Sentilles v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

443 So. 2d 723, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9882
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1983
DocketCA-0899
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 443 So. 2d 723 (Sentilles v. State Farm Mut. Auto. 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
Sentilles v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 443 So. 2d 723, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9882 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

443 So.2d 723 (1983)

Wilbur SENTILLES and Stephen Sentilles
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY.

No. CA-0899.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

December 9, 1983.
Writ Denied February 10, 1984.

*724 John D. Lambert, Jr., Lambert & Lambert, New Orleans, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Adrianne L. Baumgartner, Porteous, Hainkel, Johnson & Sarpy, Covington, for defendant-appellee.

Before SCHOTT, BARRY and LOBRANO, JJ.

BARRY, Judge.

Both parties appeal a partial summary judgment which prohibited "stacking" uninsured motorist policies and voided plaintiff's selection of minimum uninsured motorist coverage.

On June 5, 1980, Stephen Sentilles was seriously injured when struck by a car while attempting to cross a street in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. The vehicle was insured by Government Employees Ins. Co. with liability limits of $15,000. Alleging damages greatly in excess of that coverage, Stephen and his father, Wilbur Sentilles, sued State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., the father's uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier.

Plaintiffs alleged that at the time of the accident State Farm had in effect three insurance policies, each of which entitled plaintiffs to recover $5,000 U.M. policy limits. Subsequently the petition was amended to allege the coverage under each policy was $100,000 because the U.M. coverage forms executed by Mr. Sentilles in 1976 and 1980 were invalid and inapplicable when the accident occurred.

State Farm moved for partial summary judgment, contending plaintiffs are prohibited from stacking U.M. coverage and that the forms signed by Mr. Sentilles limited *725 U.M. coverage to $5,000 under each policy. After a hearing the trial court ruled:

Plaintiffs may not stack the three State Farm policies; the U.M. selection forms signed in 1976 were void thereby causing each policy to have U.M. limits of $100,000/$300,000, the same as the liability limits.

State Farm appeals as to the selection forms and plaintiffs appeal the stacking prohibition.

Mr. Sentilles has been insured by State Farm since October, 1972 when he covered a Buick and a Chrysler. That insurance continued until the cars were replaced with a Cadillac and a Mercury. On April 26, 1976, Mr. Sentilles signed two "Louisiana Uninsured Motor Vehicle Coverage" forms which declared:

In keeping with the provisions of the laws of the State of Louisiana I hereby request that the insurer designated below proceed as indicated as respects the policy of bodily injury liability insurance on the described motor vehicle, its replacements, and any subsequent transfer, reinstatement or renewal of such policy or policies to be issued. I understand that had I so desired it would have been possible for me to have purchased limits of liability for Uninsured Motor Vehicle Coverage equal to the Bodily Injury Liability limits designated on my application for insurance.

Mr. Sentilles marked the box on both forms designated "OPTION TO ELECT LOWER LIMITS OF LIABILITY FOR UNINSURED MOTOR VEHICLE COVERAGE. Provide Uninsured Motor Vehicle coverage under such policy with liability limits of 5,000/$10,000." It was stipulated that neither form was given back to Mr. Sentilles to be attached to the policies, nor were they attached to any subsequent policies (renewals, substitute or otherwise) issued to him by State Farm.

On January 24, 1977 Mr. Sentilles substituted a Cadillac for the Buick with the same coverage. On August 30, 1979, a Pontiac was substituted for the Cadillac with the same coverage plus collision coverage. Similarly, on February 1, 1977 a Mercury was substituted for the Chrysler with the same coverage. Mr. Sentilles never signed another U.M. selection form for any of the policy renewals or replacements.[1]

On May 23, 1980 State Farm issued another policy to Mr. Sentilles for a Pontiac, his third vehicle.[2] He signed a U.M. selection form identical to the other two forms which designated limits of $5,000/$10,000.

Thus, on the date of Stephen's accident, State Farm had three insurance policies on three automobiles owned by Mr. Sentilles. The "Declaration" page of each policy specified liability limits of $100,000/$300,000 and U.M. limits of $5,000/$10,000 covering Wilbur Sentilles and "any resident of the same household." It is undisputed that Stephen Sentilles lived with his father and was insured.

VALIDITY OF U.M. SELECTION FORMS

Plaintiff contends that U.M. limits of $100,000/$300,000 were statutorily read into the first two policies by operation of LSA-R.S. 22:1406(D), the portion of the Louisiana Insurance Code on U.M. coverage.

At all pertinent times R.S. 22:1406(D) specified U.M. coverage is to be provided in not less than the amounts of bodily injury liability coverage, unless the insured rejects such coverage or selects lower limits. The statutory requirements for a waiver or lower limits have been amended several times, notably in 1977. The two U.M. selection forms at issue were signed by Mr. Sentilles on April 26, 1976 when R.S. 22:1406(D) provided:

(1)(a) No automobile liability insurance covering liability arising out of the ownership, *726 maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, in not less than the limits of bodily injury liability provided by the policy, under provisions filed with and approved by the commissioner of insurance, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured or underinsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death, resulting therefrom; provided, however, that the coverage required under this Subsection shall not be applicable where any insured named in the policy shall reject the coverage or selects lower limits. Such coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal or substitute policy where the named insured has rejected the coverage or selected lower limits in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer.... (Emphasis added)

LSA-R.S. 22:628, a general provision of our Insurance Code, in effect then and now, specifies:

"No agreement in conflict with, modifying, or extending the coverage of any contract of insurance shall be valid unless in writing and made part of the policy." (Emphasis supplied.)

While the version of R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(a) in effect when plaintiff signed the U.M. selection forms did not specifically require that such selection be both in writing and attached to the policy, the writing and attachment requirements of R.S. 22:628 were held applicable to R.S. 22:1406(D)(1)(a) in A.I.U. Ins. Co. v. Roberts, 404 So.2d 948 (La.1981). Our Supreme Court, after a thorough analysis of the history of R.S. 22:1406(D), declared:

[C]learly, prior to September 9, 1977, the effective date of Act 438 of 1977, any selection of lower limits, to be valid, had to be in writing and attached to the policy.

In 1977 R.S. 22:1406(D) was amended and the requirement that a waiver or selection of lower limits be attached to the policy was made inapplicable to "renewal or substitute policies."

Just as the two forms here, the attempted waiver/selection of lower coverage in A.I.U. Ins. Co. v. Roberts

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
443 So. 2d 723, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sentilles-v-state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-lactapp-1983.