OAG 40-14.

• Case Date: July 17, 1940
• Court: Oregon

Oregon Attorney General Opinions 1940. OAG 40-14. 20OPINION NO. 40-14[20 Or. Op. Atty. Gen. 20]The Oregon liquor control commission is not authorized to execute policies of insurance covering public liability for accidents occurring in liquor stores established, operated and controlled by the State of Oregon.July 17, 1940.Oregon Liquor Control Commission.Gentlemen: I have your letter of July 8th in which you state that the Oregon liquor control commission has executed an "Owner's, Landlord's and Tenant's insurance contract" covering the liquor stores which have been established by and are operated and controlled by the commission as provided by law; that the secretary of state has declined to approve payment of the claim for premium on said insurance contract. You request my opinion as to whether or not the commission is authorized to execute policies of insurance covering public liability for accidents occurring in liquor stores so established, operated and controlled. Subsection (m) of Section 15-1006, Oregon Code 1935 Supplement, as amended by section 4 of chapter 448, Oregon Laws, 1937, grants power to the commission:

"To secure and pay for such policies of insurance as may be necessary to adequately protect it from loss by fire, theft or other casualty."

The only question arising in connection with the application of this language to the present inquiry is with reference to the meaning of the words "other casualty" as used in the quoted provisions. The word "casualty" is defined in 14 Corpus Juris Secundum at page 29 in this language:

"It has been said that 'casualty' is a word of quite frequent use but that its definition has not been very accurately settled by the courts. As applied to losses and injuries the word has been defined as an accident, chance, contingency, event, or incident due to some sudden, unexpected, or unusual cause, not to be foreseen or guarded against, that which comes by chance or without design or without being foreseen, or that which proceeds from an unknown cause, or is an unusual effect of a known cause, * * *"

It appears, therefore, that the use of the word "casualty" in the statute authorizing the commission to procure insurance may well have reference to losses sustained by the commission upon its properties through accident or other unexpected or unusual cause. "Liability insurance is that form of insurance by which...