Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. v. MacVittie

423 S.W.3d 252, 2013 WL 6822415, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1528
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 24, 2013
DocketNo. WD 76401
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 423 S.W.3d 252 (Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. v. MacVittie) 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
Shelter Mutual Insurance Co. v. MacVittie, 423 S.W.3d 252, 2013 WL 6822415, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1528 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

VICTOR C. HOWARD, Judge.

Shelter Insurance Mutual Insurance Company (“Shelter”) appeals from the trial court’s grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of Jay and Debra MacVittie and against Shelter in the amount of $100,000.00. At issue is the interpretation of an automobile insurance policy’s limit of liability provisions. Shelter’s position is that Jay and Debra MacVittie’s claims are subject to the same “each person” limit because the policy’s limit of liability section unambiguously provides that derivative claims are subject to the same “each person” limit available to the injured claimant. Shelter contends, in the alternative, that if the policy language is ambiguous, a separate limit for Debra MacVittie’s loss of consortium claim is allegedly beyond the expectations of an ordinary insured. We reverse.

FACTS

In May of 2012 Jay MacVittie and John McCray were involved in a motor vehicle accident in Callaway County, Missouri. Jay MacVittie asserted a claim against Mr. McCray for personal injuries, and Debra MacVittie, Jay’s wife, asserted a claim against Mr. McCray for loss of consortium. Shelter insured Mr. McCray pursuant to an automobile liability policy (“the policy”) effective at the time of the accident. The policy has a bodily injury limit of $100,000 each person and $800,000 each accident.

The parties do not dispute that the policy covers the claims of Jay and Debra MacVittie. The disagreement is whether Mrs. MacVittie’s loss of consortium claim was subject to (a) the same $100,000.00 “each person” limit as Mr. MacVittie’s claim, (b) a separate “each person” limit of $100,000.00, or (c) no “each person” limit whatsoever.

The parties reached a settlement agreement by which Shelter paid Mr. and Mrs. MacVittie $100,000.00, the MacVitties released any claims against John and Cathy McCray arising out of the accident, and the MacVitties and Shelter agreed to resolve their remaining dispute by submitting it to the Circuit Court of Callaway County (and any appellate court) for resolution. Shelter then filed its action for declaratory judgment, and the MacVitties filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment. Subsequently the parties filed cross motions for judgment on the pleadings. The trial court entered judgment in favor of the MacVitties, finding that “Jay MacVittie’s claim and Deborah (sic) MacVittie’s claim are not subject to the same ‘each person’ limitation in [Shelter’s policy. Debra MacVittie’s claim for loss of consortium is found to be a separate claim.” The court then awarded the MacVitties $100,000.00 for the loss of consortium claim. This appeal by Shelter followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Review of a grant of judgment on the pleadings requires this Court to determine “whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the face of the pleadings.” Emerson Electric Co. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, 362 S.W.3d 7, 12 (Mo. banc 2012) (internal quotations omitted). The non-moving party’s well-pleaded facts are treated as admitted for purposes of the motion. Id. The trial court’s judgment will be affirmed only “if the facts pleaded by the petitioner, together with the benefit of all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, show that petitioner could not prevail under any legal theory.” Id. “ ‘The interpretation of an insurance policy, and the determination whether coverage and exclusion provisions are ambiguous, are questions of law that this Court reviews de novo.’ ” American Nat'l. Prop. [255]*255& Cas. Co. v. Wyatt, 400 S.W.3d 417, 419 (Mo.App.W.D.2013) (quoting Burns v. Smith, 303 S.W.3d 505, 509 (Mo. banc 2010)). In an insurance contract, “the risk insured against is made up of both the general insuring agreement as well as the exclusions and definitions.” Todd v. Mo. United Sch. Ins. Council, 223 S.W.3d 156, 163 (Mo. banc 2007) (internal citations omitted). “When analyzing an insurance contract, the entire policy and not just isolated provisions or clauses must be considered.” Rice v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Co., 301 S.W.3d 43, 47 (Mo. banc 2009) (internal quotation and citations omitted).

ANALYSIS

In its first point on appeal, Shelter argues that Jay and Debra MacVittie’s claims are subject to the same “each person” limit because the policy’s limit of liability section unambiguously provides that derivative claims are subject to the same “each person” limit available to the injured claimant. Shelter’s assertion relies on the language in the liability limits section of the policy stating that the “each person” limit on liability “includes all damages1 to others resulting from that person’s bodily injury whether direct or derivative2 in nature.” (underline emphasis added). Shelter maintains that specifying the inclusion of damages “derivative in nature” unambiguously brings Mrs. MacVittie’s loss of consortium claim under the same “each person” limit as Mr. MacVittie’s personal injury claim.

The MacVitties, on the other hand, contend that Shelter’s decision to specifically define “damages” in the policy as “money ... that an insured is legally obligated to pay another person for bodily injury, property damage, or consequential loss, caused by an occurrence resulting from that insured’s ownership, maintenance, or use, of the described auto” results in “damages” not including claims for loss of consortium. The MacVitties argue that because “damages” as defined in the policy does not include loss of consortium claims, and the policy’s “each person” limit only applies to “damages,” Mrs. MacVit-tie’s loss of consortium claim does not fall under the “each person” limit of liability.

Interpretation of an insurance policy is governed by the same rules as interpretation of any contract. Vega v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Co., 162 S.W.3d 144, 147 (Mo.App.W.D.2005). An unambiguous insurance policy will be enforced as written unless a statute or public policy requires coverage. Id. An ambiguity in the language of an insurance policy is construed against the insurer, and exists when there is “duplicity, indistinctness, or uncertainty in the meaning of words used in the con-tracta or] ... language ... [that] is reasonably and fairly open to different constructions.” Id. In determining whether policy language is ambiguous, it is “considered in the light in which it would normally be understood by the lay person who bought and paid for the policy.” Id. The burden of proving the applicability of an exclusion from coverage is on the insurer. Id.

Generally, if a term is defined in an insurance policy, a court will use that definition in its interpretation and look nowhere else. Vega, 162 S.W.3d at 147. However, “[w]ords or phrases in a policy must be interpreted in the context of the [256]*256policy as a whole and cannot be considered in isolation.” Shelter Mut Ins. Co. v. Sage,

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Bluebook (online)
423 S.W.3d 252, 2013 WL 6822415, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shelter-mutual-insurance-co-v-macvittie-moctapp-2013.