State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Steury

787 N.E.2d 465, 2003 WL 2010386
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 2003
Docket02A04-0208-CV-398
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 787 N.E.2d 465 (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Steury) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals 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. Steury, 787 N.E.2d 465, 2003 WL 2010386 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm") appeals the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Vernon Steury, the personal representative of the Estate of Esther Steury, deceased, (the "Estate"), and Ervin Miller and Marie Miller, the parents of Wendy Miller, a deceased minor, (the "Millers"), and the trial court's denial of State Farm's motion for summary judgment. State Farm raises one issue, which we restate as whether the trial court erred by determining that the Estate and the Millers were entitled to underinsured motorist coverage because State Farm did not make underin-sured motorist coverage available to the insured by offering the coverage after January 1, 1995 and did not obtain a written rejection of the coverage. Because we conclude that State Farm was required to obtain a written rejection of the coverage, we affirm.

The relevant facts stipulated to by the parties and designated in their summary judgment motions follow. On March 13, 1986, Esther Steury signed an application for State Farm automobile insurance on a 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88. The application specifically requested uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury and property damage coverage, but rejected underinsured motor vehicle coverage. In 1986, Esther replaced her 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88, and insured the vehicle with State Farm. On April 21, 1988, Esther signed a Rejection of Uninsured and Underinsured Motor Vehicle Coverage with respect to the 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88. State Farm issued a change order with respect to the policy canceling the uninsured motorist coverage and the un-derinsured motorist coverage.

In 1995, the Indiana general assembly amended Indiana's uninsured and underin-sured motorist coverage statute effective January 1, 1995. The amendment added a requirement that insurers "make underin-sured motorist coverage available to all existing policyholders on the date of the first renewal of existing policies that occurs on or after January 1, 1995, and on any policies newly issued or delivered on or after January 1, 1995." Ind.Code § 27-7-5-2. State Farm sent Esther a document entitled "Important Information About Underinsured Motor Vehicle Coverage" with the first premium-due notice after January 1, 1995. Appellant's Appendix at 65. The document provided that:

In accordance with the new Indiana law, we are offering you underinsured motor vehicle coverage (Coverage W) with limits up to your bodily injury liability coverage limits.
About Coverage W
Coverage W can apply when another driver is at fault in an accident and owes damages for bodily injury to you or your passengers, but does not have enough insurance to pay the damages. Under this coverage, you can recover uncompensated damages up to the difference between your Coverage W limits and the amount you received from the at fault driver, but you can never collect more than the amount of your damages.
Coverage W is available at limits of $50,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Higher limits up to, but not exceeding your bodily injury liability coverage are also available.
If You Want Coverage W
If you want to purchase Coverage W or if you would like higher Coverage W [468]*468limits, please contact your State Farm agent.

Id. at 65-66, 119. After receiving the doe-ument, Esther did not contact State Farm or otherwise notify State Farm of her intent to purchase the underinsured motorist coverage.

On June 9, 2000, Wendy Miller, Esther's sixteen-year old granddaughter, was driving Esther's Oldsmobile Delta 88. Esther was a passenger in the vehicle. They were involved in an accident with Benjamin Sheets due to Sheets's negligence. Both Esther and Wendy died as a result of injuries suffered in the accident. American Family Insurance insured Sheets under a policy containing limits of $25,000 per person. However, damages that the Estate would otherwise be entitled to recover from Sheets exceed $100,000 and the damages that the Millers would otherwise be entitled to recover from Sheets exceed $250,000. Both the Estate and the Millers have settled with American Family for its policy limits of $25,000 with State Farm's express written consent.

On April 17, 2001, State Farm filed a complaint for declaratory relief against the Estate. The Millers were later added as defendants. The Estate and the Millers filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the State Farm policy included underinsured motorist coverage because Esther "did not reject the coverage in writing on or after the occasion of the first renewal of her policy that occurred on or after January 1, 1995." Appellant's Appendix at 81. State Farm also filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing, in part, that it made underinsured motorist coverage available to Esther by sending her the document entitled "Important Information About Underinsured Motor Vehicle Coverage." Appellant's Appendix at 105.

The trial court granted the Estate's and the Millers' motion for summary judgment and denied State Farm's motion for summary judgment. Specifically, the trial court relied upon State Auto Ins. Cos. v. Shannon, 769 N.E.2d 228 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied, and held that Esther's 1988 written rejection of the uninsured and un-derinsured motorist coverage did not operate to reject the coverage after January 1, 1995. Furthermore, the trial court held that "State Farm did not make coverage available to Steury after January 1, 1995 nor did it obtain a written rejection of the coverages from Steury after January 1, 1995." Appellant's Appendix at 11. Thus, the trial court held that the Millers and the Estate were each entitled to judgment as a matter of law in the amount of $75,000. State Farm filed a motion to correct error, which the trial court denied.

The sole issue is whether the trial court erred by determining that the Estate and the Millers were entitled to underinsured motorist coverage because State Farm did not make underinsured motorist coverage available to the insured by offering the coverage after January 1, 1995 and did not obtain a written rejection of the coverage. Our standard of review for a trial court's grant of a motion for summary judgment is the same as that used in the trial court: summary judgment is appropriate only where the designated evidence shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Corr v. Am. Family Ins., 767 N.E.2d 535, 537-538 (Ind.2002). The moving party must designate sufficient evidence to eliminate any genuine factual issues, and once the moving party has done so, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to come forth with contrary evidence. Shambaugh & Son, Inc. v. Carlisle, 763 N.E.2d 459, 460-461 (Ind.2002). [469]*469The court must accept as true those facts alleged by the nonmoving party, construe the evidence in favor of the nonmoving party, and resolve all doubts against the: moving party. Id. The fact that the parties made cross-motions for summary judgment does not alter our standard of review.

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State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Steury
787 N.E.2d 465 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
787 N.E.2d 465, 2003 WL 2010386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-v-steury-indctapp-2003.