Fildes v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

873 S.W.2d 883, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 628, 1994 WL 119840
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 12, 1994
DocketNo. 64434
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 873 S.W.2d 883 (Fildes 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
Fildes v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 873 S.W.2d 883, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 628, 1994 WL 119840 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

CRIST, Judge.

Appellant-Defendant, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm), appeals from the trial court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs-Respondents, Ellsworth and Cleta Fildes (Plaintiffs), in a declaratory judgment action to determine State Farm’s limit of liability for uninsured motorist benefits. We reverse and remand.

On March 17, 1991, at approximately 5:45 p.m., Ellsworth Fildes was injured in an automobile accident in St. Charles County when his automobile and the automobile of John Goodwin collided on Highway B. On March 24, 1992, Plaintiffs subsequently filed suit against Goodwin. They also filed suit against their insurance company, State Farm, for uninsured motorist benefits. Ells-worth sought recovery for his bodily injury in the accident, while Cleta requested recovery for her loss of consortium damages. In their petition, Plaintiffs alleged .Goodwin had been driving while intoxicated when he crossed the centerline of Highway B and struck Ells-worth’s automobile. They further alleged Goodwin was driving without insurance at the time.

On November 20, 1992, the trial court granted leave to State Farm to file a counterclaim for declaratory judgment requesting the trial court determine the rights and liabilities of the parties under the insurance policies. Plaintiffs had three automobile insurance policies with State Farm. Each policy provided uninsured motorist limits of $25,-000 for “each person” and $50,000 for “each accident.” State Farm contended it was only hable for $25,000 per policy, a total of $75,-000, for both of the claims. State Farm filed an offer of judgment in the amount of $75,-000. In response, Plaintiffs claimed they were each entitled to $25,000 per policy, a total of $150,000 or $75,000 for each claim.

The policy provision in controversy states: The amount of coverage is shown on the declarations page under “Limits of Liability — U—Each Person, Each Accident”. Under “Each Person” is the amount of coverage for all damages, including damages for care and loss of services, arising out of and due to bodily injury to one person. Under “Each Accident” is the total amount of coverage, subject to the amount shown under “Each Person”, for all such damages arising out of and due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident, (underline added.)

State Farm’s counterclaim for declaratory judgment was severed and both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. It found the policy provision to be ambiguous, and construing the language against State Farm, found the “per person limitation of coverage for the total amount of $75,000.00 for the three policies under review is not applicable, but the per accident coverage up to a total of $150,000.00 does apply.” The court further certified the judgment as final and appealable.

On appeal, State Farm argues the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs because the language used in the insurance policies was not ambiguous and Plaintiffs’ recovery was limited to the “Each Person” limits for an uninsured motorist.

Interpretation of this insurance policy requires a close examination of language analyzed in other cases. Two cases provide the major source of controversy. The first case, relied upon by Plaintiffs, is the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court in Cano v. Travelers Ins. Co., 656 S.W.2d 266 (Mo. banc [885]*8851983). In Cano, the wife of a man injured in an automobile accident with an uninsured motorist sought to recover her damages for loss of consortium. The uninsured motorist provision of her insurance policy limited liability as follows:

The limit of liability stated in the declarations is applicable to “each person” is the limit of The Travelers’ liability for all damages because of bodily injury sustained by one person as a result of any one acci-dent_ (emphasis added.)

The Court found the underlined portion to be ambiguous because the word “sustained” could modify either “bodily injury” or “damages.” Id. at 271[6]. Therefore, construing the ambiguous portion against the insurance company, the Court found the wife could recover her loss of consortium damages in addition to her husband’s entitlement. Id.

The second case, relied upon by State Farm, was decided by the Southern District in State Farm v. Chambers, 860 S.W.2d 19 (Mo.App.1993). In Chambers, a mother sought recovery for the loss of her daughter’s services when her daughter was injured in an accident with the insured. The insured’s policy limited bodily injury liability to $25,000 for each person and $50,000 for each accident. Id. at 20. The policy language stated:

The amount of bodily injury liability coverage is shown on the declaration page under “Limits of Liability — Coverage A — Bodily Injury, Each Person, Each Accident”. Under “Each Person” is the amount of coverage for all damages, including damages for care and loss of services, arising out of and due to bodily injury to one person. Under “Each Accident” is the total amount of coverage, subject to the amount shown under “Each Person”, for all such damages arising out of and due to Bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident, (underline added.)

The Southern District found the above language was not ambiguous. Id. at 22[1], In so doing, the court found a close analysis of the syntax and punctuation of the disputed portion revealed no ambiguity and its plain language limited mother and daughter’s claim to the “Each Person” amount. Id.

Chambers is dispositive. The language analyzed in Chambers is identical to the language at issue here. In sharp contrast, the Cano decision has generally been limited to those policies containing language virtually identical to Cano. See, e.g., Lair v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 789 S.W.2d 30, 34[4] (Mo. banc 1990) (liability limit of “each person” for “bodily injury sustained by any person in any one accident” distinguished because not same grammatical arrangement); Peters v. Farmers Ins. Co., Inc., 726 S.W.2d 749, 751 (Mo. banc 1987) (language limiting liability “on account of bodily injury sustained by one insured” not ambiguous). The language at hand is completely different from that found ambiguous in Cano. In addition, where our Southern District has found the exact language at issue not ambiguous, we must defer to that finding.

However, Plaintiffs point out several possible distinctions from Chambers. First, Plaintiffs argue the Chambers case regarded a mother’s recovery for loss of her child’s services, while this case involves a spouse’s loss of consortium damages. Plaintiffs aver loss of consortium is much more than just “loss of services.”

We find this distinction insignificant. In Cano, a case involving loss of consortium damages, the Supreme Court stated including the phrase “damages for loss of services” would have clarified any ambiguity. Cano, 656 S.W.2d at 271-72.

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Bluebook (online)
873 S.W.2d 883, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 628, 1994 WL 119840, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fildes-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-moctapp-1994.