Cole v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

427 So. 2d 522, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7705
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 3, 1983
Docket82-473
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 427 So. 2d 522 (Cole v. State Farm Mut. Auto. 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
Cole v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 427 So. 2d 522, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7705 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

427 So.2d 522 (1983)

Kenneth D. COLE, et ux, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 82-473.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 3, 1983.
Rehearing Denied March 22, 1983.

*523 Francis E. Mire, Lake Charles, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Stockwell Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, Robert W. Clements, Lake Charles, for defendant-appellee.

Before DOMENGEAUX, FORET and DOUCET, JJ.

FORET, Judge.

Kenneth Cole and his wife, Gloria Cole, (plaintiffs) appeal from the trial court's granting of a motion for summary judgment filed by one of the defendants to this action, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm).

*524 The main issue is whether the trial court properly granted the motion for summary judgment[1].

FACTS

This tort action arises out of an automobile accident that occurred on July 12, 1981, in Calcasieu Parish. At the time, Gloria Cole was a passenger in plaintiffs' Volkswagen, which was being driven by Kenneth Cole, when it collided with another automobile being driven by Dale Bruney (Bruney)[2]. Bruney was uninsured at the time of the accident.

State Farm had issued four separate automobile insurance policies to Kenneth Cole covering four different vehicles owned by plaintiffs, including their Volkswagen. The limits of liability for uninsured motorists (U/M) coverage under each of the four policies were set at $10,000 for each person and $20,000 for each accident. Three of these policies also provided medical payments coverages with the limits of liability set at $2,000 for each person. These policies were in effect at the time of the accident.

Plaintiffs alleged that they had sustained damages in the accident, which were in excess of the limits of liability set by the State Farm policy on their Volkswagen. They sought to "stack" the U/M coverages of the four State Farm policies, as well as the medical payments coverages of three of those policies. The trial court refused to allow this, rendering judgment, on State Farm's motion for summary judgment, in favor of plaintiffs and against State Farm, ordering State Farm to pay them $10,000. The trial court further rendered judgment on the motion for summary judgment in favor of State Farm and against plaintiffs, rejecting all of plaintiffs' other demands against State Farm.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

State Farm, in its motion for summary judgment, alleged that, based on the pleadings and documents in the record, the stipulations of fact entered into by the parties, and the certified copies of the insurance policies attached to its motion, there was no genuine issue as to any material fact in this case and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

LSA-C.C.P. Article 966[3] provides that a motion for summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Bertrand v. Howard Trucking Company, Inc., 406 So.2d 271 (La.App. 3 Cir.1981), writ denied, 410 So.2d 763 (La.1982); Vascocu v. Singletary, 404 So.2d 301 (La.App. 3 Cir.1981), writ denied, 409 So.2d 676 (La.1981).

*525 A review of the record discloses that the parties entered into certain stipulations of facts for use by the trial court in making its determination on State Farm's motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs make no argument, in their brief filed in this Court, that a genuine issue exists as to any material fact. Their arguments are directed solely towards the merits of the trial court's judgment. We find that there is no genuine issue as to material fact.

In the absence of a factual dispute (and the necessity for weighing evidence which cannot be permitted in summary judgment proceedings), the trial judge merely accepts, as established, all of the undisputed facts and determines, as a matter of law, whether under the established facts the mover is entitled to the relief sought. Continental Casualty Company v. McClure, 313 So.2d 260 (La.App. 4 Cir.1975); Greer v. General Motors Corporation, 293 So.2d 228 (La.App. 3 Cir.1974).

A. STACKING OF MEDICAL PAYMENTS COVERAGES.

Plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in refusing to allow them to stack the medical payments coverages provided for by the State Farm policies on two of their vehicles, which were not involved in the accident. Both policies contain the following provision setting forth the extent of the medical payments coverages thereunder:

"COVERAGE C—Medical Payments. To pay all reasonable expenses incurred within one year from the date of accident for necessary medical, surgical, X-ray and dental services, including prosthetic devices, and necessary ambulance, hospital, professional nursing and funeral services: Division 1. To or for the named insured and each relative who sustains bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death resulting therefrom, hereinafter called "bodily injury," caused by accident,
(a) while occupying the owned automobile,
(b) while occupying a non-owned automobile, but only if such person has, or reasonably believes he has, the permission of the owner to use the automobile and the use is within the scope of such permission, or
(c) through being struck by an automobile or by a trailer of any type;"

We had occasion to interpret an identical provision contained in an automobile insurance policy, in Crenwelge v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 277 So.2d 155 (La.App. 3 Cir.1973), under facts and circumstances similar to those present in the action sub judice. Plaintiff, in Crenwelge, had been issued two separate automobile insurance policies on two vehicles owned by him. Each policy provided for medical payments coverage of $500 to each person. Plaintiff was involved in an accident in one of his vehicles, and he sought to recover the policy limits for medical payments under both policies. In refusing to allow plaintiff to recover medical payments under the policy on the vehicle not involved in the accident, Crenwelge stated, on page 160, that:

"Since the claim here is for medical expenses of the named insured and a relative, it follows that unless coverage can be found within the language of Division 1, there is no coverage under the Plymouth policy. Let us examine subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Division 1 quoted above.
There is no coverage under subparagraph (a) since the named insured and his relative were not occupying "the owned automobile", which is defined in the policy as an "automobile described in this policy for which a specific premium charge indicates that coverage is afforded." The Volkswagen is not described in the Plymouth policy and hence is not "an owned automobile" under the Plymouth policy.
Subdivision (b) of Division 1 does not apply because the named insured and his relative were not occupying a nonowned automobile. The policy defines a "nonowned automobile" as one which is "not owned by or furnished for the regular use of either the named insured or any relative". The Volkswagen occupied by the *526 named insured and his relative was owned by the named insured.

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427 So. 2d 522, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cole-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-lactapp-1983.