Adams v. King

275 S.W.3d 324, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 1618, 2008 WL 5006565
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 26, 2008
DocketSD 28783
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 275 S.W.3d 324 (Adams v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. King, 275 S.W.3d 324, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 1618, 2008 WL 5006565 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

NANCY STEFFEN RAHMEYER, Judge.

David Adams and his two children (“Appellants”) brought this action against their own motor vehicle insurance company, Shelter Mutual Insurance Company (“Shelter”), after David’s wife, La Jena, and his two children were involved in an accident with Timothy King, a motorist from Louisiana. Mrs. Adams died in the accident and the children were injured. Appellants alleged that Mr. King’s truck crossed the center line and hit Appellants’ vehicle head-on. The damages sustained *326 by Appellants were stipulated to be in excess of $225,000.

Appellants had three policies issued by Shelter, all of which contained uninsured motorist coverage. The combined uninsured limits of the three policies were $100,000 per person and $200,000 per occurrence. At the time of the accident, Mr. King was a resident of Louisiana. His truck was registered, licensed, and principally garaged in Louisiana. The truck was covered by a policy with USAA Casualty Insurance Company (“USAA”). The policy was issued and delivered in Louisiana. The policy stated that it provides bodily injury liability coverage to Mr. King in the amount of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per occurrence. In addition, the policy had a provision, which read:

OUT OF STATE COVERAGE
If an auto accident to which this policy applies occurs in any state or province other than the one in which your covered auto is principally garaged, your policy will provide at least the minimum amounts and types of coverages required by law. However, no one will be entitled to duplicate payments for the same elements of loss. (Italics added.)

Appellants filed suit against their own insurer, Shelter, under the policy’s uninsured motorist provision. Appellants contended that Mr. King was an uninsured motorist because he did not have the financial responsibility minimum insurance required by law in Missouri. Shelter countered that Mr. King was not an uninsured motorist because although his insurance company, USAA, provided limits of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per occurrence, USAA offered to pay the minimum of the Missouri financial responsibility insur-anee. 1 The trial court granted summary judgment to Shelter, finding that Mr. King was not the operator of an uninsured motor vehicle because USAA’s policy provided liability coverage in the minimum amounts set forth in Missouri’s financial responsibility law.

Summary judgment is proper “where the moving party has demonstrated, on the basis of facts as to which there is no genuine dispute, a right to judgment as a matter of law.” ITT Commercial Finance v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). When reviewing appeals from summary judgments, this Court will review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment was entered. Id. Because the trial court’s decision is founded on the record submitted and the law, this Court’s review is de novo. Id. The standard used by this Court to test the propriety of summary judgment is the same standard as that which should have been used by the trial court to determine whether to sustain the motion. Bridges v. White, 223 S.W.3d 195, 198 (Mo.App. S.D.2007). Summary judgment “is the undisputed right to judgment as a matter of law; not simply the absence of a fact question.” ITT Commercial, 854 S.W.2d at 380.

Under Missouri law, an out-of-state motorist is deemed to be uninsured if the bodily injury liability limits of his insurance policy are below the statutory minimums required by section 303.030.5. Ragsdale v. Armstrong, 916 S.W.2d 783, 784-85 (Mo. banc 1996); Cook v. Pedigo, 714 S.W.2d 949, 950-52 (Mo.App. E.D.1986). In Cook, the insured defendant car *327 ried insurance of only $10,000 per person and $20,000 per accident. Id. at 950. The plaintiff tried to collect under the uninsured motorist provision of the plaintiffs own insurance policy. Id. The plaintiffs insurance company argued that because the insured defendant had an insurance policy, he was an underinsured motorist, not an uninsured motorist. Id. The Cook court held that because the insured defendant’s policy provided less than the amounts required under section 303.030.5, he was an uninsured motorist and his motor vehicle was an uninsured motor vehicle for purposes of Missouri’s uninsured protection statute, section 379.203.1. Id. at 952.

Shelter contends that because USAA volunteered to pay out benefits equal to the amount required by Missouri’s financial responsibility law, Mr. King’s vehicle was not uninsured and Appellants were not entitled to uninsured motorist benefits from them own carrier. Appellants’ counter that, by the plain language of Mr. King’s policy, USAA would pay at least the minimum amounts required by law. Appellants argue that there is no law, Missouri or otherwise, that increases a Missouri non-resident’s minimum liability coverage to that required of Missouri residents. Therefore, that provision, Part IV(d), of Appellants’ policy regarding uninsured motorist coverage, should not have excluded Mr. King’s vehicle from being considered as an uninsured motor vehicle and Appellants should have been permitted to collect uninsured motorist coverage under them policies with Shelter.

The language of Mr. King’s policy clearly states that the coverage that will be provided is any coverage required by law. Shelter does not argue that there is any Louisiana law that requires Mr. King to have coverage above the $10,000 per person/ $20,000 per occurrence liability coverage, which he had with his policy. We look to Missouri statutes to determine whether there is Missouri law which requires Mr. King, a Louisiana resident, to have the minimum financial responsibility limits. Section 303.030.5 provides the financial responsibility limits. It states:

No such policy ... shall be effective under this section unless issued by an insurance company or surety company authorized to do business in this state, except that if such motor vehicle was not registered in this state, or was a motor vehicle which was registered elsewhere than in this state ... provided, however, every such policy or bond is subject, if the accident has resulted in bodily injury or death, to a limit, exclusive of interest and costs, of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident and, subject to said limit for one person, to a limit of not less than fifty thousand dollars because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident[.]

Section 303.025.1 provides:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Forsman v. Burgess
552 S.W.3d 667 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2018)
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Ardrey
353 S.W.3d 437 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2011)
Adams v. King
356 S.W.3d 326 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2011)
Adams v. USAA Casualty Insurance Co.
317 S.W.3d 66 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
Hampson v. ABC ATLAS VAN LINES
275 S.W.3d 324 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
275 S.W.3d 324, 2008 Mo. App. LEXIS 1618, 2008 WL 5006565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-king-moctapp-2008.