Schexnaildre v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.

184 So. 3d 108, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 0272, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2243, 2015 WL 6884733
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 9, 2015
DocketNo. 2015 CA 0272
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 184 So. 3d 108 (Schexnaildre v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.) 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
Schexnaildre v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., 184 So. 3d 108, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 0272, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2243, 2015 WL 6884733 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CRAIN, J.

lain this suit seeking penalties, attorney fees, and damages sustained as a result of the alleged bad faith of the insurer, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant insurer failed to pay a claim within thirty days after receipt of satisfactory proof of loss. The trial court dismissed the suit by summary judgment, finding no violation of the applicable statute because the payment was mailed within the statutory delay, and further finding that the conduct of the defendant was not arbitrary or capricious. We affirm.

FACTS

On or about October 6, 2010, Beau Schexnaildre was involved in a motor vehicle accident caused by the negligence of Nathan Spicer. Spicer was insured by a policy of automobile liability insurance with a limit of $25,000.00 per claim, and Schexnaildre ultimately resolved his claim against Spicer, Spicer’s wife, and his insurer, Spicer Constructipn, the owner of the vehicle being operated by Spicer and Spi-cer’s insurer, for an amount in excess of that policy limit.

Schexnaildre also sought recovery under a policy of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (“UM”) issued to him by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. After initially providing State Farm [110]*110with a copy of the motor vehicle accident report, Schexnaildre later forwarded copies of his medical records, medical bills in the total amount of $23,197.78, and policy information confirming the limits of Spi-cer’s liability' insurance (the “UM áe~. mand”). The UM demand was received by State Farm on March 14, 2012. Thirty-three days later on April 16, 2012, a Monday, counsel for Schexnaildre received a check in the mail from State Farm for the UM policy limit of $25,000.00.

Schexnaildre filed the present suit against State Farm alleging that the insurer failed to make an unconditional tender of benefits under 'the UM policy | -¡within thirty days of receipt of satisfactory prdof of loss, and that the failure to -make the tender was arbitrary, capricious, and without probable cause. Schexnaildre sought penalties, attorney fees, damages resulting from the alleged bad faith, and all' of costs of the proceeding. ‘ '

After answering, State Farm filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that it was entitled to a judgment dismissing the suit with prejudice. State Farm argued, in part,. that Schexnaildre did not provide sufficient proof of loss under Louisiana Revised Statute 22:1892 (formerly Louisiana Revised Statute 22:658), because the UM demand did not establish that Spicer was underinsured and only included medical bills for slightly more than one-half of the claimed expenses. State Farm alternatively asserted that the eláim was timely paid under Section 22:1892 because the payment was placed iri the mail to counsel for Schexnaildre within thirty days of the insurer’s receipt of the UM demand.

In opposition to the motion, Schexnail-dre argued that the UM demand provided adequate proof of loss, as evidenced by the fact that State Farm paid its policy limit without requiring or obtaining any additional information. As to the timeliness of the payment, Schexnaildre maintained that Section 22:1892 requires that the payment must be received by the insured within thirty days, which did not occur in this case.

At the hearing on the motion, the trial court found that the UM demand provided satisfactory proof of the loss but, agreeing with State Farm, found that mailing the payment within thirty days is sufficient to comply Section 22:1892. However, the trial court expressed doubt as to whether the undisputed evidence established the date the check was placed in the mail by State Farm, as the exhibits only established that the check was “completed” and “placed” for the mail, rather 14than actually mailed, on Friday morning, April 13, 2012, the last day of the thirty-day period.

Counsel for Schexnaildre. acknowledged that he received the check in Natchitoches on Monday, April 16, 2012; however, the trial court believed the evidence did not definitively establish whether the check was mailed the previous Friday, the last day of the delay, or on Saturday, April 14, 2012, the fhirty-first day after receipt of the UM demand. Although the trial recognized that it was somewhat “farfetched” to suggest that the check could have been mailed from Baton Rouge as late as Saturday, and yet still arrive in Natchitoches the following Monday, the trial court found that the lack of evidence of a definite mailing date created a genuine issue of material fact. For that reason, the trial court denied the summary judgment but noted that State Farm was not precluded from re-urging the motion with additional evidence establishing when the check was actually mailed.

State Farm later re-urged the motion for summary judgment and supplemented the motion with three affidavits addressing the mailing of the check. Dawn Cochran, a claims service assistant in the Baton [111]*111Rouge claim’s office of State Farm, attested that her activity logs confirm that on Friday morning, April 13, 2012, at 7:49 a.m., she took the $25,000.00 UM tender check and a transmittal letter, both dated April 12, 2012, and placed them in an envelope “for pickup and mail processing.” Monica Sanger, also employed by State Farm as a claims service assistant in the Baton Rouge office, attested that in April of 2012, all outgoing pieces of mail would be picked up and gathered from designated mail baskets once in the morning and once in the afternoon. After postage was applied, the mail would be placed in a U.S. Mail plastic bin and would be picked up by DMS Mail Management Services, Inc. between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday | ^through Friday, except holidays, and' delivered to the post office. .'The mail gathering process and pickup was not performed on Saturdays or Sundays.

Gary Simmons, the general manager for DMS Mail Management, attested that all mail picked up at the State Farm' office was processed, delivered, and' deposited with the U.S. Post Office for mailing on the same day it was picked up. DMS Mail Management did not make deliveries to the U.S. Post Office on Saturdays or Sundays; therefore, if for any reason the processing and delivery of State Farm’s mail could not have been completed on Friday, April 12, 2012, the mail would have been processed the following Monday.

In an opposition -memorandum, Sehéx-naildre objected to the admissibility of the affidavits of Sanger and Simmons, arguing that the affidavits did not sufficiently identify or explain the respective affiant’s basis of knowledge for the facts set forth in the affidavits. In that regard, Sanger confirmed in her affidavit that her current duties at State Farm include “responsibility for gathering outgoing mail ... processing those pieces of mail, and preparing them for pickup by. DMS Management,” and that she is familiar with the mail procedures;used by the State Farm claims office in Baton Rouge in April of 2012. Schexnaildre argued that Sanger’s affidavit does not identify whether she was- employed by State Farm in April of 2012, and, if she was not, her statements would not be based on her personal knowledge. As to the affidavit of Simmons, the general manager of DMS Mail Management, Schexnaildre argued that the .affidavit does not state whether Simmons was employed by DMS Mail Management in April of 2012 or how he was familiar with the-, procedures used by the company.at that time.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 So. 3d 108, 2015 La.App. 1 Cir. 0272, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2243, 2015 WL 6884733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schexnaildre-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-ins-co-lactapp-2015.