Roering v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co.

444 N.W.2d 829, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 222
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 1, 1989
DocketCl-88-2213
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 444 N.W.2d 829 (Roering v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roering v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co., 444 N.W.2d 829, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 222 (Mich. 1989).

Opinions

POPOVICH, Chief Justice.

Pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 480.061 (1988) the Honorable Edward J. Devitt, of the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, Sixth Division, certified the following questions to this court after denying a motion to dismiss:

1. Does Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a(7), preclude underinsured motorist coverage where the motorcycle is an insured vehicle but not for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage?

2. Pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a(5), when a person is injured while operating his own motorcycle which is insured for liability coverage only, is he considered to be “occupying a motor vehicle” for purposes of claims to underinsured motorist benefits?

3. May an insurer enforce an exclusion in its policy of insurance which provides that underinsured motorist coverage does not apply to bodily injury sustained by a person “while occupying a motor vehicle owned by you or a relative for which insurance is not afforded under this part, or when struck by the motor vehicle”?

I.

In its order of October 20, 1988, the federal district court set forth the following facts giving rise to the certified questions:

On September 9, 1986, Randy Donald Roering was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle operated by Kenneth Proell. Randy Roering was operating a motorcycle he owned and was killed as a result of the collision. The motorcycle, which was owned and operated by Randy Roering, was insured through a policy of insurance issued by Foremost Insurance Company. This policy did not provide uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

On the date of the accident, Donald Roer-ing, the deceased’s father, was insured by respondent Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company. Randy Roering was a member of Donald Roering’s household on September 9, 1986. The Grinnell policy of insurance contained underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $50,000. The vehicles for which insurance was afforded under Grinnell’s policy issued to Donald Roering were a 1977 GMC pickup truck and a 1979 Chevrolet Caprice.

Donald Roering submitted a claim to Grinnell Mutual for underinsured motorist benefits to cover the accident of September 9,1986, when his son was riding the motorcycle. Grinnell denied coverage, pursuant to the exclusions portion of Donald Roer-ing’s policy governing uninsured/underin-sured motorist coverage. The policy states:

This coverage [uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist] does not apply to bodily injury sustained by a person:
(1) while occupying a motor vehicle owned by you or a relative for which insurance is not afforded under this part, or when struck by the motor vehicle.

(Emphasis in original).

Donald Roering, as trustee for the heirs of Randy Donald Roering, decedent, brought this action seeking a declaration by the federal district court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (1982), establishing the rights and obligations of the parties under Minnesota law and the insurance policy issued by Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company.

II.

Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a(7)

Respondent argues that underin-sured motorist coverage under the Grinnell policy is precluded by Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, [831]*831subd. 3a(7). The statute provides in pertinent part:

(7) The uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages required by this subdivision do not apply to bodily injury of the insured while occupying a motor vehicle owned by the insured, unless the occupied vehicle is an insured motor vehicle.

Under subdivision 3a(7), an insured operating a motor vehicle owned by the insured, but not covered by insurance, is precluded from obtaining uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage under a policy issued on another car for which he is insured. This policy is designed to encourage motor vehicle owners to secure insurance on all of their vehicles. See Balderrama v. Milbank Mutual Ins. Co., 324 N.W.2d 355, 358 (Minn.1982).

Appellant argues that Randy Roering was occupying an “insured motor vehicle” at the time of his accident and therefore is eligible to receive uninsured and underin-sured motorist coverage under his father, Donald Roering’s, policy. Randy Roering purchased the necessary level of coverage required by Minn.Stat. § 65B.48, subd. 5 (1988), the Minnesota statute governing insurance for motorcycles.1 The insurance policy on his motorcycle contained only liability coverage and did not have any provision for underinsured motorist coverage, since such coverage is not required for motorcycles in Minnesota.

In Hanson v. American Family Mutual Ins. Co., 417 N.W.2d 94 (Minn.1987), we interpreted the language of Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a(7). The plaintiff Thomas Hanson was injured when an uninsured jeep struck the uninsured motorcycle he was operating. In addition to the motorcycle, Hanson owned a 1974 Ford pickup truck at the time of the accident. The truck was insured by defendant American Family under a policy that included uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $25,000 per person. Hanson filed a claim under the policy on his pickup truck, alleging that coverage extended to an accident that occurred while he was operating his motorcycle. We denied coverage to Hanson based on our reading of the intent of the legislature in enacting subdivision 3a(7) under the 1985 amendments to the No-Fault Act:

The amendments also designated the occupied motor vehicle as the primary source of uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and otherwise limited the occupant’s ability to collect additional like coverage. Minn.Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a(5). The legislature hoped, by these changes, to stem rising insurance costs, which it traced in part to prior law requiring expansive interpretation of vehicle insurance coverage. Allowing a claimant to extend uninsured motorist coverage from an automobile to an owned but uninsured motorcycle runs counter to the thrust of the 1985 legislation.

Id. at 96 (citation omitted).

This case differs from Hanson since Roering’s motorcycle was fully insured under the law. Judge Devitt reached the same conclusion in denying respondent’s motion to dismiss:

Section 65B.49, subd. 3a(7), as construed in Hanson, does not preclude coverage in this case because here the motorcycle was insured, not uninsured. Following the Hanson court’s lead, this court looks to the definition of “uninsured motor vehicle” in § 65B.43, subd. 16, for guidance in construing “insured motor vehicle’*’ in § 65B.49, subd. 3a(7). From that definition, the court concludes that decedent’s motorcycle was an “insured motor vehicle” for purposes of subd. 3a(7) because it carried the mandatory coverage required by the Act. Subdivision 3a(7) does not preclude coverage where “the [832]*832occupied vehicle is an insured motor vehicle."

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Roering v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co.
444 N.W.2d 829 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 N.W.2d 829, 1989 Minn. LEXIS 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roering-v-grinnell-mutual-reinsurance-co-minn-1989.