Chamberlin v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

36 S.W.3d 281, 343 Ark. 392, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 24
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 25, 2001
Docket99-191
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 36 S.W.3d 281 (Chamberlin v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chamberlin v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 36 S.W.3d 281, 343 Ark. 392, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 24 (Ark. 2001).

Opinions

Wh. “Dub” Arnold, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Anita June Chamberlin, urges us to overrule precedent, particularly our holding in Clampit v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 309 Ark. 107, 828 S.W.2d 593 (1992), that upheld an insurance policy’s underinsured-motorist-coverage exclusion as not violative of state public policy or the uninsured-motorist statute where the owned-but-not-insured exclusion was clear and unambiguous. We granted appellant’s motion to certify the appeal to this court, and our jurisdiction is authorized pursuant to Ark. R. Sup. Ct. l-2(d) and l-2(b)(2), (4), (5), and (6) (2000). Specifically, Chamberlin asks that we (1) disregard unambiguous anti-stacking clauses in three motor-vehicle insurance policies sold to her husband by appellee State Farm Automobile Insurance Company, and (2) permit her to “stack” the underinsured coverage under those policies for which three separate underinsured premiums were paid.

Background

The facts are undisputed. Chamberlin was injured in a two-car head-on collision. At the time of the accident, appellant was a passenger in her husband’s car, a 1988 Chrysler New Yorker insured by appellee. Appellant and her husband sued the driver at fault for negligence. Ultimately, the matter was settled because the driver’s insurance company paid the insured’s liability-coverage limits. Chamberlin then sought reimbursement from State Farm. Mr. Chamberlin had purchased three separate insurance policies from State Farm for three vehicles owned by the Chamberlin’s at the time of the accident. Each policy included underinsured-motorist coverage. However, each policy contained an anti-stacking clause stating:

THERE IS NO COVERAGE:
1. For Bodily Injury to an Insured:
a: While occupying a motor vehicle owned by you, your spouse or any relative if it is not insured for this coverage under this policy; or
b. Through being struck by a motor vehicle owned by you, your spouse or any relative.

(Emphasis added.)

State Farm paid Chamberlin the limits of underinsured coverage under the policy issued on the 1988 Chrysler but denied her claims for payment under the remaining policies on the two cars insured by State Farm but not occupied at the time of the accident. State Farm refused to pay on the owned-but-not-insured cars because it claimed that the policy exclusion clearly prohibited stacking. Notably, appellant concedes on appeal that the exclusionary language in the policy is unambiguous.

Chamberlin filed suit in the Pulaski County Circuit Court seeking to be made whole, in part, to the extent that State Farm would be required to pay her the limits of underinsured coverage under the other two policies. State Farm moved for summary judgment. In light of Arkansas case law holding that an insurance carrier may prohibit the stacking of medical-payment coverages under multiple insurance policies, consistent with the language of the no-fault act, and the fact that State Farm’s exclusion was clear and unambiguous, the trial court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment. The instant appeal ensued.

Appellant argues that the trial court’s order granting summary judgment should be reversed because our holding in Ross v. United Servs. Auto Ass’n., 320 Ark. 604, 899 S.W.2d 53 (1995), may be extended to permit stacking of underinsured-motorist coverage in the case at bar. Appellant also asks us to overturn our decision in Clampit, which would otherwise prohibit stacking. After considering appellant’s arguments and the applicable controlling authority, we decline to reverse the trial court.

I. Standard of review

Appellant’s sole point on appeal challenges the trial court’s order granting State Farm summary judgment. In reviewing summary-judgment cases, we need only decide if the trial court’s grant of summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidence presented by the moving party, State Farm, left a material question of fact unanswered. Notably, the moving party always bears the burden of sustaining a motion for summary judgment. All proof must be viewed in the light most favorable to the resisting party, and any doubts must be resolved against the moving party. However, the moving party is entitled to summary judgment if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Ark. R. Civ. P. 56 (2000); Robert D. Holloway, Inc. v. Pine Ridge Add’n Resid. Prop. Owners, 332 Ark. 450, 453, 966 S.W.2d 241, 243 (1998) (citing McCutchen v. Huckabee, 328 Ark. 202, 943 S.W.2d 225 (1997)).

Once the moving party makes a prima facie showing that it is, entitled to summary judgment, the opponent must meet proof with proof by showing a material issue of fact. Dillard v. Resolution Trust Corp., 308 Ark. 357, 359, 824 S.W.2d 387, 388 (1992). If a moving party fails to offer proof on a controverted issue, summary judgment is not appropriate, regardless of whether the nonmoving party presents the court with any countervailing evidence. Collyard v. American Home Ins. Co., 271 Ark. 228, 230, 607 S.W.2d 666, 668 (1980). Here, the parties agree that there are no disputed facts. Accordingly, our review must focus on the trial court’s application of the law to those undisputed facts.

II. Stacking of underinsured-motorist coverage

Turning our attention to the applicable law, we first acknowledge appellant’s concession that she cannot recover underinsuredmotorist coverage from State Farm on the two owned-but-not-insured vehicles under our current case law. Significantly, we considered the precise issue raised here in Clampit v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 309 Ark. 107, 828 S.W.2d 593 (1992). Of course, in Clampit, we rejected the same arguments now advanced by appellant. Nevertheless, appellant disagrees with the trial court’s reliance on our case law and urges us to abandon our position in Clampit.

Appellant also invites us to extend our holding in Ross, a recent case where we allowed stacking of underinsured coverages. Flowever, we permitted the stacking under specific facts unique to Ross. In Ross, coverage was imposed by operation of law because the insurance company failed to comply with a legislative mandate requiring that, underinsured-mqtorist coverage be offered and, if declined, rejected in writing. Ross, 320 Ark. at 609-10, 899 S.W.2d at 56 (quoting 3 Alan Widiss, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance § 32.7 (2d 1992)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 S.W.3d 281, 343 Ark. 392, 2001 Ark. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chamberlin-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-ark-2001.