Clement v. Continental Ins. Co.

430 So. 2d 1212, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8347
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 5, 1983
Docket82 CA 0623
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 430 So. 2d 1212 (Clement v. Continental Ins. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clement v. Continental Ins. Co., 430 So. 2d 1212, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8347 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

430 So.2d 1212 (1983)

Edward H. CLEMENT, Sr., et al.
v.
CONTINENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY.

No. 82 CA 0623.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 5, 1983.
Writ Denied June 3, 1983.

*1213 Glenn P. Marcel, Baton Rouge, for plaintiffs-appellants Edward H. Clement, Sr., individually and on behalf of the Community existing between Edward H. Clement, Sr. and his wife, Anna Schwarzman Clement, and Anna Schwarzman Clement.

Gracella Simmons, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee Continental Ins. Co.

Before LOTTINGER, COLE and CARTER, JJ.

COLE, Judge.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether or not the defendant insurer has waived the benefits of Louisiana's "antistacking" law by the language used in the uninsured/underinsured provision of its motorist insurance policies.

On June 14,1978, Edward H. Clement, Jr. was killed in an automobile accident while riding in an automobile owned and operated by George W. Gravois. The one-car collision was allegedly caused by the fault of Mr. Gravois. Edward H. Clement, Sr. and his wife thereafter brought this suit for the wrongful death of their son. The Continental Insurance Company was named as defendant in four different capacities. Continental allegedly provided coverage as liability insurer on the vehicle of the host driver, Mr. Gravois; as uninsured/underinsured motorist (U/M) insurer of the deceased, Edward Clement, Jr.; as U/M insurer of Debra M. Clement, the sister of the deceased with whom he lived at the time of his death; and as U/M insurer of Edward H. Clement, Sr., the deceased's father and with whom the deceased also lived at the time of his death.

Continental offered the policy limits of the liability policy of Mr. Gravois and of the U/M policy of the deceased. Plaintiffs accepted this offer, resulting in a settlement and compromise as to those two policies. This suit now involves only an attempt by plaintiffs to recover under the U/M insurance policies of Debra Clement and Edward Clement, Sr.

Continental thereafter filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that coverage was not afforded under the policies issued to Edward H. Clement, Sr. and Debra Clement, on the ground that coverage under those policies could not be "stacked." For oral reasons given, but not in the record, judgment was rendered dismissing plaintiffs' suit with prejudice. Plaintiffs have perfected this devolutive appeal.

Act 623 of 1977 amended La.R.S. 22:1406 to add the following language now found in § 1406(D)(1)(c):

"If the insured has any limits of uninsured motorist coverage in a policy of automobile liability insurance, in accordance with the terms of Subsection D(1), then such limits of liability shall not be increased because of multiple motor vehicles covered under said policy of insurance and such limits of uninsured motorist coverage shall not be increased when the insured has insurance available to him under more than one uninsured motorist coverage provision or policy; provided, however, that with respect to other insurance available, the policy of insurance or endorsement shall provide the following:
"With respect to bodily injury to an injured party while occupying an automobile not owned by said injured party, the following priorities of recovery under uninsured motorist coverage shall apply:
"(i) The uninsured motorist coverage on the vehicle in which the injured party was an occupant is primary;
"(ii) Should that primary uninsured motorist coverage be exhausted due to the extent of damages then the injured occupant may recover as excess from other uninsured motorist coverage available to him. In no instance shall more than one coverage from more than one uninsured motorist policy be available as excess over and above the primary coverage available to the injured occupant."

*1214 The purpose of this Act was to prevent "stacking" of uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance policies and coverage, which had been allowed by the jurisprudence prior to the amendment. See Branch v. O'Brien, 396 So.2d 1372 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1981), writ denied, 400 So.2d 905 (La.1981), and cases cited therein. According to the Supreme Court in Courville v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 393 So.2d 703, 705 (La.1981), "the first paragraph of the Act provides the general rule that an insured who has insurance available to him under more than one uninsured motorist policy may not stack, ..." subject to a limited exception in the Act which was found to be applicable in the Courville case. This exception applies, and U/M coverages may be stacked, when: "(1) the injured party is occupying an automobile not owned by him; (2) the U/M coverage on the vehicle in which the injured party was an occupant is primary; and (3) should that primary U/M coverage be exhausted due to the extent of damages, then the injured occupant may recover as excess from other U/M coverage available to him." Nall v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 406 So.2d 216, 218 (La.1981).

As in Nall, the second of the above requirements is absent in this case. None of the Continental policies provided primary U/M coverage on the Gravois vehicle. There was no primary coverage whatever. Gravois' policy with Continental provided only liability coverage. And, even if the Gravois policy had provided U/M coverage, our uninsured motorist statute does not mandate protection under a host driver's uninsured motorist coverage when the cause of the accident is the negligence of the host driver. Hence, there could be no primary U/M coverage in this instance. Nall, supra; Breaux v. Government Emp. Ins. Co., 369 So.2d 1335 (La.1979), on remand, 373 So.2d 1335 (La.App. 1st Cir.1979). Thus, the general rule of subsection (D)(1)(c) applies and stacking cannot be allowed. See Hubbard v. Milner, 408 So.2d 1004 (La.App. 2d Cir.1981).

Since plaintiffs have already received the full U/M limits of one policy, it would seem the trial court correctly concluded there was no U/M coverage available under the other policies. However, plaintiffs contend defendant has waived the benefits of § 1406(D)(1)(c) by certain language used in its policies which is allegedly misleading and which allegedly fails to comply with the mandates of § 1406(D)(1)(b) & (c).

Plaintiffs allege the following endorsement in the Continental policies is misleading:

"Act 154 of the 1974 Louisiana Legislature requires that all automobile liability policies must include Uninsured Motorists Coverage in amounts of not less than the limits of Bodily Injury Liability provided by the policy unless you reject such coverage or select a lower amount of insurance."

Plaintiffs contend since these policies were issued in 1978, this endorsement should have reflected the 1977 amendment to La.R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(b). Act 623 of 1977, aside from its amendment to subsection (D)(1)(c), also amended subsection (D)(1)(b) to read:

"(b) Any insurer delivering or issuing an automobile liability insurance policy referred to herein shall also permit the insured, at his written request, to increase the coverage applicable to uninsured motor vehicles provided for herein to any amount."

Plaintiffs contend since the legislature intended this provision allowing the increasing of U/M coverage "to any amount" to compensate for the loss of the previous stacking benefits, stacking should be allowed where the policy owner is not informed of his right to purchase U/M coverage in excess of the liability limits.

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Bluebook (online)
430 So. 2d 1212, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clement-v-continental-ins-co-lactapp-1983.