Crutchfield v. Landry

757 So. 2d 858, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2822, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 710, 2000 WL 320669
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 15, 2000
DocketNos. 99-C-2822, 99-C-2934 and 99-C-3140
StatusPublished

This text of 757 So. 2d 858 (Crutchfield v. Landry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crutchfield v. Landry, 757 So. 2d 858, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2822, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 710, 2000 WL 320669 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

hBYRNES, Judge.

We grant writs for the purpose of reviewing a trial court denial of plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on a question of personal injury uninsured motorist coverage under a Hartford Insurance Company Policy.

Relators in these consolidated writs, Holiday Inn, Inc., Holiday Inn Superdome, Holiday Hospitality Corporation, and Civic Center Site Development Company, D/B/A Holiday Inn Downtown Superdome; rela-tors/plaintiffs Michelle Crutchfield, et al.; and defendant/relator Lexington Insurance Company all seek to reverse the trial court judgment of October 25, 1999 denying plaintiffs Renewed Motion for Partial Summary Judgment whereby the plaintiffs sought to have the trial court find that a policy of the respondent, the Hartford In[860]*860surance Company, provided coverage under the facts of this case.

Apparently, the decedent, Mr. Samuel Crutchfield, was killed when pinned between his vehicle (while he was allegedly securing his cargo on the side of the road) and a vehicle driven by Mr. Derek Landry.

L.The vehicle being operated by the decedent was owned by his employer, TRISM, Inc. TRISM, Inc. had an Automobile Liability Insurance Policy issued by the respondent, Hartford Insurance Company. Hartford denies that its policy furnishes UM coverage under the facts of this case. We, therefore, assume that the driver of the other vehicle was uninsured.

Relators contend that the TRISM vehicle is a “LighL-Medium Truck” and as such is covered by the Hartford policy. The Hartford policy defines “Light-Medium Trucks” as “a motorized auto other than a ‘private Passenger Type’ with a gross vehicle weight of 20,000 pounds or less.” Relators contend that the TRISM vehicle weighed slightly less than 20,000 pounds. Hartford does not deny that its policy covers “Light-Medium Trucks.”

Instead, Hartford contends that its policy does not provide coverage for a “Truck Tractor” regardless of weight. “Truck Tractor” is defined in the Hartford policy as “a motorized auto with or without body for carrying commodities or materials, equipped with fifth wheel coupling device for semi-trailers.”

Relators do not appear to deny that the TRISM vehicle fits the Hartford definition of “Truck Tractor.” The effect of relators argument is that a “Truck Tractor” may simultaneously meet the Hartford specifications for a “LighL-Medium Truck” and thereby obtain coverage not provided for “Truck Tractors.”

We find nothing in the wording of the Hartford policy that would prevent a vehicle from being classified in both categories and thereby taking advantage of whichever category offered the best coverage.

In opposition to the motion for summary judgment, Hartford offered the affidavit of Bruce Luria, an insurance broker. It states in pertinent part:

That the intent of the parties as is evidenced through his personal knowledge and his knowledge of the policies of insurance in question was to place coverage for TRISM’s Ltractor trailers with ÜSF & G and that the Hartford policy was not intended and does not provide any coverage for the tractor trailer being operated by Mr. Crutchfield at the time of his accident.

Hartford also offered the affidavit of Mr. James Berton Wingfield, a Vice President of TRISM. Mr. Wingfield’s affidavit states that TRISM insured its light-medium trucks under 20,000 pounds with Hartford, but insured its truck-tractors, including the truck-tractor at issue in the instant case with USF & G, and that “truck-tractors such as that being operated by Samuel Crutchfield at the time of his death were never intended to be covered by the Hartford policy in question.”

If the language of the Hartford policy provides coverage, the conclusory affidavits of Mr. Wingfield and Mr. Luria do not change that fact. It is for this Court and not Mr. Luria or Mr. Wingfield to determine whether the Hartford policy provides coverage. Moreover, an insured is not limited to only those coverages the insured specifically contemplated at the time the policy was issued if the policy provides additional coverages.

If the language of the policy can reasonably be read to provide coverage, an insured has no burden to show that such coverage was specifically contemplated by the policy holder.

Ambiguity must be resolved by construing the policy as a whole. Michelet v. Scheuring Sec. Services, Inc., 95-2196, p. 12 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/4/96); 680 So.2d 140, 147. But ambiguous or equivocal provisions which seek to narrow the insurer’s [861]*861obligations are construed against the insurer. Id. Hartford’s argument might be somewhat stronger if the Hartford policy specifically excluded “Truck-Tractors.” Instead of speaking in terms of exclusion, the Hartford policy speaks of coverage of private passenger vehicles and light-medium trucks weighing less than 20,000 lbs. There is nothing in the Hartford policy saying that “Truck-Tractors” may not also be light-medium trucks if they weigh less than 20,000 pounds. By 14way of analogy, this Court noted in Michelet, supra, that an assault and battery could be treated as either a tort or a criminal act. If a tort, it would be covered under the policy in question in Michelet, if a criminal act it would be excluded, because there was a specific exclusion for criminal acts. In the instant case there was no specific exclusion for “Truck-Tractors” analogous to the exclusion for criminal acts found in the Michelet policy. Had there been a specific exclusion for “Truck-Tractors” in the Hartford policy, Hartford would have a much better argument under Michelet.

A definition is not an exclusion. By way of analogy: If a policy were to define dogs and provide coverage for dogs under 20 pounds, but also include a' definition of, but no exclusion for Great Danes, we would have to say that the policy provides coverage for Great Danes that weigh less than 20 pounds, because although not all dogs are Great Danes, all Great Danes are dogs. Similarly, as the Hartford policy says that “motorized auto[s] other than a ‘private Passenger Type’ with a gross vehicle weight of 20,000 pounds or less” (Light-Medium Trucks) are covered, we would have to say that Truck-Tractors under 20,000 pounds are covered because although not all Light-Medium Trucks fit the definition of Truck-Tractor (“a motorized auto with or without a body for carrying commodities ... ”), all Truck-Tractors are “motorized auto[s] other than a ‘private Passenger Type.’ ” This demonstrates that there is no logical fallacy to reading Hartford’s policy to provide coverage for the truck-tractor operated by the decedent.

The rule of strict construction of insurance policies does not authorize a perversion of language, or the exercise of inventive powers for the purpose of creating ambiguity where there is none. Reynolds v. Select Properties, Ltd., 93-1480 (La.4/11/94); 634 So.2d 1180, 1183. However, it requires no perversion of language to say that Truck-Tractor is a “motorized auto other than a ‘private Passenger Type’ ” and, therefore, fits the definition of Light-Medium Truck if the | sTruck-Tractor in question weighs less than 20,000 pounds, especially in view of the fact that Truck-Tractor is also defined in the Hartford policy as a “motorized auto.”

We do not seek to avoid the question of why Hartford would have included a separate definition for Truck-Tractor had there not been an intention to somehow treat Truck-Tractors differently from Light-Medium Trucks.

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Related

Michelet v. Scheuring SEC. Services Inc.
680 So. 2d 140 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
Urbeso v. Bryan
583 So. 2d 114 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)
Reynolds v. Select Properties, Ltd.
634 So. 2d 1180 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
757 So. 2d 858, 99 La.App. 4 Cir. 2822, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 710, 2000 WL 320669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crutchfield-v-landry-lactapp-2000.