Opinion

Ainsworth v. Berg

  • 253 Wis. 438
  • 35 N.W.2d 911
  • 1948 Wisc. LEXIS 429
Court
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Filed
Oct 11, 1948
Status
Published
Author
Fairchild
On the bench
Hughes, Fairchild, Broadfoot
Cited by
37 cases
Authority
More cited than 2.5%

The opinion

Fairchild, J.

(dissenting). I am of the opinion.that it is again necessary to state my position on the validity of clauses excluding coverage to the additional insured.

The difficulty in this case it seems to me is that the opinion ignores the basic premise of the majority in

Frye v. Theige,

post, p. 596, 34 N. W. (2d) 793 , that an exclusion clause which results in less protection to the additional insured than to the named insured is void under sec. 204.30 (3), Stats., no matter where it is placed in the policy. It overlooks a provision beneficial to the general public,

i. e.,

indemnity insurance in favor of an injured person. In fact the court in this case accepts the idea that the coverage to the additional insured may be restricted unequally. In the opinion is this statement: “Conceivably, an automobile owner could . . . buy a policy which covered only relatives by blood or marriage.”

In reality what the court is doing in this opinion is accepting as the legislative intent the proposition that an exclusion appearing in the omnibus coverage clause is void while one appearing anywhere else in the policy is valid.

I submit again that is not the intent of the statute. The statutory language is clear. It prohibits any exclusion which in fact operates to make the coverage of the additional insured any less than that of the named insured. The placement of the exclusion is of no importance. The hope may be expressed with propriety that the legislature will redeclare its purpose to require that: “Such indemnity shall also extend to any person, . . . legally responsible for the operation of- such automobile.” See dissent in

Frye v.

Theige,

supra,

p. 602 .

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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