McElmeel v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America

851 N.E.2d 99
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 8, 2006
Docket1-04-1857
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 851 N.E.2d 99 (McElmeel v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McElmeel v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America, 851 N.E.2d 99 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

851 N.E.2d 99 (2006)

Eric McELMEEL and Elisa McElmeel, Indiv. and as Independent Adm'r of the Estate of Anthony D. McElmeel, Deceased, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 1-04-1857.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

May 8, 2006.

*101 Steven J. Rizzi of Weinberg & Rizzi, and Richard M. Goldwasser of Law Office of Richard M. Goldwasser, Chicago, for Appellant.

James F. Best and Adam M. Stefancic of Best, Vanderlaan & Harrington, Chicago, for Appellee.

Presiding Justice CAHILL delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs Eric McElmeel and his mother, Elisa McElmeel, individually and as the administrator of the estate of her other son, Anthony McElmeel, appeal from a trial court order of summary judgment for defendant Safeco Insurance Company. The trial court determined that plaintiffs could not "stack," or aggregate, automobile insurance coverage to obtain a higher level of coverage for an accident with an uninsured driver. Because we believe the facts of this case are controlled by the supreme court ruling in Hobbs v. Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest, 214 Ill.2d 11, 27, 291 Ill.Dec. 269, 823 N.E.2d 561 (2005), we affirm.

Eric was injured and Anthony was killed in an automobile accident on December 23, 2003. They were passengers in a car driven by Matthew Lounds that was struck by a pickup truck driven by Dageberto Nayola, an uninsured driver. Plaintiffs were insured by Safeco with policy limits of $100,000 per person/$300,000 per accident in uninsured motorist coverage and $5,000 in medical payments. Lounds was insured by Allstate under a policy with the same limits of uninsured motorist and medical payments coverage. Allstate paid $100,000 to Eric and $100,000 to the estate of Anthony in uninsured motorist benefits and $5,000 each to Eric and the estate of Anthony for medical expenses. Safeco also paid $5,000 each to Eric and the estate of Anthony for medical expenses.

Plaintiffs had three cars insured by Safeco: a 2000 Hyundai Tiburon, a 1991 Ford Ranger and a 1988 Ford Tempo. The declarations pages of their policy were set up in columns and included:

"Insurance is afforded only for the coverages for which limits of liability or premium charges are indicated.

COVERAGES                     2000 HYUN LIMITS       PREMIUMS      1991 FORD LIMITS       PREMIUMS
LIABILITY:
BODILY INJURY             $100,000               $ 71.80       $100,000               $ 207.50
                          Each Person                          Each Person
                          $300,000                             $300,000
                          Each Occurrence                      Each Occurrence
* * *
MEDICAL PAYMENTS          $5,000                    6.90       $5,000                   23.90
UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED MOTORISTS:
BODILY INJURY             $100,000                 33.40       $100.000                 33.40
                          Each Person                          Each Person
                          $300,000                             $300,000
                          Each Accident                        Each Accident"

The second of the two policy declaration pages provided:

"Insurance is afforded only for the coverages for which limits of liability or premium charges are indicated.

*102
COVERAGES                                   1988 Ford Limits              Premiums
LIABILITY:
BODILY INJURY                               $100,000                      $ 196.00
                                            Each Person
                                            $300,000
                                            Each Occurrence
* * *
MEDICAL PAYMENTS                            $5,000                            22.50
UNINSURED * * * MOTORISTS:
BODILY INJURY                               $100,000                          33.40
                                            Each Person
                                            $300,000
                                            Each Accident"

After the declarations pages, the Safeco policy was divided into Parts A through F. Parts A, B and C addressed "Liability Coverage," "Medical Payments Coverage," and "Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Coverage," respectively. Each of these three sections contained a clause on "Limit of Liability" that stated, in relevant part: "[t]he limit of liability shown in the Declarations for each person for Bodily Injury Liability is our maximum limit of liability for all damages." (Emphasis added.) Part C also contained this antistacking clause:

"OTHER INSURANCE
A. For Uninsured Motorists Coverage only:
If there is other applicable similar insurance available under more than one policy or provision of coverage:
1. Any recovery for damages for bodily injury sustained by an insured may equal but not exceed the higher of the applicable limit for any one vehicle under this insurance or any other insurance.
2. Any insurance we provide with respect to a vehicle you do not own shall be excess over any other collectible insurance.
3. We will pay only our share of the loss. Our share is the proportion that our limit of liability bears to the total of all applicable limits." (Emphasis in original.)

In "Part F — General Provisions" another antistacking clause provided:

"TWO OR MORE AUTOS INSURED; TWO OR MORE AUTO POLICIES
If this policy insures two or more autos or if any other auto insurance policy issued to you by us applies to the same accident, the maximum limit of our liability shall not exceed the highest limit applicable to any one auto."

Eric and Elisa, as administrator of Anthony's estate, filed a claim with Safeco for $300,000 each in uninsured motorist coverage and $15,000 each in medical payments. They claimed that the separate limits of coverages for each of the three cars as shown in the columns on the declarations page for each car allowed the benefits to be stacked. Safeco denied the claims.

Plaintiffs filed an action for a declaratory judgment. They argued in their amended complaint that because they had three vehicles insured by Safeco, they were entitled to stack the coverages in their Safeco policy. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted defendant's motion and denied plaintiffs' motion on May 20, 2004. Plaintiffs appealed.

We review plaintiffs' claims de novo. Whether an insurance policy prohibits *103 or permits stacking is a legal issue to be reviewed de novo. Hobbs, 214 Ill.2d at 17, 291 Ill.Dec. 269, 823 N.E.2d 561. An insurance policy is a contract and the general rules of contract interpretation apply. Hobbs, 214 Ill.2d at 17, 291 Ill.Dec. 269, 823 N.E.2d 561. "[O]ur primary objective is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the parties, as expressed in the policy language." Hobbs, 214 Ill.2d at 17, 291 Ill.Dec. 269, 823 N.E.2d 561. Unambiguous language will be applied as written unless it violates public policy. Hobbs,

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Bluebook (online)
851 N.E.2d 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcelmeel-v-safeco-ins-co-of-america-illappct-2006.