The Arizona Supreme Court this month ruled that a driving-under-the-influence exclusion in a 1993 car rental agreement, issued by Value Rent-A-Car, wasn't stated clearly enough to void supplemental liability insurance coverage. The extra coverage was purchased by a customer involved in a collision that killed one passenger and injured another.

The ruling means that Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company is responsible for claims arising from the April 1993 accident that resulted when Phoenix resident Juan Eduardo Quintero-Lopez drove a Value Rent-A-Car vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

The collision injured passenger Pedro Huerta, a minor, and killed another passenger, Melvin Sanchez. Huerta's parents and Sanchez's mother sued Quintero-Lopez in an attempt to recover damages for the injury and death. This resulted in a judgment in which Huerta was awarded $435,000 for injuries. Sanchez's mother, Ana Barerra, was awarded $270,000 for the wrongful death of her son. Value paid its limits of $30,000, but Philadelphia denied coverage based on the DUI exclusion.

Philadelphia's denial of coverage was upheld in a subsequent ruling by a Court of Appeals. However, the Arizona Supreme Court ruling reverses that decision, asserting that "car rental customers buying additional liability insurance would expect to be covered for liability imposed by negligent driving, which, of course, includes driving under the influence."

According to the Arizona Supreme Court decision, the DUI exclusion in the rental agreement was hidden in a mass of fine print that the customer most likely wouldn't have read.

"To find the provision specifically dealing with DUI, one must look to the back page of Value's rental contract. Not surprisingly, the back page is a mass of fine type printed in a single block," the decision said.