Moore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

888 P.2d 1004, 119 N.M. 122
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 8, 1994
Docket15642
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 888 P.2d 1004 (Moore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 888 P.2d 1004, 119 N.M. 122 (N.M. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

ALARID, Judge.

Raymond Moore, Jr. (Plaintiff) appeals the district court’s order- granting summary judgment. The district court ruled that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company’s (State Farm) driver’s exclusion agreement was valid under New Mexico’s Financial Responsibility Act. The district court also ruled that Plaintiff was not entitled to recovery under the uninsured motorist provisions of his parents’ automobile insurance because he was operating a vehicle at the time of his accident. We affirm.

FACTS

On March 22, 1991, Plaintiff was involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist. The Moore family had two cars insured with State Farm: a 1977 Datsun, Policy No. 181-6871-B27-3LA, and a 1987 Mazda, Policy No. 168-4748-B05-31D. As we will discuss below, coverage on a third policy for a 1980 Oldsmobile, No. 180-7795-F12-31A terminated before the accident. Each vehicle had $25,000 uninsured motorist coverage per person. Plaintiff was living with his family at the time of the accident, but was not driving one of the insured vehicles. Raymond Moore, Sr. (Plaintiffs father) had signed a driver exclusion agreement covering all the vehicles which read:

IN CONSIDERATION OF THE PREMIUM CHARGED FOR YOUR POLICY IT IS AGREED WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE AND NO LIABILITY OR OBLIGATION OF ANY KIND SHALL ATTACH TO US FOR BODILY INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGE UNDER ANY OF THE COVERAGES OF THE POLICY WHILE ANY MOTOR VEHICLE IS OPERATED BY Raymond Douglas Moore Jr

Plaintiff claims he is entitled to uninsured motorist coverage under the State Farm automobile insurance policies issued to his family. State Farm moved for summary judgment claiming that the driver’s exclusion agreement signed by Plaintiff’s father was valid and dispositive of the claim. State Farm concludes Plaintiff was not entitled to recovery under the uninsured motorist provisions because he was operating a motor vehicle at the time of the accident. Summary judgment was granted; the issues on appeal are: (1) whether a driver exclusion agreement pursuant to NMSA 1978, Sections 66-5-221(K) and -222 (Repl.Pamp.1989), applies to uninsured motorist coverage as well as liability coverage; and, (2) whether the driver exclusion agreement form provided by State Farm is valid. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

The granting of summary judgment is proper when no genuine issues of material fact exist and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Roth v. Thompson, 113 N.M. 331, 334, 825 P.2d 1241, 1244 (1992). In the present case, we affirm the granting of summary judgment for State Farm. We reaffirm that a driver exclusion agreement pursuant to Sections 66-5-221 and -222 applies to uninsured motorist coverage as well as liability coverage in New Mexico. We further determine as a matter of law that the two applicable policies in effect at the time of Plaintiff’s accident excluded Plaintiff from uninsured motorist coverage.

A. SECTIONS 66-5-221 (K) AND -222 ARE APPLICABLE TO UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE AS WELL AS LIABILITY

The issue whether Sections 66-5-221(K) and -222 apply to uninsured motorist coverage as well as liability has already been decided by New Mexico courts. In State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. v. Kiehne, 97 N.M. 470, 471, 641 P.2d 501, 502 (1982), our Supreme Court explicitly held that a driver exclusion endorsement bars the excluded driver from recovery under uninsured motorist provisions. Contrary to Plaintiff’s assertions, a policy can single out family members to exclude from uninsured motorist coverage. Such exclusion does not violate the purpose or policy behind New Mexico’s uninsured motorist statute. Id.

Plaintiff argues that Kiehne should be distinguished because it was decided before uninsured motorist coverage became “mandatory” in New Mexico. Plaintiff is simply wrong in his assertion on the law. Kiehne was decided under NMSA 1978, Section 66-5-301 (Orig.Pamp.), which reads in relevant part:

[N]o motor vehicle or automobile liability policy insuring against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or death suffered by any person, and for injury to or destruction of property of others arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle, shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state ... unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto ... for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles ____ [T]he named insured shall have the right to reject such coverage____ (Emphasis added.)

The present case relies on NMSA 1978, Section 66-5-301 (Repl.Pamp.1989), which reads:

A. No motor vehicle or automobile liability policy insuring against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or death suffered by any person and for injury to or destruction of property of others arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in New Mexico ... unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto ... for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles____
C..... The named insured shall have the right to reject uninsured motorist coverage---- (Emphasis added.)

The statutes are substantively identical. Uninsured motorist coverage must be offered to New Mexico drivers, but named insureds have always had the right to reject such coverage. See also Garza v. Glen Falls Ins. Co., 105 N.M. 220, 221-22, 731 P.2d 363, 364-65 (1986) (interpreting Kiehne to permit exclusion under uninsured motorist coverage). This distinguishes Employers Mutual Casualty Co. v. McKeon, 159 Ariz. 111, 765 P.2d 513 (1988), on which Plaintiff relies, because the court in McKern relied on the fact that Arizona adopted mandatory uninsured motorist coverage and specifically recognized this difference in New Mexico’s statutory coverage. Id., 159 Ariz. at 114-15, 765 P.2d at 516-17.

Subsection C gives named insureds the right to reject uninsured motorist coverage. Romero v. Dairyland Ins. Co., 111 N.M. 154, 155, 803 P.2d 243, 244 (1990). Plaintiffs father bargained for a policy which would exclude all coverage if his son was driving a vehicle. “In effect, no automobile insurance policy covering the [insured vehicle] existed while [the son] drove the automobile. Therefore, no one could be an ‘insured’ and claim coverage under the uninsured motorist provision of the policy.” Kiehne, 97 N.M. at 471-72, 641 P.2d at 502-03. Kiehne is applicable to the case at bar and exclusion agreements apply to uninsured motorist coverage in New Mexico.

B. VALIDITY OF DRIVER EXCLUSION AGREEMENT

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Bluebook (online)
888 P.2d 1004, 119 N.M. 122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-nmctapp-1994.