Chad E. Osterhout v. Kendall Morgan, et al.

Muskogee, Oklahoma personal injury lawyer represented the Plaintiff who sued on a civil rights theory.

forceable and unambiguous. We therefore affirm.



Mr. Osterhout was badly beaten during a traffic stop by Mr. Morgan, the

former Undersheriff of LeFlore County. Mr. Osterhout filed suit seeking damages

from Mr. Morgan under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for excessive use of force. At trial, the jury

found in his favor and returned a judgment of $3 million in compensatory damages 2

and $1 million in punitive damages. As a result of the judgment, Mr. Osterhout

initiated a garnishment proceeding against ACCO-SIG based on its Liability

Coverage Agreement with Mr. Morgan's former employer, LeFlore County. ACCO-

SIG moved for summary judgment, arguing that Mr. Morgan's conduct was not

covered by the Agreement.



* * *



Oklahoma applies the doctrine of reasonable expectations only "to the

construction of ambiguous insurance contracts or to contracts containing exclusions

which are masked by technical or obscure language or which are hidden in policy

provisions.” Max True Plastering Co. v. U.S. Fid. and Guar. Co., 912 P.2d 861, 863

(Okla. 1996) (emphasis added). "Under this doctrine, if the insurer or its agent

creates a reasonable expectation of coverage in the insured which is not supported by

policy language, the expectation will prevail over the language of the policy.” Id. at

864. If a policy is unambiguous, "the employed language is accorded its ordinary,

plain meaning and enforced so as to carry out the parties' intentions.” Bituminous

Cas. Corp. v. Cowen Constr., Inc., 55 P.3d 1030, 1033 (Okla. 2002)

Summary judgment in favor of Defendants.



Affirmed