Ford v. Graf

279 F. Supp. 692, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8985
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedFebruary 20, 1968
DocketNo. 67-C-49
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 279 F. Supp. 692 (Ford v. Graf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford v. Graf, 279 F. Supp. 692, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8985 (W.D. Wis. 1968).

Opinion

JAMES E. DOYLE, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Hedy Ford, seeks damages for injuries allegedly sustained as a result of a collision in La Crosse, Wisconsin, between an automobile driven by her husband, Robert R. Ford, now deceased, and an automobile driven by defendant Graf. State Farm, Graf’s insurer, and Graf have filed a third party complaint against Shelby Mutual Insurance Company (Shelby) for contribution. Shelby was the insurer for Robert R. Ford at the time of the alleged collision.

Shelby moves for summary judgment in its favor, contending that the insurance contract between it and Robert R. Ford contains a family exclusion clause which bars recovery from it in this case. That clause reads:

“Exclusions. This policy does not apply:
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Under the Liability Coverage
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(j) to bodily injury to (1) any person, if such person is related by blood, marriage or adoption to and is a resident of the same household as (i) the insured o'r (ii) the person for whose use of the automobile or trailer the insured is legally responsible, or (2) the named insured.”

A discovery deposition of plaintiff, Hedy Ford, taken on August 30, 1967, which is part of the record herein, establishes that at the time of the alleged accident Robert and Hedy Ford were husband and wife residing in the same household. It is uncontradicted that the policy in issue was entered into in the state of Minnesota, between Ford, a resident of Minnesota, and Shelby, an Ohio corporation licensed to do business in Minnesota as well as Wisconsin; that Minnesota law permits insurance companies to limit their liability by such an exclusion clause; and that Wisconsin law, Wis.Stat. § 204.34(2), does not permit such an exclusion clause in insurance contracts issued in Wisconsin.

Shelby asserts that its liability is limited by the terms of its insurance policy which are valid in the state where the policy was issued. The principal defendants and third party plaintiffs assert that under the prevailing conflict of laws principle, Wisconsin law should control the application of the insurance contract to a Wisconsin accident; that even if Minnesota law is controlling, this exclusion clause would not be given effect by the Minnesota courts since the insured is deceased; and that regardless of which law controls Shelby has waived the availability of the exclusion clause as a defense.

At oral argument counsel for the third party plaintiffs conceded that they are entitled to contribution from Shelby only if Shelby is liable to the plaintiff wife. Thus Shelby, as the husband’s insurer, can be liable in this action only if, as a matter of law, the husband (or his estate) can be found liable to the wife, and if by reason of the insurance contract between Shelby and the husband, Shelby has consented to insure the husband against such liability. The third, party plaintiffs’ asserted cause of action must rest upon the husband’s liability to the wife in tort, and upon Shelby’s liability on its contract with the husband. It is this second step — the contract step — which is at issue on this motion by Shelby for summary judgment.

With regard to third party plaintiffs’ assertion that Wisconsin law should control the application of the contract and that Wisconsin law invalidates family exclusion clauses in such insurance contracts (citing Wis.Stat. § 204.34(2) [694]*694(1963) and Klatt v. Zera, 11 Wis.2d 415, 105 N.W.2d 776 (1960)), I find no Wisconsin law invalidating an exclusion clause in an insurance policy not issued in Wisconsin.

As emphasized earlier, Wis. Stat. § 204.34 applies to insurance contracts issued in Wisconsin. The Shelby insurance contract was issued and delivered in Minnesota to a Minnesota resident. Neither Klatt v. Zera, supra, nor Wis.Stat. § 204.30(3) cited in Klatt attempts to declare Wisconsin law respecting insurance contracts issued outside Wisconsin. With respect to third party plaintiff’s statement that Wisconsin has a public policy against family exclusion clauses and that that public policy presents a true conflict with the terms of the insurance contract, I find no express authority extending Wisconsin’s public policy to exclusion clauses in insurance contracts issued outside Wisconsin. I cannot agree that Wisconsin has declared a public policy against family exclusion clauses in out-of-state insurance contracts.

It is further asserted by the third party plaintiffs that even Minnesota courts would not enforce the family exclusion clause where the death of the insured has intervened. It is argued that the purpose of the exclusion clause (namely the danger of collusion between the insured and a member of his family) dies with insured. Counsel for the third party plaintiffs concedes that Minnesota has not, as yet, placed such a construction on the family exclusion clause. He argues that the Minnesota court’s refusal to invoke Minnesota's interspousal tort immunity doctrine in cases where the death of one spouse has intervened is evidence that such a construction on the family exclusion clause is forthcoming in Minnesota. I do not perceive it as the duty of this court, nor do I choose to do so, to read the law of Minnesota in a manner not yet adopted by the Minnesota courts. If the law of Minnesota is to be charted in some new fashion, then it is up to the Minnesota law-makers to do so. I conclude that the family exclusion clause in the insurance contract is valid and enforceable under Minnesota law.

The third party plaintiffs further assert that Shelby has waived the availability of the family exclusion clause as a defense by reason of “its license to transact insurance business [in Wisconsin] and its thus agreeing to submit to the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin courts and to free its policies of blood relative-family-household exclusions in Wisconsin and become amenable to contribution in circumstances like the present in Wisconsin. * * * ” (Brief of Third Party Plaintiffs, at p. 15).

Shelby has filed with the Wisconsin Department of Insurance a resolution of its board of directors and a power of attorney in the Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance for the purpose of accepting service of process on behalf of the insurance company. The resolution reads:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
279 F. Supp. 692, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8985, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-v-graf-wiwd-1968.