Holtz v. Mutual Service Casualty Co.

117 N.W.2d 767, 264 Minn. 121, 1962 Minn. LEXIS 836
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 2, 1962
Docket38,417
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 117 N.W.2d 767 (Holtz v. Mutual Service Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holtz v. Mutual Service Casualty Co., 117 N.W.2d 767, 264 Minn. 121, 1962 Minn. LEXIS 836 (Mich. 1962).

Opinion

Otis, Justice.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the district court entered pursuant to an order denying his motion and granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The only issue is whether plaintiff’s claim for the medical expenses incurred by his wife as a result of an automobile accident exceeds the limits of liability assumed by defendant under the terms of the insured driver’s policy.

The parties have stipulated to the facts. Mrs. Holtz was awarded a verdict of $50,000, of which $1,600 represents property damage to her automobile, resulting from a collision with the insured, one Roger Sparrow. Plaintiff’s verdict in the sum of $6,862.91 consists of $5,857.16 *122 for his wife’s medical and hospital expenses and $1,005.75 for his own injuries. Execution on his judgment against Sparrow having been returned unsatisfied, plaintiff proceeded directly against Sparrow’s liability carrier, Mutual Service Casualty Company, respondent herein. Mutual Service has paid Mrs. Holtz $50,000 and has paid plaintiff the sum of $2,660.10, of which $1,005.75 was for his own personal injuries, $1,600, his wife’s medical expenses, and $54.35, costs. The $1,600 figure represents the difference between Mrs. Holtz’ verdict of $48,400 for personal injuries and the sum of $50,000 which was the limit of liability claimed by Mutual Service as to her. Defendant concedes that plaintiff has a valid claim for his wife’s medical expenses provided her personal injuries and medical expenses do not exceed $50,000. The $1,600 for property damage is payable over and above the $50,000 personal injury limit. Plaintiff, on the other hand, contends that by the terms of the policy he is entitled to the amount of the verdict for his own injury in the sum of $1,005.75, which he has received, plus his wife’s medical expenses in the sum of $5,857.16, less credit for $1,600 already paid by defendant, or a net claim, of $4,257.16.

The provisions of the policy which govern our decision are these:

“Coverage A — Bodily Injury Liability
“To pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death at any time resulting therefrom, sustained by any person, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the automobile.
“Coverage B — Property Damage Liability
“To pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including loss of use thereof, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the automobile.
*****
“Limits of Liability — Coverage A
“The limit of bodily injury liability stated in the declarations as *123 applicable to ‘each person’ is the limit of the Company’s liability for all damages, including damages for care and loss of services, arising out of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death at any time resulting therefrom, sustained by one person in any one accident;
* #

The limits of liability covering bodily injury are $50,000 for each person, and the limits of liability covering property damage is $10,000 for each accident. Plaintiff states the issue thus:

“* * * does the phrase ‘sustained by one person’ apply to and modify the word ‘damages’ or the phrase ‘bodily injury’? If the former, appellant is entitled to prevail.”

In other words, it is plaintiff’s contention that the policy should be read in this manner:

“$50,000 is the limit of liability for all damages sustained by one person in any one accident.”

Plaintiff argues that defendant is liable to him and to his wife up to $50,000 apiece for the damages each sustained in the collision, and that his wife’s medical expenses constitute damages for which he is entitled to reimbursement.

Mutual Service would have us read the applicable provision thus:

“$50,000 is the limit of liability for all damages, including medical expenses, arising out of bodily injury sustained by one person in any one accident.”

This construction would limit liability for all damages, direct and consequential, to $50,000 per injured person. We are of the opinion that both logic and precedent compel us to adopt the latter view. All of the cases called to our attention which construe this particular policy so hold. Of the two decisions cited by plaintiff as controlling, one was expressly overruled after the plaintiff’s appellate brief was filed. Guarisco v. Swindle (La. App.) 132 So. (2d) 643. The other decision is Automobile Underwriters, Inc. v. Camp, 109 Ind. App. 389, 32 N. E. (2d) 112 (1941). The question in the Indiana case was whether the father of a minor child could recover for loss of services *124 and . medical expenses arising out of an accident in which the child was injured as an occupant of the insured automobile. The policy required the insurer to pay damages on account of bodily injury inflicted upon any person other than an occupant. The Indiana court held that the exclusion did not prevent the father from being compensated for his consequential damages growing out of the child’s injuries.

At least five jurisdictions have construed policies similar to the one now under consideration in the manner for which defendant contends. Save only for the omission of the words “sickness or disease” in two of them, the policies had language substantially identical to that in the case at bar. In New Amsterdam Cas. Co. v. Hart, 153 Fla. 840, 844, 16 So. (2d) 118, 119, 150 A. L. R. 1150, 1153, the Florida court held the policy limited liability to “all damages, whether direct or consequential, arising as a result of the bodily injury, and this, without regard to whether the damages recoverable are comprehended within one, or several, judgments.” This case was followed in a later Florida decision. Universal Underwriters Ins. Corp. v. Reynolds (Fla. App.) 129 So. (2d) 689. New York has construed the policy in the same manner. Bogardus v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. 269 App. Div. 615, 58 N. Y. S. (2d) 217. Wisconsin has held this language to be plain and unambiguous in Bulman v. Bulman, 271 Wis. 286, 291, 73 N. W. (2d) 599, 602, where the court said:

“* * * The measure of his [the husband’s] recovery is not governed by the fact that his separate damages arose out of the same accident, but by the fact that they arose out of the same bodily injury.”

Nor did the Pennsylvania court find any ambiguity in the provisions of the policy which it construed in Bemat v. Socke, 180 Pa. Super. 512, 515, 118 A. (2d) 253, 254, stating:

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Bluebook (online)
117 N.W.2d 767, 264 Minn. 121, 1962 Minn. LEXIS 836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holtz-v-mutual-service-casualty-co-minn-1962.