174 N.E. 304 | NY | 1931
Section
"No such policy shall be issued or delivered in this state on or after July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, to the owner of a motor vehicle, by any corporation *140 or other insure(r) authorized to do business in this state, unless there shall be contained within such policy a provision insuring such owner against liability for damages for death orinjuries to person or property resulting from negligence in the operation of such motor vehicle, in the business of such owner or otherwise, by any person legally using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of such owner."
The section concludes as follows: "A policy issued in violation of this section shall, nevertheless, be held valid but be deemed to include the provisions required by this section, and when any provision in such policy or rider is in conflict with the provisions required to be contained by this section, the rights, duties and obligations of the insurer, the policyholder and the injured person shall be governed by the provisions of this section."
The action is brought by the husband of Bessie Brustein to recover $2,634, the amount of a judgment for the loss of services resulting from injuries to his wife recovered by him against Sol Pion. Previously the wife had recovered a judgment for $8,145 against Pion for personal injuries sustained by her in an automobile accident. Pion was insured with defendant against such liability and was insolvent. The company paid her $5,000 and costs, which it claims fully discharges its liability under the policy. The policy insured against loss in respect to "bodilyinjuries or death" only. The liability was limited to $5,000 for one person injured or killed and to a total liability of $10,000 on account of any one accident resulting in bodily injuries or death to more than one person.
In Psota v. L.I.R.R. Co. (
The courts below have held that the policy is inconsistent with the requirements of section 109 above quoted and that it must be deemed by operation of law to include a provision insuring the owner against liability for death or injuries to pe son or property, without limitation or qualification, and so to cover plaintiff's cause of action for injuries to person as above defined. We find no warrant in the statute or in its history for such a conclusion. While the courts hesitate to depart from the letter of a statute, a construction may be adopted in harmony with what is thought to be the spirit and purpose of the act in order to give effect to the evident legislative intent. (Churchof the Holy Trinity v. United States,
The standard provisions provided for in section 109 are three in number and are aimed at separate recognized evils. The standard bankruptcy provision gives the injured person a remedy over against the insurance company when the judgment against the insured is uncollectible by reason of bankruptcy or insolvency. (Merchants *142 Mutual Automobile Liability Ins. Co. v. Smart,
Compulsory insurance is not provided for by the laws of the State. Indemnity bonds or insurance policies are required of the operators of motor vehicles for hire in certain cases. (Vehicle Traffic Law, § 17.) Aside from this provision, the owner of an automobile may elect whether to carry any insurance, and, if he elects to insure he may determine the amount and coverage thereof. To select this one class of liability and to say that here alone the insured is required to cover in a single policy liability for death, injuries to person and injuries to property is to attribute to the Legislature a capricious and unreasonable act, not to be comprehended as within the legislative intention and possibly without the legislative power. (Merchants MutualAutomobile Liability Ins. Co. v. Smart, supra.) To say that the owner may go uninsured entirely; that if he takes out insurance it may be limited as to coverage and amount in all cases except where the car is legally used or operated by a person with his permission is not to regulate the affairs of insurance companies "to prevent them from committing wrongs or *143 injustice in the exercise of their corporate functions." The wrong or injustice aimed at by section 109 is the defense of non-liability on the grounds above stated, not the limitation of coverage and amount. The companies do no wrong or injustice in writing policies of insurance of limited amount and coverage like the one in suit. Such is the common practice. A wrong is done to them if the terms of their policies are thus enlarged by legal construction. The construction given to the clause by the courts below would amount to this: An insured owner, operating his car, whether personally or by agent, may limit the coverage of his insurance to injury to person or to property, or to bodily injuries or death. When he allows another to operate it, while he need not insure, if he does insure, the policy, however written, must be read as if it covered death, injuries to person and injuries to property. In the absence of a direct legislative mandate that the owner of a car must insure against all such injuries, a reasonable construction of the provision in question is that the policy must be read as if it contained an extended liability clause, but that it may be limited in amount and coverage as the parties may agree.
The judgment should be reversed and the complaint dismissed, with costs in all courts.
CARDOZO, Ch. J., CRANE, LEHMAN, KELLOGG and O'BRIEN, JJ., concur; HUBBS, J., not sitting.
Judgment reversed, etc. *144