McDaniel v. Shaklee US, Inc.

807 So. 2d 393, 2001 WL 1336457
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 31, 2001
Docket2000-CA-01427-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 807 So. 2d 393 (McDaniel v. Shaklee US, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDaniel v. Shaklee US, Inc., 807 So. 2d 393, 2001 WL 1336457 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

807 So.2d 393 (2001)

Drucilla L. ("Dru") McDANIEL
v.
SHAKLEE U.S., INC.; Kenneth F. Jackson; and Transamerica Insurance Group.

No. 2000-CA-01427-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

October 31, 2001.
Rehearing Denied February 21, 2002.

*394 Roger M. Tubbs, Tupelo, Paul N. Jenkins, Jr., Attorneys for Appellant.

David B. McLaurin, Tupelo, William C. Reeves, Ridgeland, Attorneys for Appellees.

EN BANC.

DIAZ, J., for the court.

¶ 1. On December 21, 1995, Drucilla L. McDaniel (McDaniel) filed suit in the Lee County Circuit Court against Kenneth Jackson (Jackson); Shaklee U.S., Inc.(Shaklee); Transamerica Insurance Group (TIG); and ABC Insurance Company (an unknown entity which may or may not have been partially responsible). The complaint alleged that McDaniel suffered property damage, as well as bodily injury, in a collision occurring as a result of Jackson's negligent driving. The details and extent of McDaniel's injuries are irrelevant to the matter presently before this Court. The suit also claims that Shaklee and TIG *395 are liable for damages as the uninsured motorist insurance carriers for McDaniel. Both sides filed motions for summary judgment. The circuit court granted Shaklee's motion for summary judgment. McDaniel moved for an interlocutory appeal, which was denied. McDaniel now appeals the award of summary judgment and raises the issue of whether she may "stack" the uninsured/underinsured coverage contained in Shaklee's fleet policy.

FACTS

¶ 2. On December 22, 1994, McDaniel and Jackson were involved in an accident when Jackson's car swerved into a lane of oncoming traffic and collided with McDaniel's vehicle. As previously stated, the circumstances and events surrounding the accident that is the basis for this suit are immaterial to the question before this Court today. The relationship between the parties is what is truly germane.

¶ 3. At the time of the accident, Jackson had $25,000 in liability insurance. The limits of this policy were offered to McDaniel and accepted. However, McDaniel's injuries and resultant damages total considerably more than $25,000.

¶ 4. The day of the accident, McDaniel was driving an automobile which is a part of a fleet of vehicles owned by Shaklee. Shaklee is self-insured for claims up to $500,000 and, in addition, purchased a comprehensive policy from TIG. As an incentive to its distributors, Shaklee loans out automobiles from its fleet to its independent distributors who qualify as "Sales Leaders" under the "Bonus Car" program. McDaniel qualified as a Sales Leader. Under the Bonus Car program, McDaniel paid Shaklee $352.49 per month for the car, as well as $75.60 for comprehensive insurance, medical payments, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM) of $10,000 per person/$20,000 per accident. In turn, Shaklee paid TIG a single premium covering all insurance on its entire fleet of vehicles. Thus, there is only one policy, covering all the automobiles rather then individual policies for each car in the program.

¶ 5. In her suit, McDaniel asserted that she should be able to "stack," or aggregate, the UM coverage of all of the vehicles in Shaklee's fleet, a total of 1758 vehicles (although not all carry UM coverage because, unlike Mississippi, some states do not require it). Motions for summary judgment were filed, and the trial judge granted the motion in favor of Shaklee. McDaniel now appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6. When reviewing the granting or the denying of summary judgment, we use the same standard employed by the trial court. We conduct de novo review of orders granting or denying summary judgment and look at all the evidentiary matters before it—admissions in pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, affidavits, etc. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion has been made. Lumberman's Underwriting Alliance v. City of Rosedale, 727 So.2d 710, 712-13 (Miss.1998). If any triable issues of material fact exist, the lower court's decision to grant summary judgment will be reversed. Brown v. Credit Ctr., Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 362 (Miss.1983).

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER McDANIEL MAY STACK THE UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED COVERAGE CONTAINED IN SHAKLEE'S FLEET POLICY.

¶ 7. This question has been the topic of considerable litigation as of late and has *396 been a thorn in the sides of many an attorney, client, and judge, including those on this bench, for years. There is no shortage of caselaw dealing with the matter. The difficulty stems from the apparent contradictions and ambiguities within the caselaw. Furthermore, even those cases that seem to establish a bright line rule are so fact specific that anytime one minor detail or fact changes, the case loses much of its instructiveness. Hopefully, by using the principles and guidelines set forth in earlier cases, we may now be able to establish some hard and fast rules as to when stacking is permitted and when it is not.

¶ 8. At the heart of UM stacking claims is the Mississippi Uninsured Motorist Act, which provides in part:

(1) No automobile liability insurance policy or contract shall be issued ... unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages for bodily injury or death from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits which shall be no less than those set forth in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law ...

Miss.Code Ann. § 83-11-101 (1999) (Emphasis added). The UM Act defines an "uninsured motor vehicle" as one whose "liability insurer ... has provided limits of bodily injury liability for its insured which are less than the limits applicable to the injured person provided under his uninsured motorist coverage." Miss.Code Ann. § 83-11-103 (1999). We have held that the statutes should be liberally construed, due in part to their remedial nature. Stevens v. USF & G Co., 345 So.2d 1041, 1043 (Miss.1977). As such, and in advancement of the public interest, the concept of stacking, or aggregating policies, as a viable method of ensuring complete recovery, began to gain favor. See Harthcock v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 248 So.2d 456 (Miss.1971) (holding that a plaintiff could stack multiple policies in order to fully recover). Over the years, the concept continued to expand, and this Court allowed stacking in a wider variety of cases.

¶ 9. Under Brown v. Maryland Cas. Co., 521 So.2d 854 (Miss.1987), the plaintiff, a permissible user, was allowed to stack the uninsured motorist policies for all three cars belonging to the named insured. Id. Expanding upon the ideas set out in Brown, this Court, in Wickline v. USF & G Co., 530 So.2d 708 (Miss.1988), discouraged the practice of distinguishing between classes of insured (i.e. Class I = named insured and Class II = passengers and permissive users). In so holding, this Court ruled that "a guest passenger injured by an uninsured motorist is entitled to stack the UM coverage of all vehicles insured by the policy which insures the host vehicle." Paige Craig, Automobile Insurance-Uninsured Motorists-Public Policy Demands that Anti-Stacking Provisions Be Held Void as Against Public Policy, 67 Miss. L.J.

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

Related

INS. GUAR. ASS'N v. MS Cas. Ins. Co.
947 So. 2d 865 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2006)
Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Ass'n v. Ms Casualty Insurance Co.
947 So. 2d 865 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2006)
Meyers v. American States Ins. Co.
914 So. 2d 669 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Owens v. Mississippi Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co.
910 So. 2d 1065 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005)
Nettles v. Travelers Property Casualty Insurance
375 F. Supp. 2d 489 (S.D. Mississippi, 2005)
Greer v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
909 So. 2d 1231 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2005)
Alfa Insurance Corp. v. Ryals ex rel. Ryals
918 So. 2d 676 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2004)
Wise v. United Services Auto. Ass'n
861 So. 2d 308 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
Mascarella v. US Fidelity and Guar. Co.
833 So. 2d 575 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
807 So. 2d 393, 2001 WL 1336457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdaniel-v-shaklee-us-inc-miss-2001.