decision of the arbitration panel. The [663]*663trial court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant by confirming the arbitration award. The plaintiff appealed that decision to this court.

The plaintiff contends that the trial court incorrectly concluded that the policy was unambiguous. He argues that because the policy was issued to a corporation, the language referring to coverage of family members created an ambiguity in the policy’s coverage that should be resolved in his favor. The plaintiff argues that the provisions dealing with uninsured motorists are ambiguous because the language indicates that these provisions covered persons and their families, unlike the rest of the policy which involves the named insured corporation. The plaintiff argues that the references to family members and bodily injuries apply only to persons and not to a corporation. Thus, according to the plaintiff, because the policy language has two different definitions of who is insured, it is ambiguous and should be construed in favor of the plaintiff. We disagree.

We begin by noting that an ambiguous provision in an insurance policy is to be construed in favor of the insured. Schultz v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 213 Conn. 696, 702, 569 A.2d 1131 (1990). Before an insured can take advantage of this principle, however, there must be a finding that the insurance policy provisions were in fact ambiguous. Hammer v. Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Co., 214 Conn. 573, 583-84, 573 A.2d 699 (1990) . The trial court’s conclusion that the policy provision was not ambiguous was a legal conclusion concerning the construction of the contract, which is subject to de novo review on appeal. Aetna Life & Casualty Co. v. Bulaong, 218 Conn. 51, 58, 588 A.2d 138 (1991).

Under Connecticut law, the named insured refers only to the name actually appearing on the insurance [664]*664policy. Testone v. Allstate Ins. Co., 165 Conn. 126, 129-30, 328 A.2d 686 (1973). Testone involved an employee injured by an uninsured motorist during the course of his employment. The employee sought coverage under the employer’s uninsured vehicle provisions. The named insured was a corporation and the policy protected “against damages caused by an uninsured vehicle to ‘(a) the named insured and any designated insured and, while residents of the same household, the spouse and relatives of either . . . .’ ” Id. The court determined that he was not entitled to protection under the uninsured policy provision. Id., 130. The court looked to the language of the policy and held that because the employee was not a “designated insured,” he was not covered by the corporation’s policy. It is important to note that our Supreme Court did not find that the policy language referring to a “spouse and relatives” of the named insured, the corporation, to be ambiguous or misleading.

According to the language of the policy in this case, Victor Ceci Refuse, Inc., was the named insured. The policy did not list any other people as designated insureds. The policy specifically stated that “you” and “your” referred to the “name insured,” Victor Ceci Refuse, Inc. Because the plaintiff was not the named insured, to be entitled to uninsured motorist coverage, he must satisfy one of the provisions referring to who is insured. The resolution of this case turns on whether the language referring to “you or any family member” applied to the plaintiff in this case.

Neither our Supreme Court nor this court has interpreted language referring to a “family member” in a policy where the named insured is a corporation. A corporation is a distinct legal entity that acts only through its agents. Lieberman v. Reliable Refuse Co., 212 Conn. 661, 673, 563 A.2d 1013 (1989). Although the plaintiff is the brother of the owner of the corporation, he cannot [665]*665be related to a corporation. The inclusion of language concerning family members in a policy issued to a corporation does not make the policy ambiguous. Because it is clear that the plaintiff could not be related to the corporation, there was no ambiguity that would entitle him to coverage based on the presumption favoring an insured where an insurance policy is ambiguous.

The plaintiffs status as an employee of the named insured corporation also fails to bring him within the uninsured motorist provision for family members. We adopt the majority position that employees do not qualify for uninsured motorist benefits as “family members” of a corporation by which they are employed. Hogan v. Mayor & Aldermen of Savannah, 171 Ga. App. 671, 672, 320 S.E.2d 555 (1984); Kaysen v. Federal Ins. Co., 268 N.W.2d 920, 923-24 (Minn. 1978); Cutter v. Maine Bonding & Casualty Co., 133 N.H.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
603 A.2d 412, 26 Conn. App. 661, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ceci-v-national-indemnity-co-connappct-1992.