State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Sinacola

385 So. 2d 115, 1980 Fla. App. LEXIS 16521
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 11, 1980
DocketNo. 77-2402/NT4-83
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 385 So. 2d 115 (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Sinacola) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida 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. Sinacola, 385 So. 2d 115, 1980 Fla. App. LEXIS 16521 (Fla. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

BERANEK, JOHN R., Associate Judge.

This is an appeal from a final declaratory judgment in a complex automobile insurance contract dispute involving stacking of uninsured motorist coverage and construction of an “other insurance” clause as applied to uninsured motorist coverage. The appellant, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, has raised four points on appeal. We reverse, finding that the trial court erred in refusing to apply the “other insurance” provision in the policy.

The accident occurred on April 17, 1976, prior to the effective date of Section 627.-4132, Florida Statutes (1977), prohibiting stacking. Four individuals, three different insurance companies, numerous vehicles and various policies are involved. On the day in question Bruce Christopher was driving a car owned by Joseph Sinacola when he was involved in an accident with another vehicle driven by a negligent third party tortfeasor. Joseph Sinacola, the owner of the car, and Dennis Sinacola, his adult son, were passengers in the car driven by Christopher, who was neither a member of the Sinacola household nor a relative of the family.

Christopher had an automobile liability insurance policy containing uninsured/underinsured coverage with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. The State Farm policy issued to Christopher had limits of $100,000/$300,000. Joseph Sinacola had insurance coverage with Allstate Insurance Company. Joseph Sinacola owned three cars with coverage of $50,000 per car. Dennis Sinacola had two policies providing uninsured motorist coverage of $15,000 and $50,000 respectively with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. The third party tortfeasor had available liability insurance coverage of $30,000, with Government Employees Insurance Company.

As a result of the accident and the negligence of the third party tortfeasor, Joseph Sinacola was killed and Dennis Sinacola was seriously injured. Government Employees Insurance Company paid its policy limits of $30,000 in settlement of the claim against the negligent tortfeasor. This settlement was split between Joseph Sinacola’s estate and Dennis Sinacola and his wife, who joined him as a plaintiff.

The various parties involved eventually agreed to arbitration. Immediately prior to the arbitration hearing, however, State Farm filed a suit for declaratory decree contesting the availability of its uninsured motorist coverage in the Christopher policy to satisfy the claims of both Sinacolas. The trial court determined the Christopher policy did provide uninsured motorist coverage for the Sinacola claims and that the “other insurance” clause contained in the State [117]*117Farm policy could not be applied to reduce that coverage. It is from this final judgment which State Farm appeals.

Before reaching the issue of application of the “other insurance” clause, we must first traverse the stacking of the various policies involved. The trial court determined that Joseph Sinacola’s estate had a total of $250,000 available in uninsured motorists benefits. This was arrived at by stacking the $50,000 coverage on each of Joseph Sinacola’s three cars for a total of $150,000. To this the trial court added the $100,000 in uninsured motorist benefits under the Christopher policy, for a total of $250,000. By stacking Dennis Sinacola’s two policies, one for $15,000 and one for $50,000, with an additional $50,000 from one of the Joseph Sinacola policies, plus an additional $100,000 of uninsured motorist coverage arising from the Christopher State Farm policy, the trial court found Dennis Sinacola had $215,000 in uninsured motorists coverage.

State Farm did not contest the stacking holdings outlined above and agrees all of the various coverages do stack. State Farm simply contends that the “other insurance” provision contained in the Christopher State Farm policy was effective and limited the recoveries against the Christopher State Farm policy. It is important to note what this case does not involve. There is no claim by Christopher or any member of his household or relative for uninsured motorist coverage. There is no denial by State Farm of any of the benefits of the various State Farm policies issued to Dennis Sinacola and there is no assertion by Allstate Insurance Company1 that the stacking of its policies was improper.

The Christopher State Farm policy provided in relevant part:

SECTION III — UNINSURED MOTOR VEHICLE COVERAGE INSURING AGREEMENTS * * *
DEFINITIONS — SECTION III * * *
Insured — The unqualified word “insured” means * * *
(2) any other person while occupying an insured motor vehicle; and * * * Insured Motor Vehicle — means: * * *
(2) an automobile not owned by the named insured or any resident of the same household, other than a temporary substitute automobile, while being operated by such first named insured or resident spouse * * *
POLICY CONDITIONS * * *
9. Other Insurance. * * *
Under coverage U [Uninsured/Underin-sured Motorist Coverage] with respect to bodily injury to an insured while occupying a motor vehicle not owned by a named insured under this coverage, the insurance hereunder shall apply only as excess insurance over any other similar insurance available to such occupant, and this insurance shall then apply only in the amount by which the applicable limit of liability of this coverage exceeds the sum of the applicable limits of liability of all such other insurance.
Subject to the foregoing paragraph, under coverage U if the insured has other similar insurance available to him against a loss covered by this coverage, then the damages shall be deemed not to exceed the higher of the applicable limits of liability of this insurance and such other insurance, and the company shall not be liable under this coverage for a greater proportion of the applicable limit of liability of this coverage than such limit bears to the sum of the applicable limits of liability of this insurance and such other insurance. * * * (Emphasis in original)

Under these policy provisions, State Farm agrees that the Sinacolas were both insured and that each had $100,000 in uninsured motorist coverage available. State Farm asserts that since Joseph Sinacola and Dennis Sinacola both had over $100,000 in other available uninsured motorist coverage, the condition contained in subparagraph 9 pre-[118]*118eluded their recovery under the Christopher State Farm policy. Clearly under the trial court’s ruling, Dennis Sinacola had $115,000 under his own State Farm policy and his father’s Allstate policy. Joseph Sinacola had $150,000 in uninsured motorist coverage under his own Allstate policies. Under these circumstances, State Farm contends that there is no reason not to apply the “other insurance” provision of the policy to limit the Christopher coverage. We agree and reverse the trial court for failure to apply the “other insurance” provision.

The fact that the parties hereto do not contest stacking of the various coverages makes it unnecessary for this Court to trace and attempt to sort out the stacking of UMI coverage. See Tucker v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 288 So.2d 238 (Fla.1974), on remand 291 So.2d 240 (Fla.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
385 So. 2d 115, 1980 Fla. App. LEXIS 16521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-v-sinacola-fladistctapp-1980.