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Voorhees v. Preferred Mutual Insurance Co.3/20/1991
so far as the language of the insurance contract will permit. Id.
The rule of liberal construction cannot however operate to authorize the perversion of the language and the intention of the contracting parties for the purpose of creating an ambiguity
where none exists. 13 Appleman, Insurance Law and Practice § 7486, at 622 (1976). The power to bind an insurer must be found in the written contract of insurance and the parties will be bound by the plain language of the contract. Id. The court cannot rewrite the contract for the parties, nor is it empowered, even under the guise of good faith and peculiar circumstances, to alter the terms of an otherwise unambiguous contract. Id. at 622-23. If plainly expressed, insurers are entitled to have liability limitations construed and enforced as expressed. Id. at 623. See Longobardi v. Chubb Ins. Co. of New Jersey, 121 N.J. 530, 537, 582 A.2d 1257 (1990); see also Sinopoli v. North River Ins. Co., 244 N.J. Super. 245, 250-51, 581 A.2d 1368 (App.Div.1990) (exclusion in homeowner's policy for bodily injury arising from a business-related claim does not violate the insured's reasonable expectations).
In my view, the term "bodily injury" in the insurance contract contemplates injury to the physical components of the body, not to solely subjective nonphysical mental suffering. Further, the term "accident" or "occurrence" in an insurance policy does not include "false and erroneous statements," which interfere with "rights of privacy, severe humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress and mental anguish," which damages "reputation as a professional teacher."
To begin with, the term "bodily injury" is to be given its ordinary and well-understood meaning. Srebnik v. State, 245 N.J. Super. 344, 351, 585 A.2d 950 (App.Div.1991). "Bodily" is defined as " ertaining to or concerning the body; of or belonging to the body or the physical constitution; not mental but corporal." Id. (citing Black's Law Dictionary 159 (5th ed.1979)) (emphasis supplied). "Bodily injury" " enerally refers only to injury to the body or to sickness or disease contracted by the injured as a result of injury." Black's Law Dictionary 159. It cannot be denied that "emotional distress is just as real as physical pain." See cases cited ante at maj. op. at 571; see
also Srebnik, 245 N.J. Super. at 349-354, 585 A.2d 950; Ayers v. Township of Jackson, 106 N.J. 557, 577, 525 A.2d 287 (1987). Nevertheless, here we are dealing with "subjective" and "non-objective types of damages" not related to physical injuries. In this context the term "personal injury" in an insurance policy is broader and more comprehensive than the term "bodily injury." Nuzzi v. United States Casualty Co., 121 N.J.L. 249, 254, 1 A.2d 890 (E. & A.1938).
This distinction was recognized in Lumbermen's v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 218 N.J. Super. 492, 528 A.2d 64 (App.Div.1987). There, a claimant instituted an action for defamation and did not allege any bodily injury. There, as here, there was no bodily contact but the tort was purely based upon defamatory statements. We held that "personal injuries" such as false arrest, libel or slander and wrongful entry or eviction, as mental injuries, are not "bodily injuries" covered under the insurance policy. We noted that the United Service Auto Asso
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