Nall v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

398 So. 2d 201, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 3881
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 20, 1981
DocketNo. 8074
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 398 So. 2d 201 (Nall v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nall v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 398 So. 2d 201, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 3881 (La. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

CULPEPPER, Judge.

Bobby R. Nall seeks damages for personal injuries to his minor son, Ricky Lane Nall, sustained in a collision between two automobiles. Named as defendants are (1) Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO), the liability insurer of the automobile in which Ricky was a guest passenger, and (2) State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm), which carried uninsured motorist coverages on two vehicles owned by plaintiff. The plaintiff has perfected this appeal from a judgment of the trial court rejecting his demands to stack uninsured motorist coverages.

The facts were stipulated by all parties: On September 15, 1979, Ricky Lane Nall was seriously injured while riding as a guest passenger in an automobile owned by James D. Ruby, Sr. and being operated by James D. Ruby, Jr. The injuries justify an award in excess of the amounts already paid and those claimed from the two insurers. The accident was caused by the negligence of James D. Ruby, Jr. At the time of the accident, GEICO had in effect an automobile liability policy issued to James D. Ruby, Sr. covering the automobile in which Ricky was a passenger. GEICO’s policy, issued on December 4, 1978, provided for medical payments coverage in the amount of $2,000, bodily injury liability coverage in the amount of $10,000 per person, and uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $10,000 per person. State Farm had in effect two separate policies issued to Bobby R. Nall covering two different automobiles, one issued on January 5,1979, and the other on August 27, 1979. Each State Farm policy provides uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $5,000 per person available to Ricky.

GEICO paid the plaintiff the amount of $2,000 under its medical payments coverage and $10,000 under its bodily injury liability coverage. State Farm paid the plaintiff $5,000 under the uninsured motorist coverage of one of its policies. The plaintiff filed this suit seeking an additional $10,000 under GEICO’s uninsured motorist coverage and an additional $5,000 under the uninsured motorist coverage of the other State Farm policy. The trial court rendered judgment in favor of State Farm and GEI-CO, rejecting the plaintiff’s demands. Plaintiff appealed.

The issues on appeal are: (1) Is GEICO liable under both the liability and the uninsured motorist coverages of its policy? (2) Can plaintiff “stack” the uninsured motorist coverages of the two State Farm policies?

Plaintiff contends he can recover under GEICO’s uninsured motorist coverage because GEICO’s liability coverage is insufficient to fully compensate the plaintiff, thus making James D. Ruby, Jr. an uninsured motorist. We disagree. This issue was confronted by the Supreme Court in Breaux v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 369 So.2d 1335 (La.1979), which involved the same policy provisions as the present case. The court in Breaux held that language in the GEICO policy prohibiting an injured party from recovering under both its liability coverage and its uninsured motorist coverage is not contrary to law and thus is enforceable.

The plaintiff has attempted to distinguish Breaux from the instant case. He contends that this Court’s decision in Guillot v. Travelers Indemnity Company, 338 So.2d 334 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1976), writ refused, 341 So.2d 408 (La.1977) is controlling. However, in Coco v. Allstate Insurance Company, 391 So.2d 50 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1980), this Court held that Breaux, supra, impliedly [203]*203overruled Guillot. The plaintiff in Coco, supra, as in the instant case, attempted to recover against the host driver under both the liability and the uninsured motorist coverages of an automobile insurance policy. This Court, following Breaux, supra, held that an injured party cannot recover against his host driver under both the liability and the uninsured motorist coverages. In light of the Breaux and Coco cases, we find the trial court correctly held plaintiff’s recovery from GEICO is limited to the policy’s liability coverage, and that the plaintiff cannot recover from GEICO under its uninsured motorist coverage.

In a supplemental brief, plaintiff argues Breaux is also distinguished from the present case because in Breaux the sole cause of the accident was the negligence of the host driver, whereas here the stipulated facts do not state Ruby’s negligence was the “sole cause.” In our view the rationale of Breaux applies whether the negligence of the host driver was the sole cause or only a contributing cause of the accident.

Plaintiff also contends he is entitled to stack the uninsured motorist coverages of both State Farm policies. The most recent case on stacking is Courville v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 386 So.2d 176 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1980). In that case, the plaintiff, while driving his father’s truck, was injured in a collision with another vehicle caused solely by the negligence of the other driver. Plaintiff sought to “stack” the uninsured motorist coverages of two separate State Farm policies issued to his father, one covering the truck driven by plaintiff and the other covering another vehicle owned by the father. This Court held the intent of the legislature in enacting the provisions of LSA-R.S. 22:1406(D)(l)(e) was to limit those instances where “stacking” is available, and that the situation presented was one which the legislature sought to cover. Thus, our Court concluded the plaintiff was unable to “stack” the uninsured motorist coverages of the two State Farm policies. The Supreme Court granted writs and reversed, 393 So.2d 703, rendered January 26, 1981. The Court construed R.S. 22:1406(D)(l)(c) as follows:

“Nevertheless, turning to that amended Act and applying it to the present situation, we must disagree with the Third Circuit. In pertinent part, the Act is as follows:
“ ‘(c) If the insured has any limits of uninsured motorist coverage in a policy of automobile liability insurance, in accordance with the terms of Subsection D(l), then such limits of liability shall not be increased because of multiple motor vehicles covered under said policy of insurance and such limits of uninsured motorist coverage shall not be increased when the insured has insurance available to him under more than one uninsured motorist coverage provision or policy; provided, however, that with respect to other insurance available, the policy of insurance or endorsement shall provide the following:
“ ‘With respect to bodily injury to an injured party while occupying an automobile not owned by said injured party, the following priorities of recovery under uninsured motorist coverage shall apply: “ ‘(i) The uninsured motorist coverage on the vehicle in which the injured party was an occupant is primary;
“ ‘(ii) Should that primary uninsured motorist coverage be exhausted due to the extent of damages, then the injured occupant may recover as excess from other uninsured motorist coverage available to him. In no instance shall more than one coverage from more than one uninsured motorist policy be available as excess over and above the primary coverage available to the injured occupant.’ (Emphasis added).
“Both the trial judge and the Third Circuit recognized that a literal reading of R.S. 22:1406(D)(l)(c) would allow the plaintiffs to stack in this situation. Using the second paragraph of the Act: the injured party, Joseph A.

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Bluebook (online)
398 So. 2d 201, 1981 La. App. LEXIS 3881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nall-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-lactapp-1981.