O'Driscoll v. Mutapcic

210 S.W.3d 368, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1675, 2006 WL 3196865
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 7, 2006
DocketNo. ED 87838
StatusPublished

This text of 210 S.W.3d 368 (O'Driscoll v. Mutapcic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Driscoll v. Mutapcic, 210 S.W.3d 368, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1675, 2006 WL 3196865 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, J.

Introduction

Thomas P. O’Driscoll (Insured) appeals from the trial court’s Order and Partial Judgment in favor of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) in his action seeking underinsured motorist coverage under six insurance policies issued to Insured by State Farm. We affirm.

Background

Insured brought this action for damages, seeking, inter alia, the recovery of uninsured motorist coverage benefits and underinsured motorist coverage benefits against State Farm, for injuries he sustained on April 27, 2003, when his motorcycle was struck by a motor vehicle driven by Azim Mutapcic (Mutapcic). In Count III of his Amended Petition, Insured alleged that State Farm had issued to him [370]*370multiple policies of insurance which included underinsured motorist coverages.

State Farm subsequently filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Motion), denying that Insured was entitled to “stack” the underinsured motorist coverage provisions of his policies with State Farm. All the policies in effect at the time of Insured’s accident included underin-sured motor vehicle coverage with limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence, and all included the same provisions regarding underinsured motorist coverage. In its Motion, State Farm argued that the following language of the Insured’s policies precluded him from recovering benefits under another policy when he was injured while occupying or operating a vehicle he owned that was insured under a separate policy, even where the policies were all issued by State Farm:

When Coverages U and W Do Not Apply

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THERE IS NO COVERAGE UNDER COVERAGE W FOR BODILY INJURY TO AN INSURED:

2. WHILE OCCUPYING A MOTOR VEHICLE OWNED OR LEASED BY YOU, YOUR SPOUSE OR ANY RELATIVE IF IT IS NOT INSURED FOR THIS COVERAGE UNDER THIS POLICY.

In opposition to State Farm’s Motion, Insured argued the policies were ambiguous and contained conflicting provisions concerning stacking. Insured contended this ambiguity created a reasonable expectation on his behalf, that stacking of the underinsured motorist coverage would be permitted and urged the trial court to deny the motion.

The trial court issued its Order and Partial Judgment on January 26, 2006. In its Order and Partial Judgment, the trial court, holding that the exclusion was not ambiguous, granted State Farm’s Motion and limited Insured’s recovery on his claim for underinsured motorist coverage benefits to the policy limits of the policy insuring the motorcycle he was riding when the accident occurred.

Thereafter, on February 15, the parties filed a stipulation with respect to this count of Insured’s claim, stating, among other things, that: 1) there existed six policies of insurance issued by State Farm to Insured at the time of the accident; 2) Mutapcic’s coverage limits for his vehicle were $100,000 at the time of the accident, and the limits had been paid to Insured; 3) the difference between the amount of Insured’s damages for bodily injury and the amount paid by Mutapcic’s insurer equaled or exceeded $600,000; and 4) the trial court should enter a judgment in favor of Insured on this count for the sum of $100,000 as the limits of the policy listing Insured’s motorcycle, based upon the Order and Partial Summary Judgment. On February 16, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Insured on this count in the sum of $100,000. This appeal follows.

Point on Appeal

In his single point on appeal, Insured claims the trial court erred in entering judgment only for $100,000, as the limit of the policy listing Insured’s motorcycle, on his underinsured motorist claim arising under multiple State Farm policies because the policies did not unambiguously prohibit stacking of the coverages. Insured contends that because the policies are vague, confusing, and ambiguous regarding stacking when read as a whole, they should be construed against State Farm to permit stacking.

Standard of Review

We review the trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the [371]*371record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. ITT Fin. Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993).

Discussion

We very recently considered this precise exclusionary language in an analogous case where an insured also sought underinsured motorist coverage under several insurance policies issued by State Farm. In Buettner v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 210 S.W.3d 363, 2006 WL 3196845 (2006), a case also published herein and involving very similar facts, we found that the identical exclusion contained clauses which prohibited stacking of the underinsured motorist coverage. Accordingly, our analysis here will borrow liberally from our discussion in that opinion.

“Stacking” refers to an injured insured’s ability to recover multiple insurance coverage benefits “either from more than one policy, as where the insured has two or more separate vehicles under separate policies, or from multiple coverages provided for within a single policy, as when an insured has one policy that covers more than one vehicle.” Niswonger v. Farm Bureau Town & Country Ins. Co. of Mo., 992 S.W.2d 308, 313 (Mo.App. E.D.1999). The existence of underinsured coverage and its ability to be stacked are determined by the terms of the insurance policy; if the policy language unambiguously disallows stacking, courts will not create such extra coverage. Id. at 314.

Here, the declaration pages of each of the six State Farm policies show that the limit of liability for underinsured motor vehicles is $100,000 per person, and $300,000 per accident. All six policies contain identical clauses defining the limits of liability for underinsured motorist coverage. All six policies were in effect at the time Insured was injured, and Insured made a claim for the underinsured benefits under each of the policies. State Farm, however, denied that Insured was entitled to “stack” the coverages under the policies insuring vehicles not involved in Insured’s accident.

In its brief, State Farm argues that the “owned but not insured” clause contained in each of the policies is a valid anti-stacking provision which clearly and unambiguously precludes Insured from recovering under multiple State Farm policies 1

THERE IS NO COVERAGE UNDER W FOR BODILY INJURY TO AN INSURED:

[372]*3721. WHILE OCCUPYING A MOTOR VEHICLE OWNED OR LEASED BY YOU, YOUR SPOUSE, OR ANY RELATIVE IF IT IS NOT INSURED FOR THIS COVERAGE UNDER THIS POLICY[J

State Farm urges that, due to this anti-stacking language, only the policy listing the motorcycle on its declaration page would provide underinsured motor vehicle coverage for Insured when he was injured while driving his motorcycle.

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Related

Jenkins v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
632 S.E.2d 346 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2006)
Hempen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
687 S.W.2d 894 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1985)
ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp.
854 S.W.2d 371 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1993)
Niswonger v. Farm Bureau Town & Country Insurance Co. of Missouri
992 S.W.2d 308 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1999)
Buettner v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
210 S.W.3d 363 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 S.W.3d 368, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 1675, 2006 WL 3196865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odriscoll-v-mutapcic-moctapp-2006.