Hyer

This is an action to recover upon a liability insurance policy. Plaintiff is the assignee of the assured. A general demurrer to the complaint was over ruled. Defendant elected to stand upon its demurrer and declined to answer, whereupon a judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff for $500 and costs. Defendant claims that the complaint does not state a cause of action and that its demurrer was improperly overruled. The sufficiency of the complaint turns upon the construction to be placed upon the word “accident,” as employed in a clause of the policy which limits defendant’s liability to $1,000 for claims arising from “one accident.”

The facts alleged in the complaint are substantially these: On July 29, 1920, defendant executed and issued to the assured a policy which insured him for the term of one year against liability to other persons for injury to or destruction of their property resulting from the use of the assured’s automobile, a Harmon touring car. Defendant is referred to in the policy as the “Exchange.” The provisions of the instrument which are germane to the present inquiry read: “In consideration of an additional deposit of $13.95 this policy also covers Assured’s…

I dissent, because to my mind the word “accident” in the indemnity policy in suit was intended by the parties to be given its ordinary meaning, and this the opinion of my associates holds it should not receive.

It must be conceded that it is a necessary presumption that the word in question was understood to denote its usual meaning unless some consideration of fact or law appears to the contrary. I find neither. The word “accident” as used in indemnity insurance appears to have a definite meaning. There can be no dispute upon the proposition that all authorities agree that an “accident” means an “unintended and unexpected occurrence which produces hurt or loss.” It is impossible to read into this language any reference to the cause of the occurrence other than that suggested by the words “unintended and unexpected.” These words merely describe the quality of the event as unforeseen and undesigned. It cannot be doubted that if this generally accepted definition be taken as applicable here, the facts of this case show that separate accidents occurred to the Over land and Cadillac cars. But my associates hold that an unusual meaning was intended by the parties, and that the word…

I concur in the judgment and in everything that is said in the foregoing opinion. I desire, especially, to announce my concurrence in the reasoning whereby the writer of the opinion distinguishes the case of Staffordshire Tramways Co. v. Sickness & Accident Assn., 1 Q. B. 402, from the present one. If, however, that case is not distinguishable from this, I am of the opinion that _ it was wrongly decided. So much, to my mind, is evident from the general reasoning of the above opinion. I think the English case has been given a fictitious importance by the very general application of its doctrine which has been made by annotators, text-writers, and judges.