Opinion

Paxton v. Sanderson

  • 763 So. 2d 634
  • 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3479
  • 1999 WL 1127713
Court
Louisiana Court of Appeal
Filed
Dec 10, 1999
Status
Published
Author
Caraway
On the bench
Brown, Caraway, Drew, Gaskins, Stewart
Cited by
1 cases
Authority
More cited than 0.7%

The opinion

h CARAWAY, J.,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent.

The author of the Gedward decision previously cautioned in another insurance contract interpretation dispute that the rule of strict construct of the policy “does not authorize a perversion of language, or the exercise of inventive powers for the purpose of creating an ambiguity where none exist....” Reynolds v. Select Properties, Ltd., 634 So.2d 1180, 1183 (La.1994)(emphasis added). The majority has taken the Gedward finding of ambiguity in one context and invented ambiguity for a totally different context which is clearly and un-mistakenly addressed in the policy. Both the exclusion provision for motor vehicles “owned” by the insured and the definition provision for “motor vehicle” unambiguously address owned motor vehicles of the insured. In this case, the majority recognizes that evidence in support of State Farm’s summary judgment presents no material issue of fact regarding the Sand-erson’s ownership of the ATV. Likewise, there is no fact dispute that the accident occurred off the insured’s premises.

The ATV in Gedward was not owned by the insured, and the supreme court determined ambiguity in whether the homeowner’s policy did or did not exclude injury arising out of the use of an unowned, borrowed ATV. An insured’s unowned vehicle is not present here to cloud the issue. *638 The two conflicting policy provisions which presented the problem in Gedward are here in harmony regarding an owned ATV. Therefore, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment should be affirmed.

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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