Klapp v. United Insurance Group Agency, Inc.

663 N.W.2d 447 (Mich. 2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P worked for D as an insurance agent under a contract, titled the 'Agent's Agreement.' P left work in 1997 after 7 years and before he was 65. P sued D for a failure to pay renewal commissions to which P was entitled pursuant to the vesting schedule in their contract that provided that an agent with seven years of service is entitled to the vesting of one hundred percent of his renewals. D moved for summary judgment. The trial court found the contract to be ambiguous, and the jury subsequently found in favor of P. The Court of Appeals reversed in that the contract unambiguously requires that an agent must be at least sixty- five years old and have worked at least ten years for D in order to qualify for retirement renewal commissions. P appealed. P argues that the contract was ambiguous because the vesting schedule in § 5(B) of the Agent's Agreement conflicts with the sixty-five years of age and ten years of service requirements in the Agent's Manual. Under the vesting schedule, a percentage of renewal commissions were vested after two years of service, while, under the Agent's Manual's definition of retirement, which the Agent's Agreement incorporated, renewal commissions were not vested at all until an agent reached sixty-five years of age and had served as an agent with defendant for ten years.