Insurance Policy Construction is a Question of Law
I am sure you have an insurance policy…some type of policy. An automobile liability policy, where you may check out compare the market moped insurance, or basic car insurance, etc. A commercial general liability policy. A professional liability policy. A property insurance policy. A directors and officers liability policy. A workers compensation insurance policy. There are many types of insurance policies. I am sure you have some insurance policy to protect you or your business’s needs or risks. You may have even been involved in an insurance coverage dispute or have had issues dealing with insurance coverage.
If you read any one of your insurance policies, you will probably be left with more questions than answers. You will be asking yourself “what does this mean?” or “what does this say?” and will often be left bemoaning “huh!?!” with every other sentence you read. This is the exact reason why there are insurance coverage disputes.
When it comes to insurance coverage disputes and the interpretation of the language in an insurance policy, the Florida Supreme Court importantly explained:
Insurance policy construction is a question of law subject to de novo review. Courts construe insurance contracts according to their plain language. However, “any ambiguity which remains after reading each policy as a whole and endeavoring to give every provision its full meaning and operative effect must be liberally construed in favor of coverage and strictly against the insurer.” A provision is ambiguous if it is “susceptible to two reasonable interpretations, one providing coverage and the other excluding coverage.” The ambiguity must be genuine, and the lack of a definition for an operative term “does not, by itself, create an ambiguity “When a term in an insurance policy is undefined, it should be given its plain and ordinary meaning, and courts may look to legal and non-legal dictionary definitions to determine such a meaning.”
Government Employees Insurance Co. v. Macedo, 42 Fla. L. Weekly S731a (Fla. 2017) (internal citations omitted).
Obviously, if you have an insurance coverage dispute, you want to make sure you are represented by an attorney that understands the complexities of insurance coverage. Nonetheless, it is imperative that you understand that insurance policy construction is a question of law for the Court with a de novo standard of appellate review.
Please contact David Adelstein at [email protected] or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter @DavidAdelstein1.
