Mercer v. Progressive Gulf Insurance Co.

885 So. 2d 61, 2004 Miss. LEXIS 971, 2004 WL 1688433
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 29, 2004
DocketNo. 2003-CA-01796-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 885 So. 2d 61 (Mercer v. Progressive Gulf Insurance Co.) 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
Mercer v. Progressive Gulf Insurance Co., 885 So. 2d 61, 2004 Miss. LEXIS 971, 2004 WL 1688433 (Mich. 2004).

Opinion

EASLEY, Justice,

for the Court.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. In this insurance coverage dispute this Court is requested to determine if a trial court correctly granted a summary judgment for an insurer on the issue of whether Gloria Mercer (Mercer) was a member of her father’s household for uninsured motorist insurance purposes. On November 14, 2001, Mercer was injured in an automobile accident. At the time of the accident, Mercer was driving her 1992 Oldsmobile, not insured by her father’s policy, and was hit by an uninsured motorist. Mercer’s father, John Paul Jones (Jones), had an automobile insurance policy with Progressive Gulf Insurance Company (Progressive). Following her accident, Mercer made a claim under her father’s policy claiming that she was a resident of her father’s household and thus an insured pursuant to the policy. Progressive denied the claim and sued Mercer in the Circuit Court of Tip-pah County seeking a declaratory judgment of no coverage.

¶ 2. Following a hearing the circuit court granted summary judgment for Progressive stating:

THIS CAUSE came before this Court on Petitioner Progressive Gulf Insurance Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment and the Court, viewing the facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, and considering all arguments of counsel, both in the briefs and in oral argument for Summary Judgment, finds that said motion is well taken, as no genuine issue of material facts exists.
Gloria Mercer is not entitled to any benefits under the subject policy for any injuries and damages she may have suffered in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on November 14, 2001, and there is not a sufficient nexus between her residence and her father’s residence as to treat them as parts of a common household.

Following this ruling, Mercer appealed to this Court.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

¶ 3. Mercer admitted all the allegations set forth in Progressive’s complaint for declaratory judgment with the one exception of Paragraph 8 which alleged that she was “not entitled to recover any benefits under the subject policy because she was not a resident of the household of Jones, the named insured, and did not otherwise meet any definition of an insured under the policy.” Mercer similarly admitted the allegations in Progressive’s motion for summary judgment again with the exception that she denied that she was not entitled to recover benefits because she was not a resident of the household of the insured (her father) at the time of the accident.

¶ 4. On the date of the accident, November 14, 2001, Mercer, age 28, was living at 360 County Road 203 with her two children. Since the accident, Mercer moved to a different house less than a mile away from her parents. Mercer’s father owned the house where she and the children lived on November 14, 2001. John Paul Jones is Mercer’s father, and he lives at 330A County Road 203. The house that Mercer lived in on the date of the accident had previously been occupied by her grand[63]*63mother. Mercer stated in her deposition, response to complaint for declaratory-judgment and response to Progressive’s motion for summary judgment that the house that she lived in on the date of the accident and her father’s home had separate mailboxes. Both houses were served by separate utility meters. In her two responses, Mercer admitted that there was a distance of over 100 yards between her residence and her father’s residence. While Mercer could not recall exactly, she believed that the electricity bill for her house was in her father’s name, the water bill was in either her name or her father’s name, and the cable bill was in her name. Both Mercer and her father paid the bills. The cable services were separate for each house. The home insurance was in Jones’s name, and he paid the insurance bill for the house. Mercer did not pay her father any rent while she lived in the house. The two houses have separate driveways. In addition, Mercer and her children kept clothing, personal items and toys at the 360 County Road 208 house. In this house were a stove and microwave, refrigerator, freezer and food. Mercer cooked meals at this house approximately 3-4 times a week. Mercer and the children went to her father’s home everyday to visit, eat and sometimes they stayed the night at his house. They would walk or drive to her father’s house. Mercer used the 360 County Road address to fill out information sheets for her children for school. She also received mail at a separate mail box. After the accident Mercer moved back to her parents’ home until about February, 2002.

¶ 5. On the date of the accident, Mercer owned her own vehicle which was insured in her name by Farm Bureau. Mercer had settled her claim with Farm Bureau by the date of the deposition.

¶ 6. Jones’s automobile insurance policy with Progressive stated in part:

INSURING AGREEMENT — UNINSURED MOTORIST BODILY INJURY COVERAGE
Subject to the Limits of Liability, if you pay a premium for Uninsured/Un-derinsured Motorist Coverage, we will pay for damages, other that punitive ore exemplary damages, which an insured person is entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle because of bodily injury:
1. sustained by and insured person;
2. caused by accident; and
3. arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of an uninsured motor vehicle.
% *
ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS
When used in this Part III:
1. “Insured person” and “insured persons” mean:
a. you or a relative;
b. any person occupying a covered vehicle; and
c. any person who is entitled to recover damages covered by this Part III because of bodily injury sustained by a person described in a or b above.
GENERAL DEFINITIONS
12. “Relative” means a person residing in the same household as you, and related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, including a ward, stepchild, or foster child. Unmarried dependant children temporarily away from home will be considered residents if:
a. they are under the age of twenty-five (25) years; and
b. they intend to continue to reside in your household.
[64]*64ifc :Jt
16. “You” and ‘Your” mean the persons shown as the named insured on the Declarations Page, and that person’s spouse if residing in the same household.

The policy listed Jones as the insured and he and his wife Ruby were the listed drivers of their two vehicles. Mercer’s 1992 Oldsmobile was not a listed vehicle on her father’s automobile insurance policy.

¶ 7. This Court finds that the trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of Progressive finding that Mercer was not a member of her father’s household. The trial court was correct in finding that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact and that Progressive, therefore, was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

DISCUSSION

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
885 So. 2d 61, 2004 Miss. LEXIS 971, 2004 WL 1688433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mercer-v-progressive-gulf-insurance-co-miss-2004.