Farm Air Flying Service v. Southeastern Aviation Insurance Services, Inc.

Plaintiff Farm Air Flying Service appeals from a judgment in favor of defendant Southeastern Aviation Insurance Services, Inc. (Southeastern). Plaintiff sought a judicial declaration that a policy of aviation insurance issued by Southeastern provided coverage for a crop dusting loss. The loss occurred when plaintiff’s pilot sprayed the herbicide MCPA on a wild rice crop owned by Donald Sills. Plaintiff had been hired to treat Sills’s cultured rice crop which was located in a field adjacent to the wild rice crop. The application of herbicide to the wrong crop resulted in damage of approximately $34,000.

Plaintiff reimbursed Sills for the damage and sought indemnification from Southeastern. Southeastern denied the claim, citing exclusion No. 4 in the policy which precludes coverage for “injury to . . . crops ... to which the aerial application is deliberately made whether in error or not.”

Prior to trial, Southeastern moved successfully for a summary adjudication to the effect that exclusion No. 4 is clear and unambiguous. At the conclusion of trial, the court ruled the policy as a whole is unambiguous and that on the evidence presented, plaintiff has no reasonable…