Federal Insurance Co. v. Pacific Sheet Metal, Inc

In Federal Insurance Co. v. Pacific Sheet Metal, Inc., 54 Wn. App. 514, 774 P.2d 538 (Wash. App. 1989), the policy holder claimed that an umbrella policy should "drop down" and provide primary coverage to the insured when the underlying carrier became insolvent. In denying the claim, the Washington Court specifically rejected the construction of the word "other" adopted by the Michigan Court in Geerdes. The Court stated: "we believe that the word "other" must be considered in context. The phrase at issue, "other underlying insurance collectible by the insured", is separated from the rest of the clause by a comma and the connecting word "plus".In contrast to the Geerdes court, we define the word "other" as "not being the one first mentioned". The adjective "collectible" modifies only the noun "insurance" which directly precedes it. The clause defining ultimate net loss is not ambiguous: it obligates Federal to pay only the excess over the scheduled limits plus the limits of any other underlying insurance that is collectible by the insured ." Federal Insurance Co. v. Pacific Sheet Metal, Inc., 774 P 2d. at 538.