Crowley v. Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Co.
Crowley v. Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Co.
Opinion
*106 ¶ 1 This case concerns whether an exclusion in a supplemental insurance policy that Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company (Empire) issued to John Bruen was unenforceable as a matter of public policy. The exclusion applied if the insured was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The circuit court of De Kalb County determined that the intoxication exclusion was unenforceable and therefore entered summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Barbara Crowley. Empire appeals from the trial court's order. We reverse.
¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND
¶ 3 On June 12, 2015, John Bruen rented a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta from Enterprise. He purchased "full coverage" insurance, which included "Supplemental Liability Protection" (SLP or excess policy). The insurance was provided by Empire. The insurance policy provided coverage through a surety bond in the amount of $ 100,000, with the potential for an additional $ 900,000 of excess liability coverage. The SLP policy included an exclusion that the insurance did not apply to a loss where the insured was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The rental agreement listed Thomas Bruen as an additional authorized driver of the rental car.
¶ 4 On June 13, 2015, Thomas Bruen, while driving the rental car, was involved in a motor vehicle accident that killed Robert Crowley and injured his wife Barbara Crowley. Thomas Bruen had marijuana, cocaine, and opiates in his system at the time of the accident, and he was subsequently convicted of aggravated driving under the influence of drugs ( 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d)(1)(C), (F) (West 2014)).
¶ 5 On May 1, 2017, Barbara Crowley filed a personal-injury complaint against Thomas Bruen. She alleged that Thomas Bruen's negligent operation of the rental car caused the accident and the resulting injuries to her and her late husband.
¶ 6 On September 29, 2017, Barbara Crowley filed a complaint against Enterprise Leasing Company of Chicago, LLC, and Enterprise Holdings, Inc. (Enterprise defendants), as well as Empire, seeking a declaration that the Empire excess policy *107 *1271 provided coverage for the claims that she had asserted against Thomas Bruen in the underlying case.
¶ 7 On January 16, 2018, Crowley filed a motion for a judgment on the pleadings against Empire. She argued that Empire was obligated to provide coverage based on its insurance contract with John Bruen. She asserted that the intoxication exclusion in the Empire policy was void because it was contrary to Illinois public policy.
¶ 8 On February 23, 2018, Empire filed a motion for summary judgment on Crowley's action. Empire argued that, based on the language of the insurance contract, Thomas Bruen was not entitled to coverage, because he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Empire insisted that the insurance contract was neither ambiguous nor against public policy.
¶ 9 On July 18, 2018, the trial court denied Empire's motion for summary judgment and indicated that it would treat Crowley's motion for judgment on the pleadings as a motion for summary judgment.
¶ 10 On August 15, 2018, the trial court granted Crowley's motion for summary judgment. Relying on
Hertz Corp. v. Garrott
,
¶ 11 II. ANALYSIS
¶ 12 The issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Crowley. Appellate review of a summary judgment ruling is
de novo
.
AUI Construction Group, LLC v. Vaessen
,
¶ 13 Here, Crowley does not argue that the intoxication exclusion barring coverage to Thomas Bruen is ambiguous. Rather, she contends that the exclusion is unenforceable because it contravenes public policy. The Illinois General Assembly declared it to be the public policy of this state that owners and operators of motor vehicles carry primary liability insurance coverage when it passed the Illinois Safety and Family Financial Responsibility Law (Financial Responsibility Law) ( 625 ILCS 5/7-601(a) (West 2016)), requiring each motorist to have minimum liability insurance coverage regardless of fault. See
Nelson v. Artley
,
"The freedom of parties to make their own agreements, on the one hand, and their obligation to honor statutory requirements, on the other, may sometimes conflict. These values, however, are not antithetical. Both serve the interests of the public. Just as public policy demands adherence to statutory requirements, it is in the public's interest that persons not be unnecessarily restricted in their freedom to make their own contracts."Id.
¶ 14 Accordingly, courts use sparingly the power to declare a contractual provision void as against public policy.
¶ 15 Both parties point to two cases in which the Illinois Appellate Court has analyzed the interplay between public policy and insurance contracts:
Garrott
and
Fogel v. Enterprise Leasing Co. of Chicago
,
¶ 16 In
Garrott
, Angelique Garrott rented an automobile from Hertz.
Garrott
,
¶ 17 The appellate court reversed, finding that the exclusionary clause in the insurance contract was void as against public policy.
" '[T]he fixing of penalties for antisocial conduct is, in the first instance, a governmental responsibility through legislative response. The Delaware General Assembly has expressly determined the consequences which result from a conviction of driving under the influence. These sanctions include the criminal penalties of fine and/or imprisonment [citation] and license revocation through administrative action [citation]. We do not believe that the General Assembly, in addition to the imposition of these substantial penalties, also intended, by implication, to work a forfeiture of insurance protection purchased in conformity with State law.' "Id. at 238-39 ,179 Ill.Dec. 387 ,606 N.E.2d 219 (quoting Bass v. Horizon Assurance Co.562 A.2d 1194 , 1197 (Del. 1989) ).
¶ 18 The
Garrott
court opined that, as in the Delaware case, a car rental company (a private entity) could not, in the name of public policy, impose a sanction upon private citizens for driving while intoxicated, "when such sanctions work a hardship upon the general public and, at the same time, benefit the rental agency and/or its insurer."
