Metz v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co

In Metz v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co. (1973) 10 Cal.3d 45, one of the exclusions under consideration purported to remove coverage for vehicles "while rented to others" (p. 50), a phrase substantially similar to the language of endorsement 2. After first unanimously reiterating the established public policy of this state requiring coverage for permissive users (pp. 50-51), the California Supreme Court rejected the insurer's contention that the phrase "while rented to others," did not exclude a class of users, but a class of automobiles, "namely, those rented to persons other than the named insured," as follows at page 52: "The right of the insurer to limit its coverage of automobiles . . . does not go so far as to permit the insurer by adroit wording to evade the statutory requirement for coverage of permissive users."