United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-3053 JADAIR INTERNATIONAL, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN NATIONAL PROPERTY & CASUALTY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. No. 2:21-cv-1103 — J.P. Stadtmueller, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED MAY 25, 2023 — DECIDED AUGUST 9, 2023 ____________________

Before EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and LEE, Circuit Judges. LEE, Circuit Judge. David Schmutzler was the owner and president of Jadair International, Inc. (“Jadair”). He was also a pilot with decades of experience. On Jadair’s behalf, Schmutzler secured an aircraft insurance policy from the American National Property & Casualty Company (“Ameri- can National”), covering a Cessna airplane owned by Jadair. Tragically, the Cessna crashed in May 2020, killing Schmutz- ler, who was piloting the plane. Jadair filed a claim on the 2 No. 22-3053 policy. American National denied coverage because Schmutz- ler did not have a current and valid medical certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) at the time of the accident. Jadair sued American National in federal court for payments due under the policy. The district court granted American National’s motions for summary and declaratory judgment, holding that the policy unambiguously excludes coverage for any accident involving the Cessna where the pi- lot lacks a current FAA medical certificate. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND A. Insurance Policy and Accident Schmutzler applied to American National for an insurance policy on the Cessna, FAA registration number N1JA, in 2019. The application listed Schmutzler as the Cessna’s only author- ized pilot. On the application, Schmutzler indicated that he was a li- censed pilot with an FAA medical certificate.1 Id. The applica- tion included a section titled “Minimum Pilot Requirements,” which stated that “there is no coverage in flight unless the air- craft is being operated by the pilot(s) designated on this doc- ument who has/have at least the certificates, ratings, and pilot experience indicated, and who … is/are properly qualified for the flight involved.” Schmutzler initialed this provision.

1 The FAA generally requires pilots to obtain medical certificates in- dicating that they are physically fit to fly. Certificates are issued for a spec- ified period of time, after which they expire. See Bullwinkel v. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., 787 F.2d 254, 255 (7th Cir. 1986). No. 22-3053 3

American National issued the policy to Jadair on June 27, 2019. We will summarize briefly the provisions of the policy most relevant to this case. First, Item Nine of the policy’s Coverage Identification Page states: The Aircraft must be operated in flight only by a person having the minimum qualifications shown below. The pilot must have a current and valid (1) medical certificate, (2) flight review and (3) pilot certificate with necessary ratings, each as required by the FAA for each flight. THERE IS NO COVERAGE IF THE PILOT DOES NOT MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS. AS ENDORSED This boilerplate provision is subject to the following Endorse- ment: 4 No. 22-3053

After the policy was bound and during the coverage pe- riod, on May 15, 2020, the Cessna crashed, killing Schmutzler, who was piloting the craft. It is undisputed that Schmutzler lacked a current and valid FAA medical certificate at the time of the accid