United Equitable Ins. Co. v. Calhoun

2022 IL App (1st) 210525

220 N.E.3d 1113

468 Ill.Dec. 334

UNITED EQUITABLE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Cicely CALHOUN, Individually and as Mother and Next Friend of Jadis Baker, a Minor; Lafonya Calhoun; Andre Robinson-Dock, a Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, Harry Dock; Charles McKinney, a Minor, by his Mother and Next Friend, Yvonne McKinney; Justin Patterson, a Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, Larry Patterson; Delacey Charp, a Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, Delacey Charp; Damian Collins, a Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, Vincent Collins; and Village of Richton Park, Defendants

(Andre Robinson-Dock, a Minor, by his Father and Next Friend, Harry Dock, Defendant-Appellant).

No. 1-21-0525

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, THIRD DIVISION.

Filed March 9, 2022

John P. Brattoli and Joseph L. Planera, of Joseph L. Planera & Associates, of Chicago Heights, for appellant.

John G. Covert, of Llorens Law Group, Ltd., of Chicago, for appellee.

OPINION

JUSTICE McBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 This appeal arises from a declaratory judgment action brought by plaintiff, United Equitable Insurance Company (UEI), seeking a finding that it had no duty to defend, indemnify, or provide coverage in relation to an October 4, 2018, automobile accident.

¶ 2 The record shows that on September 22, 2018, Cicely Calhoun was issued an automobile insurance policy by UEI, which covered her Chevrolet Impala. The policy listed both Calhoun and her 16-year-old son, Jadis Baker, who had been issued a graduated driver's license days earlier, as operators of the vehicle. Less than two weeks later, on October 4, 2018, Baker was driving five passengers in the Impala, which had seatbelts for only a driver and four passengers, when Baker collided with a light pole.

¶ 3 On May 22, 2019, Andre Robinson-Dock, one of the passengers in the vehicle at the time of the accident, brought a lawsuit for personal injuries.

¶ 4 Thereafter, on June 11, 2019, UEI filed a declaratory judgment action against Baker, Calhoun, Robinson-Dock, and the other alleged passengers. UEI alleged that, at the time of the accident, Baker held a graduated driver's license and the graduated licensing statute prohibited Baker from operating a motor vehicle with more than one passenger under the age of 20, excluding siblings, stepsiblings, children, or stepchildren of the driver. UEI alleged that there were five passengers in Baker's vehicle at the time of the collision, all of whom were under the age of 20 and were not Baker's siblings, stepsiblings, children, or stepchildren. UEI further alleged that the Impala seated a driver and four passengers, and Baker was driving the vehicle in violation of the graduated licensing statute and the Illinois Vehicle Code ( 625 ILCS 5/1-100 et seq. (West 2018)), both of which prohibited him from operating the vehicle with more than one passenger in the front seat and more passengers in the back seats than the number of available safety belts.

¶ 5 Based on the above, UEI argued that a policy exclusion applied to exclude liability coverage. That exclusion provided that the policy did not apply to "any person operating the owned automobile or a non-owned automobile without a reasonable belief that he or she is entitled to do so." UEI argued that Baker could not have had a "reasonable belief that he was entitled to operate" the Impala with five young passengers at the time of the accident, and with more passengers than seat belts, and that liability coverage was therefore excluded under the policy. UEI requested a finding that it owed "no duty to defend, indemnify or otherwise provide coverage to" Baker or Calhoun, in Robinson-Dock's lawsuit, or in "any case or liability claim relating to the October 4, 2018 accident."

¶ 6 All defendants, except for Robinson-Dock, failed to appear in this matter and were ultimately held in default.

¶ 7 Robinson-Dock, however, filed an appearance on September 13, 2019, and filed an answer and affirmative defenses on September 16, 2019. Robinson-Dock generally admitted UEI's allegations regarding Baker's age and that he possessed a graduated license. Robinson Dock also admitted that the Impala seated a driver and four passengers and that Baker had five passengers in the Impala at the time of the accident. Additionally, Robinson-Dock admitted that the five passengers were under age 20 and that they were not Baker's siblings, stepsiblings, children, or stepchildren. Robinson-Dock denied UEI's allegations that Baker lacked a reasonable belief that he was entitled to operate the vehicle at the time of the accident or that the reasonable belief exclusion excluded coverage under the policy.

