Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Goossen

Opinion

KINGSLEY, Acting P. J.

Defendant appeals from an adverse judgment in an action for declaratory relief. We affirm the judgment.

Defendant, while riding on a motorcycle, was injured by a collision with an uninsured motorist. He claims to be entitled to indemnity under a policy issued by plaintiff to a man named Tench. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurer. We affirm.

[652]

The case at bench turns on the interpretation and application of section 11580.2 of the Insurance Code and a provision in the Tench policy purporting to define language in the statute.

Section 11580.2 of the Insurance Code reads, in pertinent part, as follows: “As used in (a) above, ‘bodily injury’ includes sickness or disease, including death, resulting therefrom; the term ‘named insured’ means only the individual or organization named in the declarations of the policy of motor vehicle bodily injury liability insurance referred to in (a) above; as used in (a) above the term ‘insured’ means the named insured and the spouse of the named insured and relatives of either while residents of the same household while occupants of a motor vehicle or otherwise, heirs and any other person while in or upon or entering into or alighting from an insured motor vehicle and any person with respect to damages he is entitled to recover for care or loss of services because of bodily injury to which the policy provisions or endorsement apply; the term ‘insured motor vehicle’ means the motor vehicle described in the underlying insurance policy of which the uninsured motorist endorsement or coverage is a part, a temporary substitute. . . .” The statute does not define the word “relative” but the policy herein involved contains a definition of that word, as follows: “Relative means a person related to the named insured by blood, marriage or adoption who is a resident of the same household, provided neither such relative nor his spouse owns a private passenger automobile.”

It is not contested that the accident involved an uninsured motorist within the meaning of section 11580.2; or that Tench was the only “named” insured under the policy involved. The contest is over whether defendant is within the group of persons to whom that section and the policy definition apply.