STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS. CO. v. Freyer

2010 MT 191, 239 P.3d 143, 357 Mont. 329
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 27, 2010
Docket09-0523
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2010 MT 191 (STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS. CO. v. Freyer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE FARM MUT. AUTO. INS. CO. v. Freyer, 2010 MT 191, 239 P.3d 143, 357 Mont. 329 (Mo. 2010).

Opinion

239 P.3d 143 (2010)
2010 MT 191
357 Mont. 329

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
Frank FREYER, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Heath Evans Freyer, and as Conservator of the Estate of Alicia Freyer, a Minor Child, and Vail Freyer, Defendants and Appellants.

No. DA 09-0523.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs April 21, 2010.
Decided August 27, 2010.

*144 For Appellant Frank Freyer: Allan H. Baris, Moore, O'Connell & Refling, P.C., Bozeman, Montana.

For Appellant Vail Freyer: Daniel P. Buckley, Buckley Law Office, P.C., Bozeman, Montana.

For Appellee: Robert F. James, Cathy J. Lewis, Ugrin, Alexander, Zadick & Higgins, P.C., Great Falls, Montana.

Justice PATRICIA O. COTTER delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Heath Freyer, his wife, Vail, and their daughter, Alicia, were involved in an automobile accident in October 2003. Heath was killed and Alicia was injured in the accident. Frank Freyer, Heath's father, was appointed personal representative of Heath's estate and conservator of Alicia's estate. Frank made a claim for benefits under Heath and Vail's State Farm policy. State Farm paid benefits in accordance with its interpretation of the policy. Frank and Vail both disputed State Farm's determination of policy benefits. State Farm sought declaratory judgment to determine coverage. The Eighteenth Judicial District Court ruled State Farm had accurately determined and paid benefits. Frank and Vail appeal. We reverse and remand.

ISSUE

¶ 2 A restatement of the issue on appeal is whether the District Court erred in granting State Farm's motion for partial summary judgment vis-à-vis the insurer's interpretation of the policy's Limits of Liability clause.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 3 Heath, Vail, and their then three-month-old daughter, Alicia, were traveling southbound on South 19th Avenue near Bozeman, Montana, on the evening of October 25, 2003. Vail was driving when their car collided with another vehicle driven by Michelle Manning. Vail lost control of her car, it rolled, and Heath was ejected, suffering serious injury. He subsequently died from his injuries. Alicia, who was confined by her car seat, also suffered injuries resulting in over $2,500 for medical treatment.

¶ 4 Frank sued Vail and Manning, seeking to recover damages on behalf of Heath's estate and Alicia. That case is pending before another district court judge. Manning's insurer paid Heath's estate $50,000 representing the "each accident" policy limit in Manning's policy. In addition, State Farm paid Heath's estate the "Each Person" policy limit of $50,000, and separately paid the medical *145 expenses for Alicia. Frank, seeking additional damages, demanded that State Farm pay to Alicia wrongful death and survivorship benefits arising from her father's death, arguing that these additional benefits should be paid out of the policy's $50,000 "Each Person" limit for Alicia. Such payment would, when added to the $50,000 paid to Heath's estate, exhaust the $100,000 "Each Accident" policy limit. The insurer refused, and in October 2007 filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment arguing that it had fulfilled its contractual obligations as they pertained to Heath's death.

¶ 5 In May 2008, State Farm filed a motion for partial summary judgment, asserting that under the unambiguous terms of the insurance contract, it had fully satisfied its responsibilities to Heath's estate arising from his death and was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Both Frank and Vail subsequently filed motions for summary judgment as well. On July 9, 2008, the District Court held a hearing on the motions. On May 1, 2009, the court issued its order determining that the policy "definition of `bodily injury to one person'" is not ambiguous, contrary to Frank's argument. The court ruled that "[a]ny claims asserted by Alicia related to the wrongful death or survivorship of her father are restricted by his `Each Person' policy limit." It therefore granted State Farm's motion as to that issue. Frank and Vail appeal. We reverse and remand.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6 We review a district court's ruling on summary judgment de novo. Hern v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Illinois, 2005 MT 301, ¶ 18, 329 Mont. 347, 125 P.3d 597. The interpretation of a contract presents a question of law which we review for correctness. Modroo v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins., 2008 MT 275, ¶ 23, 345 Mont. 262, 191 P.3d 389. We examine insurance contracts as a whole, with no special deference to specific clauses. We accord the usual meaning to the terms and the words in an insurance contract, and we construe them using common sense. An insurance contract is ambiguous if it is "reasonably subject to two different interpretations." We determine whether an ambiguity exists from the viewpoint of a consumer with average intelligence, but untrained in the law or the insurance business. We construe ambiguities in an insurance contract against the insurer and in favor of extending coverage. Modroo, ¶ 23.

DISCUSSION

¶ 7 The Limits of Liability insurance clause at the center of this case states:

The amount of bodily injury liability coverage is shown on the declarations page under "Limits of Liability-Coverage A-Bodily Injury, Each Person, Each Accident." Under "Each Person" is the amount of coverage for all damages due to bodily injury to one person. "Bodily injury to one person" includes all injury and damages to other persons, including emotional distress, sustained by such other persons who do not sustain bodily injury. Under "Each Accident" is the total amount of coverage, subject to the amount shown under "Each Person", for all damages due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident. [Emphasis in original removed.]

"Bodily injury" is defined in the policy as "physical bodily injury to a person and sickness, disease or death which results from it. A person does not sustain bodily injury if they suffer emotional distress in the absence of physical bodily injury." The Freyer policy indicated that the "Each Person" limit is $50,000 and the "Each Accident" limit is $100,000.

¶ 8 At issue in this case is the tension between our jurisprudence concerning "derivative" damages, and the language of this particular State Farm policy. Derivative damages are damages that "derive" from another person's injury or wrongful death. They are typically sought by the spouse or children of the injured or deceased person, and include, among other things, loss of consortium, loss of support, grief, sorrow, and mental anguish. Mickelson v. Montana Rail Link, Inc. 2000 MT 111, ¶ 110, 299 Mont. 348, 999 P.2d 985; Farmers Union Mut. Ins. Co. v. Staples, 2004 MT 108, ¶ 9, 321 Mont. 99, 90 P.3d 381; Allstate v. Wagner-Ellsworth, *146 2008 MT 240, 344 Mont. 445, 188 P.3d 1042. In Wagner-Ellsworth, we held, essentially, that under the policy provision there at issue, the claims of family members for derivative losses sustained as a result of another family member's bodily injury must be recovered under the "each person" limit of the insured who sustained bodily injury. Wagner-Ellsworth, ¶ 24.

¶ 9 In the case before us, Alicia is seeking both direct damages as a result of her bodily injury and derivative damages arising from the loss of her father.

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
2010 MT 191, 239 P.3d 143, 357 Mont. 329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-v-freyer-mont-2010.