Melvin Kiaaina and Lorelei Kiaaina, Husband and Wife and Nadine Nomura v. Alfred Jackson, and Chung Kuo Insurance Company

Plaintiffs instituted this action against defendants after they were injured in an automobile accident involving an automobile owned by defendant Jackson, insured by Chung Kuo Insurance Co., and operated by Felix Taitague. Relying on a term of the insurance policy issued to Jackson, Chung Kuo denied coverage because Ta-itague was an unlicensed driver at the time of the accident.

Defendant Chung Kuo moved for summary judgment based on the provision in defendant Jackson’s policy excluding coverage for unlicensed drivers. The Superior Court of Guam granted the motion. Plaintiffs appealed to the Appellate Division for the District Court of Guam. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that if the owner of the vehicle did not know the operator was unlicensed, the unlicensed driver exclusion would violate Guam public policy embodied in its financial responsibility law and would be invalid. The court remanded the case for a determination of whether Jackson knew Taitague was unlicensed. Chung Kuo timely appealed.

Our jurisdiction extends to “all final decisions of the appellate division of the district court” of Guam. 48 U.S.C. § 1424-3 (c). For the purposes of determining when a…