State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Ash

888 P.2d 1354, 181 Ariz. 167, 171 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 58, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 173
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 18, 1994
Docket1 CA-CV 92-0356
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 888 P.2d 1354 (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Ash) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona 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 v. Ash, 888 P.2d 1354, 181 Ariz. 167, 171 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 58, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 173 (Ark. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

GERBER, Judge.

Paul Ash and Elaine Ash (the Ashes) appeal from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) determining that the underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage limits under their two automobile policies were $15,000/$30,000. The appeal raises the following issues:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in holding that Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. (A.R.S.) section 20-259.01(0 (1981) did not require State Farm to make written offers of UIM coverage in limits up to the bodily injury liability limits of its existing insureds’ policies upon offering to renew such policies;
(2) Assuming A.R.S. section 20-259.01(0 mandated such offers, whether State Farm *169 was required to prove that its insureds actually received and expressly rejected them;
(3) Whether there was a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether State Farm actually sent the Ashes an offer to increase the UIM limits of their policy; and
(4) Whether the written materials allegedly sent by State Farm to the Ashes complied with the written offer requirement of A.R.S. section 20-259.01(0.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to A.R.S. section 12-2101(B). For reasons which follow, we hold that (1) State Farm was required to make written offers of increased UIM coverage under A.R.S. section 20-259.01(C) to all current automobile liability policyholders upon renewal; (2) A.R.S. section 20-259.01(0 did not require State Farm to prove the Ashes’ actual receipt of the written offer or their express rejection of it; (3) no triable issue of fact existed regarding whether State Farm “offer[ed]” expanded UIM coverage “by written notice” within the statute; and (4) as a matter of law, the substance of the written offer sent by State Farm was adequate to comply with A.R.S. section 20-259.01(0. We therefore affirm the judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Ashes bought two automobile insurance policies from State Farm in 1965. They retained those policies thereafter, transferring coverage to replacement vehicles from time to time. Each policy was subject to renewal every six months.

Effective July 25, 1981, 1981 Ariz.Sess. Laws Ch. 224, § 1 amended A.R.S. section 20-259.01 to require all automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policies issued or delivered in Arizona to provide UIM coverage in not less than the limits prescribed by A.R.S. section 28-1102. 1 A.R.S. section 20-259.01(C) (1981) provided:

C. Every insurer writing automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policies, as provided in subsection A of this section shall also make available to the named insured thereunder and shall by written notice offer the insured and at the request of the insured shall include within the policy underinsurance motorist coverage which extends to and covers all persons insured under the policy, in limits not less than the liability limits for bodily injury or death contained within the policy.

After the effective date of the 1981 amendment, State Farm sent the renewal notice to each of its Arizona insureds with an offer to increase UIM limits up to the policy’s bodily injury liability limits. Under this procedure, the computer that printed the renewal notices automatically individualized one of four prepared messages according to the information in its memory concerning the particular policy. It then printed the appropriate message on the renewal notice.

Under this procedure, the renewal notice sent to the Ashes in January 1982 would have included the following passage:

U less than BI, No W
NEW STATE LAW CHANGES UNINSURED MOTOR VEHICLE, COVERAGE U, AND REQUIRES UNDERIN-SURED MOTOR VEHICLE, COVERAGE W. SEE INSERT FOR DETAILS.
COVERAGE W HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR POLICY AT LIMITS OF 15/30.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE U AND W COVERAGE EQUAL TO YOUR BODILY INJURY LIABILITY LIMITS OF XXX/ XXX, CHECK HERE _ AND PAY $xxxx.xx.
IF DIFFERENT LIMITS ARE DESIRED, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR AGENT.

PLEASE RETURN THIS HALF OF THE NOTICE WITH YOUR PAYMENT.

Immediately above and to the right of this text would have been a box stating “Please Return this Part with Your Check Made *170 Payable to State Farm,” the due date, and the words “Please Pay this Amount $XXXX.XX.”

In place of the Xs in the third paragraph, the computer automatically entered the insured’s actual bodily injury liability limits and the total amount due for all coverages if the insured were to select the higher limits of uninsured motorist and UIM coverage. If for any given renewal notice the computer lacked information needed to fill in the blanks for existing policy limits or appropriate premiums, it added the policy to a list of those that it could not bill automatically. Each of these policies was then reviewed individually and the appropriate information entered into the computer so that the renewal notices could be printed accurately.

After the new procedure was in place, State Farm personnel inspected each individual billing notice generated over the first day of operation for accuracy in order to determine whether the computer system was set up correctly. Thereafter, each billing notice was not individually reviewed. Barbara Ward, a State Farm underwriter, testified on deposition:

Q. BY MR. JOZEF: So there are no documents that we can go to at this point to determine whether the Ashes’ premium notice during that 12-month period was one which would not print up automatically with those X’s filled in?
A. It would not—to my knowledge, there would not be a need for it to print out on a separate listing because it did not have anything unusual about the policy form and policy limits. That would prevent it from automatically billing.
Q. I understand your point. But if we wanted to go and find the listing and see whether either the Ashes—
A. No, those documents are not retained.

After July 25, 1981, State Farm’s procedure for sending renewal notices included machine-insertion of a brochure into the envelope containing each notice. The information portion of the brochure stated:

Because of a new Arizona law, Underin-sured Motor Vehicle Coverage (Coverage W) is being added to your policy effective on your renewal date. This coverage is mandatory and cannot be rejected. Please read the following endorsement and place it with your policy.
If you’re involved in an accident for which the other driver is at fault and injuries to you and your passengers exceed the other driver’s Bodily Injury Liability limits, Coverage W takes over. It provides protection up to $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident in excess of the other driver’s Bodily Injury Liability limits.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
888 P.2d 1354, 181 Ariz. 167, 171 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 58, 1994 Ariz. App. LEXIS 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-v-ash-arizctapp-1994.