Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. v. Skin

211 P.3d 1093, 2009 Alas. LEXIS 94, 2009 WL 2004191
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 10, 2009
DocketS-12586
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 211 P.3d 1093 (Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. v. Skin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. v. Skin, 211 P.3d 1093, 2009 Alas. LEXIS 94, 2009 WL 2004191 (Ala. 2009).

Opinions

OPINION

FABE, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company appeals the superior court's ruling that it issued an ambiguous insurance policy and acted improperly in handling its insured's claim. Specifically, Progressive challenges the superior court's conclusions that (1) the Progressive policy failed to meet the requirements for a "personal motor vehicle liability" policy under AS 28.22.101(c); (2) the Progressive policy's definition of "vehicle" must be reformed to include lability coverage for the operation of non-owned all-terrain vehicles (ATVs); (8) the Progressive policy's definition of "insured person" for the purpose of [1095]*1095medical payments coverage, which relied on the common usage definition of "motor vehicle," was ambiguous and thus construed in favor of the insured; (4) Progressive waived its right to assert a defense based on the named driver exclusion in the policy; (5) Progressive is estopped from asserting a defense based on the named driver exclusion in the policy; and (6) Progressive breached its fiduciary duty to Sarah Skin, its insured, thus warranting coverage by estoppel for all of the parties' claims arising out of an accident involving Skin's minor son.

Because Progressive's policy meets the requirements for an "owner's motor vehicle liability" insurance policy under AS 28.22.101(a), and because the policy does not provide liability coverage for accidents arising out of the insured's operation of an ATV, we reverse the superior court's rulings to the contrary. We affirm, however, the superior court's decision to hold Progressive liable for medical payments coverage because that seetion of the Progressive policy employs the term "vehicle" in an ambiguous manner, requiring us to construe coverage in favor of the insured.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

On May 17, 2002, Sarah Skin purchased a motor vehicle insurance policy from Progressive to cover a Chevrolet Prizm automobile, which she intended to drive in Barrow.1 A resident of Barrow, Skin bought the policy over the phone from an InsuranceMart agent in Anchorage. The agent faxed her insurance application forms with instructions to sign or initial her consent to various clauses, including a "Named Driver Exelusion" that listed her two sons, including then fifteen-year-old son Joseph Skin. Skin signed and initialed as instructed and sent the forms back.2

Less than a month later, on June 13, 2002, Joseph ran a stop sign at an intersection in Barrow while driving a four-wheel Honda ATV owned by Bonnie and Benjamin Na-geak. The Nageaks' daughter, Eva Nageak, was riding as Joseph's passenger on the ATV. A pickup truck collided with them, seriously injuring both Joseph and Eva.3 The Barrow police investigated the accident and assigned fault to Joseph.

Neither the Skins nor the Nageaks notified Progressive of the accident. The owner of the pickup truck, however, held a Progressive insurance policy, and he contacted Progressive on June 24, 2002, to report the accident. Based on that report, Progressive cross-referenced Skin's policy. A Progressive adjuster, Kelly Ford, telephoned Skin later that day to interview her and to acquire a recorded confirmation that Skin had excluded Joseph from her policy coverage.

On June 29, 2002, Progressive sent a letter to Skin notifying her of the company's determination that Joseph did not meet the requirements for medical coverage under her policy. The "Medical Payments Coverage" section of Skin's policy binds Progressive to provide coverage for "bodily injury:[4] 1. sustained by an insured person; 2. caused by accident; and 3. arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle." The section goes on to define "insured person" as:

a you while occupying any vehicle or rental vehicle, other than a vehicle owned by you which is not a covered vehicle;
a relative while occupying a covered vehicle or non-owned vehicle;
[1096]*1096c. you or any relative when struck by a motor vehicle or trailer while not occupying a motor vehicle; and
d. any other person while occupying a covered vehicle.

Progressive's letter to Skin explains that because "the ATV is not a private passenger, pickup or sedan, it would not be considered a vehicle." 5 As a result, Joseph did not qualify as an "insured person," defined by "sub-definition b" of the policy as "a relative while occupying a covered vehicle or non-owned vehicle." At the same time, Joseph failed to qualify under "sub-definition c" as a "relative when struck by a motor vehicle or trailer while not occupying a motor vehicle." According to the letter, "[wJhile the policy does not define a motor vehicle, Alaska Statute 28.40.100 defines a motor vehicle as self propelled except a vehicle moved by human or animal power." Therefore, the letter: concludes, even though Joseph was not occupying a "vehicle" as defined in the policy, "Joseph Skin was occupying a motor vehicle," and therefore "he would not have been deemed an insured person under sub-definition 'c'" of the "Medical Payments Coverage" section of the policy.

Four days later, on July 3, 2002, Progressive sent another letter denying third-party liability coverage for the accident. "Part I" of Skin's policy, entitled "Liability to Others," explains that Progressive "will pay damages, other than punitive or exemplary damages, for bodily injury for which an insured person becomes legally responsible because of an accident arising out of ownership, maintenance, or use of a vehicle or a rental vehicle." Within the "Additional Definitions" of Part I, Progressive defines "non-owned vehicle," as "any vehicle, and any rental vehicle, that is not owned by you, a relative, or the named insured's non-resident spouse." Progressive's July letter notified Skin that "there is no coverage for Bodily Injury or Property Damage for the use of the ATV being operated by Joseph Skin." The company once again explained that the ATV did not meet the definition of "vehicle" under the policy.

On August 9, 2002, the Nageaks' attorney contacted Progressive, and the company sent the attorney a copy of the letter shortly thereafter. No further communication between Progressive and the parties took place until this litigation began.

On October 21, 2008, Bonnie, Benjamin, and Eva Nageak brought suit against Joseph for damages arising out of the accident. They did not notify Progressive of the suit. Acting on behalf of her minor son, Skin entered into a settlement with the Nageaks, assigning to them the proceeds of her claims against Progressive and agreeing to jointly prosecute those claims. On October 8, 2004, at the parties' request, Superior Court Judge Michael I. Jeffery entered a consent judgment against Joseph in favor of the Nageaks for a total amount of $1,582,682.

On January 3, 2005, Skin and her assignees, the Nageaks, jointly filed an action against Progressive and the individual adjusters assigned to the claim. Their complaint alleged that the Progressive agents "conspired and engaged in a wrongful and bad faith scheme" that "culminated in the wrongful denial of the Progressive policy's liability coverage, denial of defense, and denial of medical payments coverage to Joe Skin." Progressive filed its answer to the complaint on April 26, 2005.

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211 P.3d 1093, 2009 Alas. LEXIS 94, 2009 WL 2004191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/progressive-casualty-insurance-co-v-skin-alaska-2009.