What Is Family Protection Coverage Auto Insurance ?

In Polzin v. Phoenix of Hartford Insurance Cos., 5 Ill. App. 3d 84, 283 N.E.2d 324 (1972), the insurance policy included a "'Family Protection Coverage'" endorsement that defined an "insured", in pertinent part, as: (1) the named insured as stated in the policy and any person designated as named insured in the schedule and, while residents of the same household, the spouse of any such named insured and relatives of either; (2) any other person while occupying an insured automobile." Polzin, 5 Ill. App. 3d at 85, 283 N.E.2d at 325. In that case, plaintiff was the president and chief executive officer of a corporation who also owned 50% of the corporate stock. The corporation owned two vehicles insured by the defendant insurance company and was the only named insured on the policy. Plaintiff purchased the insured auto policy, transferred title to the insured corporation, and was the principal driver of the vehicles. Thereafter, while a pedestrian, plaintiff was hit by an uninsured driver. After the insurance company denied plaintiff's claim under the corporation's automobile insurance policy, plaintiff claimed coverage under the "Family Protection Coverage," contending that any other interpretation would render the endorsement a nullity. This court found that the plain and unambiguous language of the policy did not provide for coverage to a plaintiff, a corporate officer, shareholder and principal user of an insured automobile, who failed to prove that he came within the policy terms of the endorsement. Polzin, 5 Ill. App. 3d at 87, 283 N.E.2d at 327. In so holding, the Court specifically stated that to adopt plaintiff's construction of the endorsement would result in an impermissible rewriting of the insurance policy. Polzin, 5 Ill. App. 3d at 88, 283 N.E.2d at 328; cf. Klemp v. Hergott Group. Inc., 267 Ill. App. 3d 574, 581, 641 N.E.2d 957, 962, 204 Ill. Dec. 527 (1994) (holding that "a court will not rewrite a contract to suit one of the parties, but will enforce the terms as written").