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Craster v. Thrifty Rent-A-Car System9/29/2005
plaintiff accepted.
Paragraph 10 of the rental jacket explains the SLI, or supplemental liability insurance coverage as: "Thrifty will protect Me against third-party liability claims arising out of the use or operation of the Car for (I) bodily injury or death of another (excluding any of My or Additional Renter's family members related by blood, marriage or adoption residing with Me or them) and; (ii) Property damage other than to the car." Paragraph 10(B) goes on to state that the SLI is "subject to the other specific exclusions which are summarized on the separate SLI brochure which is available at the rental counter." The brochure expressly excludes coverage for bodily injury to a renter.
While plaintiff testified she did not see the brochure, it is specifically referenced in the rental jacket, which is undisputedly a part of the plaintiff's contract. It is well-settled in the jurisdiction that "when the language of a contract is plain, simple and unambiguous", "it is the function of a court to interpret and enforce contracts as they are written, notwithstanding they may contain terms which may be thought harsh and unjust. A court is not at liberty to make a new contract for parties who have spoken for themselves." Wilkerson v. Williams, 667 S.W.2d 72 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983); see also General Const. Contractors Ass'n., Inc., v. Greater St. Thomas Baptist Church, 107 S.W.3d 513 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2002).
We are constrained to enforce the unambiguous contract which plaintiff acknowledges she voluntarily signed, which as written, produces the result that plaintiff had no coverage for bodily injury because she was a renter. As the Trial Court stated in ruling from the bench, it is "an extremely strained argument that you can pluck one paragraph out of some document and claim that that is your contract without relying upon the other portions of it"
Finally, defendant argued in the Trial Court and this Court that Thrifty is not a proper party to this lawsuit because Thrifty was not a party to the contract. This point is moot since plaintiff did not establish a breach of contract claim in any event.
As to plaintiff's fraud claim, we conclude that she could not demonstrate that any untrue statements were made by a Thrifty representative (which is required to prove fraud/misrepresentation.) See Shahrdar v. Global Housing, Inc., 983 S.W.2d 230 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998)). Plaintiff testified that she could not remember the exact conversation or any representations that were made. Taking the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff, she did testify that she thought she was getting "comprehensive" coverage, although she could not remember how the coverage was explained to her or the exact discussion, she simply thought she would have asked for that because she usually did. On the other hand, plaintiff also testified she did remember declining one kind of coverage because she thought it would be duplicative of her travel insurance. We conclude the plaintiff did not offer material evidence of any intentional misrepresentation that was made knowingly or recklessly that was false. See Shahrdar. The Trial Court properly granted summary judgment on the this claim as well.
The Judgment of the Trial Court is affirmed and the cause remanded, with the cost of the appeal assessed to plaintiff, Robin Craster.
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