State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Johnson

2017 CO 68, 396 P.3d 651, 2017 WL 2417764
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJune 5, 2017
DocketSupreme Court Case No. 14SC890
StatusPublished
Cited by202 cases

This text of 2017 CO 68 (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Johnson, 2017 CO 68, 396 P.3d 651, 2017 WL 2417764 (Colo. 2017).

Opinion

JUSTICE GABRIEL

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Consistent with his prior practices, the respondent, Brian K. Johnson, tasked a friend with purchasing automobile insurance for the new car that he and the friend had purchased together. The friend did so, and in the course of that transaction, she chose to reject uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/ UIM) coverage on the new car. After an accident in that car with an underinsured motorist, Johnson contended that his friend’s rejection of UM/UIM coverage was not binding on him. A division of the court of appeals ultimately agreed with him, see Johnson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2014 COA 135, 399 P.3d 709, and this case now presents two questions for our consideration. First, does the UM/UIM statute, section 10-4-609, C.R.S. (2016), require each named insured to reject such coverage, or is one named insured’s rejection binding on all? And second, did the legislature, by enacting section 10-4-609, abrogate the common law agency principles of implied authority and apparent authority?1

¶2 We start with the second issue presented and conclude that nothing in the language of section 10-4-609 precludes an agent from exercising either apparent or implied author[653]*653ity to reject UM/UIM coverage on behalf of a principal. Turning to the facts of this case, we conclude that the record amply demonstrates that Johnson delegated to his friend the task of purchasing insurance for their jointly owned car and that, in undertaking this task, the Mend had implied authority to reject, and did in fact reject, UM/UIM coverage on Johnson’s behalf. Based on this com elusion, we reverse the division’s judgment and need not reach the first question presented.

I. Facts and Procedural History

¶3 Johnson was living with his friend when the two decided to buy a car together. Although Johnson was to be the primary driver, the car was purchased, financed, and titled in both his and the friend’s names. The financing was primarily based on the friend’s good credit.

¶4 For about six months, an insurance policy owned by Johnson and his estranged wife covered the new car. After that policy lapsed, Johnson sought a new policy on his own but found the options to be more expensive than his lapsed policy. His friend then suggested that she insure the car through the petitioner, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, from whom she had purchased insurance for her primary car and with whom she had had a long and good business relationship. Consistent with his pri- or practice of deferring insurance matters to his estranged wife, Johnson agreed to defer to his friend concerning the present insurance matter.

¶5 Johnson’s friend then contacted State Farm and explained that she wanted the same coverage on the new car as she had on her primary car. A State Farm employee responded that the friend’s current policy included $100,000 in UM/UIM coverage, which extended to everyone who lived in her household (including, at the time, Johnson), regardless of which car he or she was driving. The employee thus explained that the friend could add UM/UIM coverage for the new car, which would result in double coverage in the amount of $200,000, but that the friend would have to pay a separate premium for the additional coverage. The friend ultimately signed a-form rejecting UM/UIM coverage on the new car/and received from State Farm a policy that did not include such coverage. . >’

¶6 Approximately one month later, Johnson was driving the new car when he was hif by an underinsured driver and sustained serious injuries. Johnson was not at fault, and he made a demand on State Farm for the $100,000 in UM/UIM benefits. For reasons that are unclear from the record before us, State Farm denied this claim. Johnson subsequently sued State Farm, among others, and sought the additional UM/UIM benefits.

¶7 State Farm moved for summary judgment, arguing that Johnson’s -friend was authorized to reject — and did, in fact, reject— UM/UIM coverage on the new car. In ruling on this motion, the district court considered whether, pursuant to section 10-4-609, Johnson’s friend could reject such coverage on behalf of both of them or whether, as Johnson contended, the statute required each named insured (i.e., both Johnson and his friend) to reject such coverage.

¶8 The court began with the-language of section 10-4-609, noting that “[t]he statute specifically says ‘the named insured may reject such coverage in writing1 ” but that “it does not state that the named insured must reject such coverage, personally.” The court then applied agency principles, reasoning that an agent of--the named insured may enter into an insurance contract on behalf of the named insured — the “very thing. [that] happened in this case.” And because Johnson had not argued that his friend was prohibited from rejecting UM/UIM coverage or that she had exceeded her authority in doing so, the court concluded that the Mend’s waiver of UM/UIM coverage was binding on Johnson. The court determined, however, that genuine issues of material fact remained regarding whether State Farm had properly offered UM/UIM coverage to Johnson’s friend and whether she had actually waived such coverage. It thérefo're denied State Farm’s summary judgment motion. '

¶9 State Farm then moved to bifurcate the issues of coverage and damages. The court granted this motion and, three months later, [654]*654held a bench trial on the issue of whether UM/UIM coverage was available to Johnson. After the trial, the court issued detailed, written findings of fact and an order of judgment in which it concluded that State Farm had, in accordance with its statutory obligations, offered UM/UIM coverage to Johnson’s friend, explained that she already had $100,000 of UM/UIM coverage through the policy on her primary car, and obtained her written rejection of additional coverage. Applying its earlier ruling, the court concluded that this rejection was effective as to both Johnson and his friend, and therefore, no additional UM/UIM coverage was available on the new car. Accordingly, the court entered judgment in State Farm’s favor.

¶10 Johnson appealed, arguing, as pertinent here, that the district court had erred in ruling that one named insured could reject UM/UIM coverage for another named insured. A division of the court of appeals agreed. In a unanimous, published opinion, it concluded that (1) the phrase “the named insured” in section 10-4-609 means all persons whom the policy lists as “the named insured” and (2) an agent of the named insured may reject UM/UIM coverage for that named insured only if the agent acts with express actual authority from him or her. Johnson, ¶¶ 38, 67. Applying the foregoing principles to the facts before it, the division reversed the trial court’s judgment in State Farm’s favor and remanded the case to the district court with instructions (1) to enter judgment in Johnson’s favor on the issue of coverage, (2) to read UM/UIM coverage into his policy in an amount equal to the bodily injury liability limits of the policy, and (3) to conduct a trial on the issue of damages. Id. at ¶ 86.

¶11 State Farm then petitioned this court for, and we granted, certiorari.

II. Standard of Review

¶12 When a court enters a judgment following a bench trial, that judgment presents a mixed question of law and fact. Jehly v. Brown, 2014 COA 39, ¶ 8, 327 P.3d 351, 353; see also Mt. Emmons Mining Co. v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 CO 68, 396 P.3d 651, 2017 WL 2417764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-v-johnson-colo-2017.