Bryant v. United Services Automobile Ass'n

881 So. 2d 1214, 2004 La. LEXIS 2558
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided September 9, 2004·No. Nos. 2003-C-3491, 2004-C-0028·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

|! KIMBALL, Justice.

These consolidated cases involve the narrow issue of whether La. R.S. 32:866, the “no pay, no play” law, applies to bar a portion of a named insured’s recovery of her own bodily injury and/or property damages when an excluded driver is involved in an accident while driving the named insured’s, vehicle. For the reasons that follow, we find that when an insurance policy affords no coverage when an excluded driver is operating a named insured’s vehicle, policy considerations dictate a conclusion that La. R.S. 32:866 applies to bar a portion of the named insured’s recovery when the |2excluded driver is involved in an accident while driving the named insured’s vehicle with the permission of the named insured.

Facts and Procedural History

Marolyn W. Bryant

On October 26, 2002, Justin Bryant was driving a 1990 Ford Mustang owned by his mother, Marolyn Bryant, on Highway 167 in Jonesboro, Louisiana, when Robert-nique Williams ran a red light and collided with his vehicle. At the time of the accident, Williams was covered by an automobile liability insurance policy issued by United Services Automobile Association (“USAA”). The Mustang owned by Maro-lyn Bryant was insured by Direct General Insurance Company (“DGIC”). The Bryant policy expressly excluded seventeen-year-old Justin, who was a resident of Marolyn Bryant’s household, from coverage.

[1216]*1216On January 10, 2003, Marolyn Bryant (“plaintiff’) filed a petition for damages against Williams and USAA (“defendants”), alleging that Williams’s negligence was the sole and legal cause of the accident and that she suffered property damage as a result of the accident. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that her automobile was rendered a total loss and that she was therefore entitled to recover $5,000, or the value of her vehicle, together with damages for loss of use of the vehicle from defendants. In answer to plaintiffs petition, defendants denied the allegations contained in the petition and asserted the provisions of La. R.S. 32:866, the “no pay, no play” statute, as an affirmative defense. Defendants contended that the statute applied to bar plaintiffs recovery because plaintiffs son was uninsured due to the fact that he was an excluded driver under plaintiffs policy at the time of the accident.

Plaintiff then filed a Motion for Summary Judgement on Insurance Coverage seeking a judgment as a matter of law that defendants could not deny coverage on the | «basis of La. R.S. 32:866. Plaintiff argued that the statute, which seeks to punish an owner or operator who fails to maintain compulsory motor vehicle liability security, did not apply because she did, in fact, maintain automobile liability coverage in compliance with the compulsory motor vehicle liability security law. Attached to plaintiffs motion was her affidavit and a certified copy of the insurance policy containing the named driver exclusion. Defendants opposed the motion, contending that the “no pay, no play” law applies to situations in which an excluded driver was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident.

The district court granted plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, holding that defendants could not deny coverage on the basis of La. R.S. 32:866. In its written reasons for judgment, the district court, relying on the case of A.K. Dumin Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. v. Jones, 01-0810 (La. App. 1 Cir. 5/10/02), 818 So.2d 867, explained that plaintiff “would not be excluded from collecting on her insurance policy because this was not an ‘uninsured’ vehicle for the purposes of L[a]. Revised Statutes 32:866.... ” After expressly determining there was no just reason for delay in accordance with La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B)(1),1 the district court designated the judgment as final.

On appeal, the court of appeal affirmed the judgment of the district court. Bryant v. United Servs. Auto. Ass’n, 37,926 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/10/03), 862 So.2d 446. The court of appeal found that La. R.S. 32:866 clearly and unambiguously bars owners from recovering the first $10,000 of property damage if they failed to own or Rmaintain compulsory motor vehicle liability security. The court noted, however, that there is a split among various courts of appeal regarding whether the “no pay, no play” law applies to bar an insured owner from recovering his or her own damages when an excluded driver is operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Citing A.K. Dumin, supra, the court concluded that because La. R.S. 32:900 specifically allows an insured to exclude a child who is a resident of the same house[1217]*1217hold, the fact that plaintiff specifically excluded her son from coverage under her policy did not alter her compliance with the compulsory motor vehicle liability security law. Therefore, the court of appeal concluded, because plaintiff had an automobile insurance policy on the vehicle at the time of the accident, she is entitled to recover property damages without any deduction under the “no pay, no play” law.

Virginia McCray

On September 16, 2000, Stacy McCray was driving a 1986 Chrysler Fifth Avenue owned by his wife, Virginia McCray, on Interstate 10 in Jefferson Parish when the vehicle he was driving was struck from behind by a vehicle being driven by Geno Jenkins. Virginia McCray was a guest passenger in the Chrysler Fifth Avenue. The vehicle being driven by Geno Jenkins was owned by Maurice Jenkins and insured by a policy of motor vehicle liability insurance issued by Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”). The vehicle owned by Virginia McCray was insured by Young American Insurance Company (“YAIC”). The McCray policy expressly excluded Stacy McCray from all coverage provided by the policy.

On May 31, 2001, Virginia McCray (“plaintiff’) filed a petition for damages against Geno Jenkins, Maurice Jenkins, and Allstate (“defendants”), alleging that Geno Jenkins’s negligence was the cause of the accident and that she suffered bodily injury, loss of earnings, and property damage as a result of the accident. Plaintiff further |fialleged that the negligence of Geno Jenkins could be imputed to Maurice Jenkins as he entrusted a dangerous instrumentality to the care and control of an individual who he knew or should have known to be a careless and reckless driver. In answer to plaintiffs petition, defendants denied the allegations contained in the petition and asserted the applicability of the “no pay, no play” statute.

Subsequently, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment seeking judgment as a matter of law that La. R.S. 32:866 applies to prohibit plaintiff from recovering the first $10,000 of her claim. Defendants contended that because the driver of plaintiffs vehicle was excluded from coverage under her policy, there was no insurance coverage in full force and effect on plaintiffs vehicle. Consequently, defendants argued, plaintiff is barred from recovering a portion of her damages pursuant to the “no pay, no play” statute. Plaintiff opposed the motion, arguing that although her husband is precluded from recovering his damages, she is entitled to full redress for her damages because her vehicle was insured as required by law.

After a hearing on the matter, the district court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment, stating that because plaintiff had insurance on the vehicle, she had complied with the law. The matter was tried on December 3, 2002. In lieu of live testimony, the parties submitted to the district court a joint stipulation of facts and a number of exhibits.

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Bryant v. United Services Automobile Ass'n, 881 So. 2d 1214, 2004 La. LEXIS 2558 (La. 2004).

881 So. 2d 1214 (Bryant v. United Services Automobile Ass'n) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Bryant v. UNITED SERVICES AUTO. ASS'N
881 So. 2d 1214 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2004)