Farmers Home Mutual Insurance v. Addelia

593 P.2d 930, 122 Ariz. 180, 1979 Ariz. App. LEXIS 438
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 16, 1979
DocketNo. 1 CA-CIV 3919
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 593 P.2d 930 (Farmers Home Mutual Insurance v. Addelia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farmers Home Mutual Insurance v. Addelia, 593 P.2d 930, 122 Ariz. 180, 1979 Ariz. App. LEXIS 438 (Ark. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

FROEB, Judge.

Michael and Alice Addelia (the Addelias) purchased a Duffner-Kimberly lampshade for $500.00 which they used in their home for two and one-half years. Then, in response to an advertisement, they turned the lampshade over to Arizona Jewelry Company on November 30,1974. Arizona Jewelry Company represented that it would auction and sell the items received in response to the advertisement. The auction was never held and the principals of the Arizona Jewelry Company, as well as the shade in question, vanished.

Notice of the loss was given to Farmers Home Mutual Insurance Company (Farmers) and the claim was rejected on the basis of certain policy exclusions. The Addelias then filed a complaint for declaratory judgment asking that the court construe the policy as covering the loss. The complaint further sought judgment in the amount of $5,000.00. The Addelias filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of coverage, which was granted. The damage issue was then tried to the court and judgment was entered in favor of the Addelias for $3,000.00. Farmers’ motion for a new trial on liability and damages was denied and this appeal followed.

Farmers appeals from (1) the summary judgment in favor of the Addelias on the issue of liability; (2) the judgment after trial on the issue of damages awarding $3,000.00 plus the Addelias’ costs; and (3) the denial of Farmers’ motion for new trial on the issues of liability and damages.

Farmers contends that the lampshade is excluded from coverage by certain exclusions listed in the policy and that, even if there is liability for the loss of the property, the coverage is limited by a specific liability limiting clause applicable to the property. We find that the property is not excluded from the policy, but that the liability limiting clause applies to it.

It is agreed that the lampshade is within the policy category of “Unscheduled Personal Property” under Coverage C, which states:

This policy covers unscheduled personal property usual or incidental to the occupancy of the premises as a dwelling and owned or used by an Insured, while on the described premises and, at the option of the Named Insured, owned by others while on the portion of the premises occupied exclusively by the Insured.

[182]*182The stated amount of coverage for the Addelias’ unscheduled personal property is $16,250.00.

Farmers’ first contention is that certain exclusions under Coverage C specifically apply to the loss of the lampshade after it was given to Arizona Jewelry Company. One exclusion reads:

10c. Theft Exclusions applicable to property away from the described premises: This policy does not apply to loss away from the described premises of:
(1) property while in any dwelling or premises thereof, owned, rented or occupied by an Insured, except while an Insured is temporarily residing therein.

We find the theft exclusions clause in paragraph 10(c) does not apply to the loss of the lampshade. There is no indication in the record that the premises of the Arizona Jewelry Company were owned, rented, or occupied by the Addelias.

The other exclusion urged by Farmers provides:

This coverage [Coverage C] excludes: ******
5. property carried or held as samples or for sale or for delivery after sale. .

Farmers argues that the lampshade was held by the Addelias for sale when they turned it over to Arizona Jewelry Company to be sold. The Addelias argue that the exclusion under consideration does not apply to a household furnishing which the owner decides to sell, but rather to items held in connection with a business or commercial enterprise of the policyholder.

In Last v. West American Insurance Company, 139 N.J.Super. 456, 354 A.2d 364 (1976), a gun collector, who did not ordinarily trade in guns, decided to sell a few of his guns. He turned them over to a gun shop on consignment for sale. The loss of the guns occurred while they were on the shop’s premises. The New Jersey court held that the guns were “held for sale” and, therefore, were within the exclusion. In accord with the New Jersey interpretation of the exclusion is American Motorist Insurance Company v. Vermont, 115 Ga.App. 663, 155 S.E.2d 675 (1967).

Contrary to these cases is the decision in the Maryland case State Farm Fire and Casualty Company v. Quirt, 28 Md.App. 603, 346 A.2d 497 (1974). Although there was a fact question whether the insured delivered his ring and brooch to the jeweler on consignment for sale, or for the jeweler to remodel, the court held that even if the ring and brooch had been delivered on consignment they were not excluded from coverage by the exclusionary language “property carried or held as samples or for sale or for delivery after sale.” The Maryland court looked at the exclusion in the context of the purpose of the policy and other exclusions accompanying the one in question. The court said:

We note first that the policy here is a homeowner’s policy, intended to insure property related to the home. . Property “carried or held as samples” could only refer to a business enterprise, contemplating sales to be made from exhibition of the samples. The clause designating articles carried or held “for sale or for delivery after sale” immediately followed by “or for rental to others” connotes, we think, as to both sale and rental, a business transaction. . . . We find it clear, contrary to the opinion of the court in Vermont, [cited above] that the clause, articles carried or held for sale, refers to property related to the insured’s usual occupation or business. It appears to us incongruous that an article which, without question, was included under Coverage B [here, Coverage C] would immediately be excluded because the owner-insured decided to sell it, not as a business venture, but to dispose of it with recoupment of its cost. A set of golf clubs, no longer used by a weekend golfer through frustration with his game, or discarded upon acquisition of a later model, would be, when advertised for sale, stripped of protection against loss afforded by a homeowner’s policy. From the language employed and from the charac[183]*183ter of the contract, considering its object and purpose, we think that the parties here did not intend such result.

28 Md.App. at 611-612, 346 A.2d at 502.

We agree with the interpretation placed upon the policy exclusion by the Maryland court. Personal property held by the insured for other than a business or commercial purpose does not come within the exclusion by the mere fact that the owner decides to sell it.

Farmers’ second contention is that if there is liability under the policy then it is limited to ten percent of the insurance provided for in Coverage C. Since the amount specified in Coverage C is $16,250.00, Farmers argues that its liability is limited to $1,625.00. The argument is based on the following provision of Coverage C:

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Bluebook (online)
593 P.2d 930, 122 Ariz. 180, 1979 Ariz. App. LEXIS 438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farmers-home-mutual-insurance-v-addelia-arizctapp-1979.