Advent v. Allstate Insurance

888 N.E.2d 398, 118 Ohio St. 3d 248
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 2008
DocketNos. 2006-2271 and 2006-2393
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 888 N.E.2d 398 (Advent v. Allstate Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Advent v. Allstate Insurance, 888 N.E.2d 398, 118 Ohio St. 3d 248 (Ohio 2008).

Opinions

Cupp, J.

{¶ 1} The issue presented in this case is whether the versions of R.C. 3937.18 and 3937.31 in effect on September 12, 2002, permitted modification of an automobile insurance policy’s uninsured- and underinsured-motorist (hereinafter “UM”) coverage at the beginning of the policy-renewal period within the two-year statutory guarantee period.

{¶ 2} Because the two-year guarantee period began after September 21, 2000, the effective date of 2000 Sub.S.B. No. 267, 148 Ohio Laws, Part V, 11,380, and because the modification occurred after October 31, 2001, the effective date of 2001 Am.Sub.S.B. No. 97,149 Ohio Laws, Part I, 779, we hold that modification of UM coverage was a change permitted by law. Further, we find that the terms of the automobile insurance policy at issue were in fact modified within that period of time, and we affirm the judgment of the appellate court.

I

{¶ 3} This action arises from an automobile accident on September 28, 2002. Valijean D. Advent died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. Her husband, Jack Advent, is the executor of her estate. Mr. and Mrs. Advent were the named insureds on an automobile insurance policy issued by Allstate Insurance Company. The liability limits on the policy were $300,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence. The UM coverage limits were $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident. The policy was originally purchased on March 12, 1989. The policy remained in effect throughout the two-year guarantee period of March 12, 2001, to March 12, 2003. Within the two-year guarantee periods, the policy [249]*249was renewed every six months, including the six-month period of September 12, 2002, to March 12, 2003, which is the policy period when the accident occurred.

{¶ 4} As the executor, Advent settled the estate’s claims against the tortfeasor and his automobile insurance company for the bodily-injury liability limit under the tortfeasor’s policy, which was $100,000. In settling the claim, Advent reserved the right to pursue UM coverage under his own Allstate policy. Advent made a claim for $200,000 from Allstate on the theory that by operation of law, the amount of UM coverage was equivalent to his policy’s liability limits of $300,000, subject to an offset of the $100,000 recovered from the tortfeasor’s policy. Advent, as executor, filed his complaint against Allstate to recover that amount.

{¶ 5} The trial court awarded summary judgment to Allstate. It determined that because of recent legislative enactments, Advent was not entitled to UM coverage in an amount equivalent to the Allstate policy’s liability limits. The appellate court affirmed. Advent v. Allstate Ins. Co., 169 Ohio App.3d 318, 2006-Ohio-5522, 862 N.E.2d 871. We accepted Advent’s discretionary appeal and certified a conflict. Advent v. Allstate Ins. Co., 112 Ohio St.3d 1490, 2007-Ohio-724, 862 N.E.2d 117.

{¶ 6} The certified-eonflict question raised in this appeal is: “Can the S.B. No. 97 amendments to R.C. 3937.18 be incorporated into an insurance policy during a two-year guarantee period that commenced subsequent to the S.B. No. 267 amendments to R.C. 3937.18 and R.C. 3937.31, but prior to the S.B. No. 97 amendments?”1 The propositions of law accepted under discretionary jurisdiction are essentially restatements of the certified-conflict question, which addresses the question of which version of R.C. 3937.18 applies in this case.2

II

{¶ 7} By statute, all automobile insurance policies must be “issued for a period of not less than two years or guaranteed renewable for successive policy periods totaling not less than two years.” R.C. 3937.31(A). Recognizing that the laws pertaining to the provisions contained in automobile insurance policies change frequently, we previously interpreted R.C. 3937.31 to mean that insurers are permitted to incorporate statutory changes into an insurance policy only when a two-year guarantee period begins. Wolfe v. Wolfe (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 246, 250-251, 725 N.E.2d 261.

[250]*250{¶ 8} After Wolfe, the General Assembly enacted S.B. 267, effective September 21, 2000, expressly permitting insurers to change policies at the beginning of any policy-renewal period within a two-year guarantee period. See R.C. 3937.31(E) (“Nothing in this section prohibits an insurer from incorporating into a policy any changes that are permitted or required by this section or other sections of the Revised Code at the beginning of any policy period within the two-year period set forth in division (A) of this section”). Subsequently, we explored the ramifications of S.B. 267 on Wolfe, as applicable to R.C. 3937.31, in Shay v. Shay, 113 Ohio St.3d 172, 2007-Ohio-1384, 863 N.E.2d 591. In Shay, we concluded that the provisions of S.B. 267 were permissive, and we left Wolfe intact. Id. at ¶ 1. Therefore, we did not require an insurer to amend policy terms to incorporate recent legislative changes at a policy-renewal period within the two-year guarantee period. Id.

(¶ 9} Left unchanged by S.B. 267, however, was the general statutory requirement for insurers to offer UM coverage in an amount equal to the liability limits of the policy. See former R.C. 3937.18(A), 148 Ohio Laws, Part V, 11,380 (effective September 21, 2000). An insurer’s failure to offer UM coverage within a policy resulted in UM coverage arising by operation of law in an amount equal to the policy’s liability limits. Gyori v. Johnston Coca-Cola Bottling Group, Inc. (1996), 76 Ohio St.3d 565, 567, 669 N.E.2d 824. UM coverage arose by operation of law if the insurer was unable to demonstrate that it had made a written offer of UM coverage and that its insured had (1) selected in writing UM coverage in a lesser amount or (2) expressly refused UM coverage in writing. Id.; Mason v. Royal Ins. Co. of Am., Stark App. No. 2003 CA 00029, 2003-Ohio-7047, 2003 WL 23009004, ¶ 11, 28.

{¶ 10} Thereafter, the UM coverage laws were further amended by S.B. 97, effective October 31, 2001. S.B. 97 rewrote R.C. 3937.18, with the express intention of superseding the holdings of this court in “cases previously superseded by * * * S.B. 267” and, among other named cases, Gyori, 76 Ohio St.3d 565, 669 N.E.2d 824. Section 3(D) and (E), S.B. 97, 149 Ohio Laws, Part I, 789-790. In addition to eliminating “any requirement of a written offer, selection, or rejection form,” this amendment was also intended to “[eliminate the possibility of uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages being implied as a matter of law in any insurance policy.” Id. at 788, Section 3(B)(4) and (2).3

[251]*251{¶ 11} The cumulative effect of the General Assembly’s amendments to R.C. 3937.18 in S.B. 267 and S.B.

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Bluebook (online)
888 N.E.2d 398, 118 Ohio St. 3d 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/advent-v-allstate-insurance-ohio-2008.