Macalco v. Gulf Insurance Company

Macalco, Inc. (Macalco) owned an airplane which crashed in a nighttime flight and was destroyed. At the time of the occurrence,
the plane was being piloted by Macalco's president, Orville McDowell (McDowell), and carrying two passengers. All of the occupants
perished. When the tragedy happened, Macalco and McDowell were insureds in an aircraft hull and liability policy issued by
Gulf Insurance Company (Gulf) and in an excess indemnity (umbrella) policy issued by The Aetna Casualty And Surety Company
(Aetna). Gulf denied coverage. Macalco and the administratrix of the estate of the deceased pilot, who had been sued for the
wrongful deaths of the passengers, brought this action against Gulf, Aetna and the suing passengers' widows for a declaration
of insurance coverages and liabilities. Following a bench trial the court ruled, in specifics to be detailed anon, that the
policies afforded coverage for the claims arising from the crash. Gulf and Aetna filed separate appeals which have been consolidated.
There is no conflict of consequence in the evidence and much of it is documented. Gulf's policy provided coverage for (1) bodily injury and property damage liability, (2) medical payments and (3) physical
loss of and damage to the airplane. The single limit for bodily injury and property damage liability was stated under "Declarations"
to be "1,000,000 each occurrence See End. No. 1". By this endorsement, entitled "Passenger Limits of Liability," it was agreed
that $100,000 was Gulf's liability for bodily injury damage sustained by any one passenger per occurrence or $500,000 for
all passengers per occurrence.