Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance v. Grimstad-Hardy

857 P.2d 1064, 71 Wash. App. 226, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 364
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 7, 1993
Docket29635-3-I
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 857 P.2d 1064 (Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance v. Grimstad-Hardy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance v. Grimstad-Hardy, 857 P.2d 1064, 71 Wash. App. 226, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 364 (Wash. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Grosse, J.

The appellants, Barbara Grimstad-Hardy and her father, Ronald E. Grimstad, appeal from a summary judgment proceeding in favor of the respondent, Mutual of Enum-claw Insurance Company. Grimstad-Hardy was injured when an uninsured motorist struck the vehicle in which she was a passenger. Grimstad-Hardy asserts that under the underin-sured motorist (UIM) statute, RCW 48.22.030, she may "stack" coverage for the three vehicles insured under her policy. Grimstad-Hardy alternatively argues that the UIM provisions of the policy contain ambiguous language and should be construed to allow stacking. Moreover, Grimstad-Hardy asserts that the "per accident" liability limit of $200,000 is applicable rather than the "per person" liability of $100,000. We affirm.

Barbara Grimstad-Hardy was a passenger in a vehicle owned and operated by Henry Blair. The car was struck by an uninsured driver. Grimstad-Hardy was seriously injured and asserts that her damages exceed $300,000. Grimstad-Hardy received $50,000 from Blair's insurance company, United Services Automobile Association (USAA), pursuant to Blair's UIM policy. Grimstad-Hardy also has UIM coverage through a policy of insurance issued to her father, Ronald Grimstad, by Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company (Mutual of Enumclaw). The Mutual of Enumclaw policy covers four vehicles, three of which have UIM coverage. The coverage page of the policy states the amount of uninsured coverage for those three vehicles as follows:

UNINSURED MOTORIST $100,000 EACH PERSON
BI = $200,000 PD =.25,000 EACH ACCID

*229 The UIM section of the policy contains a limit on liability as follows:

C. OUR LIMIT OF LIABILITY

1. Regardless of the number of covered cars, insureds, claims made or vehicles involved in the accident or premiums shown on the Coverage Page, the most we will . pay for bodily injury or property damage resulting from any one accident is the Underinsured Motorist limit shown for the covered car on the Coverage Page.
No one will be entitled to receive duplicate payments for the same elements of loss as a result of the application of this provision.
If an injured person has other similar insurance available under other policies, the total limits of liability of all coverage shall not exceed the higher of the applicable limits of the respective coverages.

The policy further explains "covered car":

A. The Coverage Page shows cars that are covered cars. With respect to this insurance car means:
1. Any vehicle you own which is shown on the Cover Page with a "policy form" of "P" denoting Personal Car. Insurance applies only where a specific premium charge indicates there is coverage.

The general provisions of the policy also contain a separability clause:

5. Two or More Cars Insured.
a. If this policy and any other car insurance policy issued to you by us apply to the same accident, the maximum limit of our liability shall not exceed the highest applicable limit for any one car.
b. When two or more cars are insured by this policy, the policy terms apply separately to each car. . . .

The parties disputed the amount of UIM coverage available to Grimstad-Hardy, and Mutual of Enumclaw filed a declaratory judgment action in King County Superior Court. Grimstad-Hardy asserted she should be able to recover the $200,000 per accident limit for her injuries rather than the $100,000 per person limit. Grimstad-Hardy also argued that she could stack UIM coverage for all three vehicles, thus receiving total coverage of $600,000. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted Mutual of Enum- *230 claw's motion for summary judgment and denied Grimstad-Hardy's motion. The order granting summary judgment provided that the maximum coverage available to Grimstad-Hardy is the $100,000 per person limit on the coverage page, the policies could not be "stacked", and the $50,000 already paid by USAAwas to be deducted from Mutual of Enumclaw's hability. Grimstad-Hardy appeals the trial court order for summary judgment.

Under CR 56(c), summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issues of material fact exist and judgment is appropriate as a matter of law. The review of the disposition of a motion for summary judgment assumes facts in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Douchette v. Bethel Sch. Dist. 403, 117 Wn.2d 805, 818 P.2d 1362 (1991). This case presents two discrete issues of statutory and contract interpretation: (1) whether the UIM coverage for each individual may be "stacked" under the UIM statute and the limit of liability and separability clauses of the Mutual of Enumclaw policy, and (2) whether the $100,000 per person limit or the $200,000 per accident limit on the coverage page of the Mutual of Enumclaw policy applies under the policy's UIM limit of Hability clause.

Automobile insurers must offer UIM coverage as provided in RCW 48.22.030. That statute was enacted by the Legislature in order to assure full compensation, within UIM policy Hmits, for insured parties injured by underinsured or uninsured tortfeasors. Hamilton v. Farmers Ins. Co., 107 Wn.2d 721, 727, 733 P.2d 213 (1987). The Legislature sought to aHow the insured to coHect the same amount of damages under underinsured motorist coverage as if the responsible party had been insured with HabiHty insurance with Hmits equal to the insured's UIM policy. Brown v. Snohomish Cy. Physicians Corp., 120 Wn.2d 747, 756, 845 P.2d 334 (1993); Bates v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 43 Wn. App. 720, 725, 719 P.2d 171, review denied, 106 Wn.2d 1014 (1986).

Prior to the 1980 amendment of RCW 48.22.030, the Washington Supreme Court interpreted the statute to allow insured parties to "stack" coverage on each vehicle in a pol *231 icy and collect UIM benefits for each vehicle, even if the policy contained an antistacking limiting provision, reasoning that such a result was warranted by the underlying policy of the uninsured motorist statute, former RCW 48.22-.030. 1 See Federated Am. Ins. Co. v. Raynes,

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Bluebook (online)
857 P.2d 1064, 71 Wash. App. 226, 1993 Wash. App. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mutual-of-enumclaw-insurance-v-grimstad-hardy-washctapp-1993.