American Hardware Ins. Group v. West One Auto

In American Hardware Ins. Group v. West One Auto., 167 Ore. App. 244, 247, 2 P.3d 413 (2000), the plaintiff in the underlying case brought an action for wrongful termination of employment for having opposed the insured's allegedly improper practices. The plaintiff did not allege that the insured had evicted him from or dispossessed him of a right to remain on its premises. As in this case, the insurance policy provided coverage for a claim for the "offense" of "wrongful entry into, or eviction of a person from a room, dwelling or premises that the person occupies." 167 Ore. App. at 250. The insured argued that the termination of the plaintiff necessarily involved forcing him out of and expelling him from the insured's premises. According to the insured, the plaintiff's occupation of the insured's premises during his work time and his subsequent ouster sufficed to afford coverage under the policy. The Court concluded that the insured's argument was implausible, both because the specific context of the terms obviously referred to a person who had asserted a possessory or other legal right to occupy particular premises and because the context of the policy as a whole demonstrated that the parties recognized a distinction between claims for eviction and claims for wrongful termination of employment. American Hardware Ins. Group, 167 Ore. App. at 250-51.