Id. at 239,
¶ 19 Turning to the second case, in
Fogel
, the driver was in an accident while driving a vehicle rented from Enterprise.
Fogel
,
"[W]e do not find Fogel's position persuasive. The cases cited by Fogel concern state laws for mandatory liability insurance. In these cases, courts have held that mandatory insurance statutes have abrogated the insurance company's right to rescind the policy with regard to claims of persons not involved in making the misrepresentation. In other words, the public policy underlying mandatory insurance statutes requires that insurance companies cannot rescind the contract and preclude an innocent third party from coverage benefits. The rationale in these cases is that mandatory insurance statutes were enacted to protect the public from financial hardship and these laws have transformed what was a private contract into a quasi-public obligation. The public policy argument is that where a state mandates liability insurance in order to protect the public, the risk of a misrepresentation made by *110 *1274 the applicant is borne by the insurer and not an innocent third party.
In this case, however, Fogel's public policy argument fails because we are not addressing mandatory liability coverage. * * * Here, the case involves a private contract entered into between Enterprise and [the driver]. The supplemental liability protection [ (SLP) ] was a part of that contract. The SLP was not required under state law with the purpose of protecting the public from financial hardship. Thus we find Fogel's public policy argument unavailing." (Emphasis omitted.) Id. at 174,288 Ill.Dec. 485 ,817 N.E.2d 1135 .
¶ 20
Fogel
is more analogous to the instant case because the insurance policy at issue is an excess policy. We consider this to be an important distinction when considering public policy relating to insurance. As noted earlier, by passing the Financial Responsibility Law requiring each motorist to have minimum liability insurance coverage regardless of fault, the Illinois General Assembly declared it to be the public policy of this state that owners and operators of motor vehicles carry primary liability insurance coverage. See
Nelson
,
¶ 21 In so ruling, we note that the distinction the
Fogel
court drew between mandatory insurance and supplemental insurance regarding public policy concerns is consistent with the way that other courts have analyzed the issue.
1
See
T.H.E. Insurance Co. v. Dollar Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc.
,
¶ 22 Crowley argues that
Fogel
is distinguishable because the underlying contract in that case was void as it was fraudulently entered into. Because John Bruen entered into a valid contract with
*111
*1275
Empire, she insists that
Fogel
has no relevance here. We do not believe it to be significant whether a driver's insurance coverage is negated because of a misrepresentation in the rental contract (as in
Fogel
) or limited by operation of a policy exclusion (as in the case here). Rather, what is relevant is that
Fogel
involved an excess policy and
Garrott
did not.
2
The
Fogel
court drew this same distinction when it held that the public policy rationale in
Garrott
did not apply, because that case did not concern insurance coverage that was not required by state law.
Fogel
,
¶ 23 We also reject Crowley's argument that, based on
Garrott
, we should find the intoxication exclusion void as against public policy because enforcing the exclusion would "work a hardship upon the general public and, at the same time, benefit the rental agency and/or its insurer."
Garrott
,
"We observed [in Progressive ] that the legislature could have barred [auto] insurers from excluding certain risks from coverage, but did not do so, and concluded that the legislature must have intended that coverage exclusions may be included in liability policies * * *. [Citation.]
* * * We recognize that, depending upon the circumstances of a particular case, * * * any exclusion[ ] may result in no insurance coverage from which injured third parties may be compensated. Such coverage gaps, however, implicate policy concerns that are properly considered by the legislature, not this court." Founders Insurance Co. v. Munoz ,237 Ill. 2d 424 , 445,341 Ill.Dec. 485 ,930 N.E.2d 999 (2010).
¶ 24 Further, we are unpersuaded by Crowley's argument that Empire's excess insurance policy is illusory (and therefore unenforceable) because it excludes coverage for all accidents arising from criminal acts. Crowley insists that, if the exclusion is upheld, Empire would never have to provide coverage, because all accidents are premised on criminal acts. Our supreme court has rejected a similar argument, asserting that a court "need not speculate as to the myriad of other factual scenarios to which the exclusion might apply."
Id. at 440,
¶ 25 We also reject Crowley's argument that the intoxication exclusion should be unenforceable because it was in small print on the reverse side of the rental agreement and neither John nor Thomas Bruen was provided with a copy of the Empire policy. As Empire points out, Crowley forfeited this issue by not raising it before the trial court.
In re Estate of Chaney
,
¶ 26 Finally, we find Crowley's reliance on
Maryland Casualty Co. v. Iowa National Mutual Insurance Co.
,
¶ 27 In
Maryland Casualty
, at issue was whether the insurance company had to provide coverage for someone who had permission to drive the vehicle but had not received that permission from the named insured.
Id. at 336,
¶ 28 III. CONCLUSION
¶ 29 For the reasons stated, the judgment of the circuit court of De Kalb County is reversed.
¶ 30 Reversed.
Presiding Justice Birkett and Justice Hutchinson concurred in the judgment and opinion.
We recognize that it is well established that, where the public policy of Illinois may be found in this state's constitution, statutes, and judicial decisions, the public policies of other states are not persuasive.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Collins
,
Crowley mischaracterizes the policy in
Garrott
as an excess policy because it provided greater coverage than was mandated by statute. An excess policy is different from a primary policy because it does not provide coverage until the coverage provided by the primary policy has been exhausted. See
United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Continental Casualty Co.
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.