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

797 So. 2d 694, 2000 WL 1228843
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 18, 2000
Docket99 CA 1169
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 797 So. 2d 694 (Livas 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
Livas v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 797 So. 2d 694, 2000 WL 1228843 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

797 So.2d 694 (2000)

Larry and Linda LIVAS, Individually and on Behalf of Their Minor Daughter, Quanita K. Livas
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INS. CO., National General Ins. Co., Illinois National Ins. Co., and Nikki A. Buquet.

No. 99 CA 1169.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

July 18, 2000.

Julius Hebert, Hebert & Marceaux, Houma, for Plaintiff/Appellant Larry and Linda Livas.

Edward Lobman, Lobman, Carnahan, Batt & Angelle, New Orleans, for Defendant/Appellee National General Insurance.

*695 Gregory Schwab, Schwab & Schwab, Houma, for Defendant/Appellee State Farm Mutual Ins. Co.

Before: WOODARD, PETERS, and GREMILLION Judges Pro tem. by special appointment of the Louisiana Supreme court.

PETERS, Judge.

The plaintiffs, Larry and Linda Livas, brought this suit individually and on behalf of their minor daughter, Quanita K. Livas (Quanita), to recover for damages they sustained in a two-vehicle accident which occurred in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, on June 5, 1996. The defendants in the suit include Nikki A. Buquet, the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the accident; State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (State Farm), Ms. Buquet's liability insurance carrier; Illinois National Insurance Co. (Illinois National), an insurer providing uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance (UM) coverage on the Livas' vehicle involved in the accident; and National General Insurance Co. (National General), an insurer providing UM coverage on another vehicle owned by Mr. and Mrs. Livas. The plaintiffs appeal the portion of the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of National General, dismissing Quanita's claims.

On June 5, 1996, Linda Livas was involved in an automobile accident while driving a family-owned 1992 Nissan Stanza. Quanita was a passenger in the Nissan. The accident occurred when Mrs. Livas' Nissan was struck by a 1990 Ford Tempo owned by Nelson P. Buquet, driven by Nikki A. Buquet, and insured by State Farm. The Nissan is one of two vehicles owned by the plaintiffs and, at the time of the accident, was insured for UM coverage by Illinois National. The plaintiffs owned a second vehicle, a 1975 Jeep, which, on the day of the accident, was insured for UM coverage by National General. The Illinois National policy provided for $10,000.00 UM coverage, and the National General policy provided for $25,000.00 UM coverage.

The trial court granted National General's motion for summary judgment and dismissed it from the litigation based on an exclusion in the policy as well as the provisions of La.R.S. 22:1460. Thereafter, the Livas perfected this appeal.

OPINION

Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo, using the same analysis as the trial court in deciding whether summary judgment is appropriate. Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hosp., Inc., 93-2512 (La.7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730. A motion for summary judgment may be granted only "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." La.Code Civ.P. art. 966(B). There is no genuine issue of material fact in this litigation, and the question is whether Illinois General is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The substantive law of the instant case involves stacking of multiple UM policies.

Stacking of UM coverages occurs when the amount available under one policy is inadequate to satisfy the damages alleged or awarded the insured and the same insured seeks to combine or stack one coverage on top of another for the same loss covered under multiple policies or under multiple coverages contained in a single policy.

Boullt v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 99-0942 (La.10/19/99), 752 So.2d 739, 742. In this case, the plaintiffs seek to stack an additional $15,000.00 under the National *696 General policy to the coverage available under the Illinois National policy as compensation for Quanita's injuries.

The law relative to stacking UM coverage has been subject to numerous changes in the past thirty years. Prior to 1972, appellate courts enforced UM policy provisions limiting a claimant's total recovery to the highest limit available under applicable policies. As such, the highest sum recoverable was prorated among UM carriers. See Box v. Doe, 221 So.2d 666 (La.App. 4 Cir.), writ denied, 254 La. 457, 223 So.2d 868 (1969); Wilks v. Allstate Ins. Co., 195 So.2d 390 (La.App. 3 Cir.1967). However, in 1972, the supreme court ultimately determined that the UM provisions which so limited a claimant's recovery violated La. R.S. 22:1406 by not providing a specific minimum amount of coverage. Consequently, the supreme court allowed claimants to stack coverage and recover to the full extent of policy limits under each of multiple UM policies. Deane v. McGee, 261 La. 686, 260 So.2d 669 (1972); Graham v. American Cas. Co. of Reading, Penn., 261 La. 85, 259 So.2d 22 (1972).

By Acts 1977, No. 623, § 1, the Louisiana Legislature amended La.R.S. 22:1406 by adding subsection D(1)(c) which had the effect of overruling the decisions in Deane and Graham by prohibiting coverage under more than one UM policy except when the claimant is injured while occupying an automobile not owned by him. La.R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(c). Acts 1988, No. 203, § 1, effective September 9, 1988, amended La. R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(c) and further expanded the category of claimants prohibited from stacking UM coverage to include those injured while occupying automobiles owned by a "resident spouse, or resident relative" as well as the injured party. By so amending the statute, the legislature put resident family members in the same position as vehicle owners. William Shelby McKenzie and H. Alston Johnson, III, Insurance Law and Practice § 121-122, in 15 Louisiana Civil Law Treatise (2d ed. 1996).

Acts 1988, No. 203, § 1, also operated to strike the insured's right to select coverage under a UM policy not describing the involved vehicle when it is owned by the insured or a resident family member. Earlier that year, the supreme court ruled that a driver, injured in his own vehicle but insured under both his vehicle and his parents' vehicle's UM policies, was not limited to recovery under his own policy, but, rather, could select his parents' policy with higher limits. Wyatt v. Robin, 518 So.2d 494 (La.1988). In opposition to Wyatt, the legislature enacted La.R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(e) which provides in pertinent part:

The uninsured motorist coverage does not apply to bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death of an insured resulting therefrom, while occupying a motor vehicle owned by the insured if such motor vehicle is not described in the policy under which a claim is made, or is not a newly acquired or replacement motor vehicle covered under the terms of the policy.

Since that amendment, Louisiana courts have consistently interpreted La.R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(e) to prohibit vehicle owners and their resident family members from collecting UM coverage under policies which do not describe family-owned vehicles involved in injury-causing accidents. See Taylor v. Sider, 97-1841 (La.App. 4 Cir. 4/29/98), 714 So.2d 783, writ denied, 98-1769 (La.10/9/98), 726 So.2d 406; Bamburg v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 26,324 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/7/94), 647 So.2d 447; Sandoz v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 620 So.2d 441 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1993); and Primeaux v. State Farm Mut.

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Bluebook (online)
797 So. 2d 694, 2000 WL 1228843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/livas-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-lactapp-2000.