¶ 8 In his first affirmative defense, Robinson-Dock alleged that Baker was named in the policy as an operator, that he had a valid driver's license, and that he had given Robinson-Dock permission to be present as a passenger at the time of the accident. Robinson-Dock claimed that, as a permissive user of the vehicle, he was an insured under the policy. He further alleged that denying coverage to him as a permissive passenger would violate public policy and, therefore, the reasonable belief exclusion was unenforceable against him.

¶ 9 In a second affirmative defense, Robinson-Dock alleged that under the policy's uninsured motorist provision, the policy defined the "insured" to include the named insured or "any other person while lawfully occupying an insured automobile." Robinson-Dock alleged that he was lawfully occupying the vehicle at the time of the accident and he was therefore an "insured" under the policy's uninsured motorist coverage.

¶ 10 UEI answered Robinson-Dock's affirmative defenses on October 18, 2019. UEI "neither admit[ted] nor den[ied]" Robinson-Dock's allegation that he was given permission to be a passenger in the vehicle, deeming it conclusory, and further stated that UEI lacked sufficient knowledge to admit or deny the allegation. UEI also denied that Robinson-Dock was lawfully occupying the vehicle at the time of the accident.

¶ 11 On August 4, 2020, UEI filed a motion for "prove-up," requesting a default judgment against the defendants who had failed to appear, and further requesting summary judgment against Robinson-Dock. UEI argued that Robinson-Dock had admitted the facts necessary to find that Baker could not have had a reasonable belief that he was entitled to drive at the time of the accident, as he was driving in violation of the conditions placed on his graduated license. UEI asked the court to find that Baker, being "newly-licensed" under the graduated licensing program, "could not have had a reasonable belief that he was entitled to operate the Impala on October 4, 2018, with five teenage passengers," and "with five passengers when there were only four safety belts for passengers in the vehicle." UEI also argued that public policy supported the application of the exclusion, citing the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Illinois [Graduated Driver's License] Parent-Teen Driving Guide issued by the Secretary of State. In response to a question regarding why the law limited the number of passengers for graduated license holders, the Secretary of State responded that such restrictions

"reduce the likelihood of a young, inexperienced driver being distracted by a car full of teens. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for teenage drivers, the presence of one passenger nearly doubles the fatal crash risk compared with driving alone. With two or more passengers, the fatal crash risk is five times as high as driving alone."

¶ 12 UEI asked the court to find that the reasonable belief exclusion excluded all liability coverage and that UEI was not obligated to "defend, indemnify or otherwise provide coverage to Baker in [Robinson-Dock's] [l]awsuit or in any case or liability claim" related to the accident.

¶ 13 Robinson-Dock responded to UEI's motion for summary judgment on August 31, 2020. Robinson-Dock noted that UEI admitted that Baker had a valid license and that none of the authority relied on by UEI in its summary judgment motion involved a driver with a graduated license. Robinson-Dock argued that there were material issues of fact and that UEI had not shown that it was entitled to summary judgment.

¶ 14 The trial court held a hearing on November 23, 2020. While no transcript of that hearing appears in the record on appeal, the parties have submitted an agreed statement of facts in lieu of a report of proceedings. That agreed statement, however, provides no details as to what occurred at the hearing, noting only that the court heard oral argument from both parties and that no court reporter was present.

¶ 15 Thereafter, on April 22, 2021, the court entered a written order. The court found

"that there is no question as to the material facts in this matter. On October 4, 2018, Jadis Baker was a 16-year-old driving a vehicle with a graduated driver's license, subject to the driving restrictions contained in [the graduated driver's license statute], and was driving 5 passengers all under the age of 20 years old, in a vehicle that only contained seatbelts for 4 passengers. Jadis Baker knew he was driving in violation of the restrictions placed on his graduated driver's license. Therefore, Jadis Baker had no reasonable belief that he was entitled to operate the *** Chevrolet Impala when it was involved in an accident on October 4, 2018."

¶ 16 The court entered summary judgment on the complaint in favor of UEI and against all defendants. The court further found that the policy "provides no coverage to, or for the benefit of, any of the Defendants named in this case with respect to the October 4, 2018, accident"; that UEI owed "no duty to defend, indemnify or otherwise provide coverage to" Baker or Calhoun in Robinson-Dock's lawsuit "or in any case or claim arising from" the accident; and that UEI owed "no duty to pay, settle,...