Buettner v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

210 S.W.3d 363, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1671, 2006 WL 3196845
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 7, 2006
DocketNo. ED 87650
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 210 S.W.3d 363 (Buettner v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.) 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
Buettner v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 210 S.W.3d 363, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1671, 2006 WL 3196845 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, J.

Introduction

Michele Buettner and Leonard Buettner (collectively referred to as the Buettners) [365]*365appeal from the trial court’s judgment in favor of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) in the Buettners’ action seeking underinsured motorist coverage under three insurance policies issued to the Buettners by State Farm. We affirm.

Background

The Buettners’ action was tried below on a Joint Stipulation of Facts. The record before us reveals the following.

On August 19, 2001, Michele Buettner was injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by the negligence of Michelle Pe-drotti (Pedrotti). At the time of the accident, Michele Buettner was a passenger in a 1990 Chevrolet S-10 truck owned by the Buettners. As a result of the injuries she suffered, Michele Buettner incurred medical expenses in the amount of $160,000, and her lost earnings totaled $40,000. Her total damages exceeded $500,000.

Pedrotti’s insurance company paid the Buettners $100,000, as the limit of Pedrot-ti’s automobile liability insurance policy. State Farm consented to the payment.

At the time of the accident, the Buett-ners had three automobile insurance policies with State Farm. The Buettners paid separate premiums for each policy and separate amounts for underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage for each policy-

Accordingly, the Buettners demanded payment from State Farm of the limits for underinsured motorist coverage under all three policies. State Farm paid $50,000 to the Buettners under Policy Number 324344-025-25 (listing the Buettners’ 1990 Chevy S-10 as the insured vehicle; hereinafter referred to as “Policy A”). After State Farm refused to pay underinsured motorist benefits under the Buettners’ other two automobile policies (hereinafter referred to as “Policy B,” listing the Buett-ners’ 1984 Lincoln Town Car, and “Policy C,” listing their 1984 Toyota 1/2 ton pickup), the Buettners filed this action, seeking $100,000 as the combined limits of the underinsured motorist coverage of those policies, damages for loss of consortium and vexatious refusal to pay, and punitive damages.

The trial court decided the case upon the parties’ Joint Stipulation of Facts, Amendment to the Joint Stipulation of Facts, and exhibits, entering judgment in favor of State Farm on January 13, 2005. The Buettners timely filed their appeal on February 16, 2006.

Points on Appeal

The Buettners raise two points on appeal: 1) the trial court erred in not allowing the underinsured insurance policies to be stacked because underinsured motorist coverage is floating, personal accident insurance which follows the insured individual wherever she goes and the Buettners paid separate premiums for underinsured motorist coverage for each policy; and 2) the trial court erred in finding that there was no underinsured motorist coverage available under the two policies because State Farm failed to plead or set forth the policy exclusions and the issue was not tried by implied consent.

Standard of Review

The interpretation of the meaning of an insurance policy is a question of law. Vega v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Co., 162 S.W.3d 144, 146 (Mo.App. W.D.2005). We review such questions of law de novo, giving no deference to the trial court’s decision. Id. at 148.

Discussion

In their first point, the Buettners claim the trial court erred in not allowing [366]*366the underinsured insurance policies to be stacked because underinsured motorist coverage is floating, personal accident insurance which follows the insured individual wherever she goes and the Buettners paid separate premiums for underinsured motorist coverage for each policy. “Stacking” refers to an injured insured’s ability to recover multiple insurance coverage benefits “either from more than one policy, as where the insured has two or more separate vehicles under separate policies, or from multiple coverages provided for within a single policy, as when an insured has one policy that covers more than one vehicle.” Niswonger v. Farm Bureau Town & Country Ins. Co. of Mo., 992 S.W.2d 308, 313 (Mo.App. E.D.1999). The existence of underinsured coverage and its ability to be stacked are determined by the terms of the insurance policy; if the policy language unambiguously disallows stacking, courts will not create such extra coverage. Id. at 314.

Here, the declaration pages of each of the three policies show that the limit of liability for underinsured motor vehicles is $50,000 per person, and $100,000 per accident. All three policies contain identical clauses defining the limits of liability for underinsured motorist coverage.

In the argument portion of their brief, the Buettners expand somewhat upon their point relied on, appearing to contend also that the policies’ sections purporting to limit insureds’ ability to stack policies do not apply to them and are ambiguous.

In response, State Farm initially argues that there is no underinsured coverage under Policies B and C because the 1990 Chevy S-10 truck in which Michele Buett-ner was riding is not listed on the declaration pages of Policies B and C, quoting the following language contained in the three policies:

When Coverages U and W Do Not Apply

THERE IS NO COVERAGE UNDER W FOR BODILY INJURY TO AN INSURED:

1. WHILE OCCUPYING A MOTOR VEHICLE OWNED OR LEASED BY YOU, YOUR SPOUSE, OR ANY RELATIVE IF IT IS NOT INSURED FOR THIS COVERAGE UNDER THIS POLICY[.]

“Insured” as defined in this section includes Michele Buettner. ‘You” or ‘Your” is defined in the policy as “the named insured or named insureds shown on the declarations page.”

State Farm urges that due to this anti-stacking language, Policy B, insuring only ■the Lincoln and not the Chevy S-10 in which Michele Buettner was injured, would not provide underinsured motorist coverage for Michele Buettner’s injuries because she was injured in a vehicle she owned but did not have insured under Policy B. Likewise, according to State Farm, Policy C, insuring only the Toyota, would not provide underinsured coverage for the same reason. Asserting that Policy A is the only applicable policy of insurance because only it listed the Chevy S-10, State Farm maintains the Buettners are entitled only to the $50,000 they already have received, as the limit of Policy A’s underinsured motorist coverage.

In Hempen v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 687 S.W.2d 894, 895 (Mo. banc 1985), the Missouri Supreme Court addressed the rule of law that a policy may clearly and explicitly spell out an intention to limit liability to a single coverage and thus foreclose stacking of medical payments coverage. The insured in Hempen was injured while riding in a 1967 Chevrolet she owned jointly with her husband. Id. at 894. She sought to stack the medical payments coverage of the 1967 Chevrolet with the medi[367]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 S.W.3d 363, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1671, 2006 WL 3196845, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buettner-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-moctapp-2006.