Plaintiff, Boyd Motors, Inc. (Boyd), appeals from an order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of defendant, Employers Insurance of Wau-sau (Wausau). As a preliminary matter, we note that Boyd has not appealed the dismissal of its tort and punitive damage claims and that its attempt to obtain appellate review of a disputed discovery order issued by the magistrate some eight months prior to disposition of this case by the district court is ineffective due to Boyd’s failure to challenge the order first in the district court.
See Niehaus v. Kansas Bar Ass’n,
The facts pertinent to the parties’ dispute over the extent of coverage afforded Boyd’s automobile inventory by an inland marine insurance policy issued by Wausau are set out in the district cоurt’s published opinion,
Boyd Motors, Inc. v. Employers Insurance of Wausau,
1. The defendant, Employers Insurance of Wausau, issued a commercial inland marine insurance policy to Volkswagen Credit, Inc.
2. Volkswagen purchased the policy so it could surcharge the policy and thereby provide coverage to automоbile dealers who floor-planned their new car inventory with Volkswagen Credit, Inc.
3. Plaintiff claims coverage under the policy for certain vehicles that plaintiff floor-planned with Volkswagen Credit, Inc.
4. Plaintiff is an automobile dealer whose new-car inventory was severely damаged by hail.
5. The defendant paid $103,160.41 to Volkswagen Credit, Inc. on plaintiff’s claim for the floor-planned automobiles, based on the cost of repairing the damaged vehicles.
6. Plaintiff seeks an additional $40,-609.48 based on its claim that the vehicles are worth less.after the damage and repairs than the vehicles were worth before the damage.
7. Plaintiff claims that the repairs do not put the vehicles in the same condition as they were when they were new.
8. The policy at issue in this case is the inland marine insurance policy. The terms of the insurance policy provide the following:
5. This policy insures against all risks of direct physical loss or damage to the insured automobiles, except:
a. Loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by:
c. loss or damage resulting from delay, loss of market,....
6. Limit of Liability — the limit of liability under this policy for any one disaster or casualty at any one location shall not exceed $3,000,000 ... provided, however, that in no case shall the Company be liable for any dealer’s prospective profit or overheаd charges of any nature whatsoever. ...
Id. at 312 (emphasis added by district court).
The controlling issue in this case is whether Wausau satisfied its obligations under the subject policy when it paid for what were considered cost-effective repairs
1
to Boyd’s hail-damaged automobile
We agree with the district court’s conclusion that, pursuant to Wausau’s promisе to “repair or replace the [damaged property] with material of like kind and quality,” the general coverage of the policy extended not only to the cost of repairs but also to the diminution in value of the repaired vehicles.
See Venable v. Import Volkswagen, Inc.,
The second distinction Wausau emphasizes is that the policy in Venable did not exempt from сoverage economic injury resulting from loss of market. This point, however, relates to the matter of exclusion rather than coverage, and is addressed in its proper context below.
Finally, Wausau maintains as a general matter that inland marine insurance policies suсh as Boyd’s are somehow sui gener-is, requiring a construction unconstrained by precedent developed in connection with other types of insurance. Wausau cites no authority for this position, which is undercut by cases from various contexts interpreting such policies in accordance with standard principles of contract construction.
See, e.g., Dubuque Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Caylor,
We turn now to the question whether Boyd’s recovery of post-repair diminution in value, though within the scope of the policy’s initial coverage provisions, is ultimately precluded by the loss of market exclusion. The district court concluded that “the diminution [in] value which occurs after an accident, despite repairs, clearly is defined as loss in market,” and accordingly held in favor of Wausau on the basis of the exclusion.
Boyd Motors, Inc.,
In essence, Wausau’s position and the district court’s consonant disposition are grounded on the premise that “loss of market” and “loss of market value” are equivalent terms. It is on this fundamental point that, for several reasons, we diverge from the analysis followed below.
First of all, words used in an insurance policy are to be understood in terms of their ordinary, plain meaning.
See Kansas State Bank & Trust Co. v. Old Am. Ins. Co.,
The second reason for accepting Boyd’s position is that it is borne out by the few
Boyd’s position is bolstered further when the loss of market exclusion is read, as it must be, in light of both the immediately surrounding text and the policy as a whole.
See Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Horinek,
Accordingly, we hold that the policy in question covers the post-repair diminution in value of Boyd’s damaged inventory and that such coverage is not defeаted by the loss of market exclusion contained therein. We note that our holding is consistent with, though not reliant upon, several related general principles of insurance policy construction recognized by the courts of Kansas.
See United States Fidelity & Guar. Co. v. Hokanson,
The order of the United States District Court for the District of Kаnsas granting summary judgment in favor of Wausau on Boyd’s breach of contract claim is REVERSED, and the cause REMANDED for further proceedings consistent herewith.
Notes
. Evidently because of the prohibitive transport costs involved, the vehicles were not fitted with new parts to replace all of those damaged by hail. Instead, much of the damage was repaired by hammering out the dents, smoothing out the surfaces with putty and repainting.
. For a brief description of the evolution of this omnibus category of insurance, also referred to as "all risks” or property "floater” insurance, frоm its merchant marine origins to its present application to movables generally, see Apple-man, supra, Vol. 4, § 2104 at 5-8.
. Indeed, taking the equation of "loss of market” with "loss of market value” to its logical conclusion would lead to the absurd result of the exclusion swallowing coverage whole. Since, as written, the lоss of market exclusion is not qualified in any way so as to restrict its application solely to post-repair depreciation, accepting the identity of the two terms in question would appear to entail adoption of the indefensible position that all loss in value to the insured property (i.e., the entire covered risk) is excluded from coverage under the policy.
