Dodson v. State Farm General Insurance Co.

972 S.W.2d 450, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 797, 1998 WL 201431
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 28, 1998
DocketNo. WD 54089
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 972 S.W.2d 450 (Dodson v. State Farm General 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
Dodson v. State Farm General Insurance Co., 972 S.W.2d 450, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 797, 1998 WL 201431 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

RIEDERER, Judge.

Charles K. Dodson appeals from a grant of summary judgment in favor of Respondent. We affirm.

[451]*451Facts

The facts from the record viewed in the light most favorable to the Appellant are as follows. On or about July 3, 1985, Appellant was involved in a rear-end collision while in Memphis, Tennessee. Appellant was a passenger in a 1980 Ford Truck driven by Gene Davis, an employee of Moore & Sons. The truck was owned by Moore & Sons. The truck was rear-ended by a 1970 Chevrolet, driven by Otis Jones. After the accident, Appellant was taken to Methodist Southern Hospital in Memphis, where he was x-rayed, given a sedative and sent home. On the day of the accident, Appellant was a resident of Plattsburg, Missouri.

After the accident, Appellant went to the office of his insurance agent, Bo Hoskins, who was an agent for Respondent. Hoskins was not in his office, so Appellant told an employee of Hoskins that he had been involved in an automobile accident and wanted to find out if his policy included uninsured motorist coverage. The employee told Appellant that everybody in Missouri had uninsured motorist coverage automatically. Appellant told the employee that his lawyer would be contacting her. However, neither Appellant nor Appellant’s attorney contacted anyone in the agent’s office to submit a claim. On June 7, 1995, nine years and eleven months after the collision, Respondent received written notice of Appellant’s uninsured motorist claim. On June 30,1995, Appellant filed a petition for damages against Respondent. On August 21, 1996, Respondent filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that the written notice received from Appellant on June 7,1995 was untimely. On October 30, 1996, a hearing was held. After the hearing, Respondent’s motion for summary judgment was sustained, although the trial court did not articulate the reasons why. On December 5, 1996, Appellant filed a motion to set aside judgment and for new trial. The trial court denied Appellant’s motion on March 5,1997. This appeal ensued.

Standard of Review

Our review of summary judgments is essentially de novo. ITT Commercial Finance v. Mid-Am. Marine, 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). We will review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered, and confer upon the non-movant the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the record. Id. “The propriety of summary judgment is purely an issue of law.” Id. To be entitled to judgment as a matter of law, a movant must prove that no genuine issues of material fact exist. Id. at 380. Where a movant is a “defending party,” the movant “may establish a right to judgment by showing (1) facts that negate any one of the claimant’s elements facts; (2) that the non-movant, after an adequate period of discovery, has not been able to produce, and will not be able to produce, evidence sufficient to allow the trier of fact to find the existence of any one of the claimant’s elements; or (3) that there is no genuine dispute as to the existence of each of the facts necessary to support the movant’s properly-pleaded affirmative defense.” Id. at 381. Respondent’s claim that lack of timely notice was a breach of the insurance contract is a properly pleaded affirmative defense. Weaver v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 936 S.W.2d 818, 821 (Mo. banc 1997).

I. Insurer’s Duty To Advise Insured Regarding Insured’s Duty To Provide Insurer Notice Of Loss

Appellant contends in his first point that the trial court erred in sustaining Respondent’s motion for summary judgment because Appellant’s verbal notice to an employee in the office of his agent created a legal duty upon his agent to advise him of all of the policy provisions involving notice of an accident or loss and that failure to notify Appellant of these policy provisions bars Respondent from raising any affirmative defense for noncomplianee with these provisions.

The insurance policy underlying this dispute contains the following provision: “Reporting A Claim — Insured’s Duties” — -The insured must give us or one of our agents written notice of the accident or loss as soon as reasonably possible....

In this case, Appellant does not dispute that he did not give written notice of his [452]*452accident until June 7, 1995. Appellant also does not contend that his conversation with a State Farm employee constituted substantial compliance with the written notice provision. He merely contends that the exchange between himself and the employee at the insurance agent’s office at an unspecified time after the accident created a duty on the part of the insurer to notify the insured about all of the policy provisions involving notice of an accident or loss. Appellant cites no authority for this proposition. In addition, public policy does, not seem to help Appellant. “Conditions of an automobile liability policy are valid and enforceable which require that written notice be given to the liability insurance carrier as soon as practicable when an accident occurs and that suit papers be forwarded immediately.” Greer v. Zurich Ins. Co., 441 S.W.2d 15, 30 (Mo.1969). In Billings v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 741 S.W.2d 886, 888 (Mo.App.1987) the court noted: “Strong public policy interests are protected through the use of notice provisions. For, the insured public will incur additional and unnecessary costs if insurers are forced to pay stale claims, as to which the insurer has not been accorded the opportunity to conduct an investigation while the facts are still fresh.”

In the face of this public policy and in view of the lack of any precedent for his claim, Appellant argues that “the public policy of Missouri, gleaned from various eases, regulations and statutes, supports Appellant’s contention that an insured’s verbal notice of an accident or loss creates a legal duty upon the insurer, the insurance agent, to disclose all policies and conditions involving written notice as a condition precedent to the insurer raising an affirmative defense of improper notice.” Appellant cites Winger v. General American Life Insurance Co., 345 S.W.2d 170 (Mo.1961), for the proposition that an insurance company has a legal duty to investigate any health condition, which would void a policy or bar coverage, prior to delivery of the policy or collection of premiums. Winger involved misrepresentation and waiver of a sound health requirement. This case is not applicable. Appellant cites Miles v. Iowa National Mutual Insurance Co., 690 S.W.2d 138 (Mo.App.1984), for its recognition of a legal duty of an insurance company to notify an insured of any defects and insuffi-ciencies in proofs of loss. Miles involved a fire insurance policy. The insurer rejected the insured’s proof of loss because it was insufficient.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Rocha v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co.
14 S.W.3d 242 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2000)
Hayes v. United Fire & Casualty Co.
3 S.W.3d 853 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
972 S.W.2d 450, 1998 Mo. App. LEXIS 797, 1998 WL 201431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dodson-v-state-farm-general-insurance-co-moctapp-1998.