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Progressive Universal Insurance Co. of Illinois v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co.4/21/2005
be covered if undertaken by someone who was using the vehicle with the insured's permission. Barnes, the insured, was free to engage in a "car business" without compromising his liability coverage. It was only others to whom Barnes entrusted the vehicle who were not covered for "car business" activities. This disparity was plainly inconsistent with section 7-317(b)(2)'s requirement that liability insurance policies cover not only the insured but also "any other person using or responsible for the use of such motor vehicle or vehicles with the express or implied permission of the insured." 625 ILCS 5/7-317(b)(2) (West 2000).
No similar disparity is present in the policy issued by Progressive to Ronald's mother in the present case. Under the clear and unambiguous terms of that policy, no one is exempt from the food delivery exclusion. The exclusion applies with equal force to Ronald's mother, who is the named insured, and to anyone using her van with her permission. Accordingly, if Ronald's mother used the van to deliver pizzas, she would have no more right to insist that Progressive defend and indemnify her than Ronald has. The policy would provide no coverage.
Because the exclusion in Progressive's policy does not differentiate between the insured and those using the vehicle with the insured's permission, there is no possibility, as there was in Smith, that liability insurance coverage afforded the insured would also not be extended to permissive users of the vehicle. Section 7-317(b)(2)'s requirement that liability insurance policies cover not only the insured but also "any other person using or responsible for the use of such motor vehicle or vehicles with the express or implied permission of the insured" (625 ILCS 5/7-317(b)(2) (West 2000)) is therefore not imperiled. As a result, the food delivery exclusion does not conflict with the statute and cannot be said to be void as against public policy.
This conclusion is supported by basic rules of statutory interpretation. The cardinal rule of statutory construction, and the one to which all other canons and rules are subordinate, is to ascertain and give effect to the true intent and meaning of the legislature. Country Mutual Insurance Co. v. Teachers Insurance Co., 195 Ill. 2d 322, 330 (2001). In undertaking that responsibility, we must presume that when the legislature enacted a law, it did not intend to produce absurd, inconvenient or unjust results. Sun Choi v. Industrial Comm'n, 182 Ill. 2d 387, 396 (1998). Such results, however, would be an inevitable consequence of the interpretation of section 7-317(b)(2) urged by Liberty Mutual in this case.
If section 7-317(b)(2) operated to invalidate the food delivery exclusion with respect to permissive users such as Ronald, as Liberty Mutual argues it does, Progressive would be obliged to defend and indemnify permissive users for conduct that would clearly not be covered if undertaken by the actual named insured. Recognizing that obligation, named insureds could readily evade the policy's restrictions merely by lending their vehicles to one another. After making the temporary swap, the insureds would be mere permissive users of one another's vehicles and, as such, would enjoy liability coverage for conduct where no coverage would lie if the insureds drove their own vehicles.
Insurance companies make underwriting decisions and calculate policy premiums based on the characteristics of a policyholder, the risks the policyholder presents, and the contractual terms and limitations by which the policyholder agrees to be bound. If policyholders were allowed to avoid the limitations in their policies and obligate the insurance companies to pay damages by swapping veh
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