Wiard v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

2002 NMCA 073, 50 P.3d 565, 132 N.M. 470
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 15, 2002
DocketNo. 21,819
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2002 NMCA 073 (Wiard v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wiard v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 2002 NMCA 073, 50 P.3d 565, 132 N.M. 470 (N.M. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBINSON, Judge.

{1} This case addresses coverage for a separate loss of consortium claim under the claimant’s uninsured/underinsured automobile policies, pursuant to NMSA 1978, § 66-5-301(B) (1983). Defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) appeals from a summary judgment order in favor of Plaintiff Ted Wiard (Wiard) on Wiard’s complaint for declaratory relief. The trial court determined State Farm was liable for uninsured/underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage for Wiard’s loss of consortium claims based upon the deaths of his two daughters in an automobile accident. Because the tortfeasor was not underinsured for these claims, we reverse the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

{2} The underlying facts in this case are not in dispute. This case arises from a tragic automobile accident on July 29, 1996, that resulted in the deaths of Wiard’s two minor daughters, Amy and Keri. The girls were passengers in a car driven by their grandmother, Rachel Devlin (Devlin). Because of Devlin’s negligence, the automobile collided with a sanitation truck. Devlin also died in the accident.

{3} On the date of the accident, Devlin carried two automobile insurance policies with State Farm. The policies provided liability coverage with limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident (Devlin policies). In addition, Wiard owned two State Farm automobile policies in force on his two automobiles. These policies each provided for stacked uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 per. person and $200,000 per accident.

{4} Wiard was appointed personal representative of the estates of Amy and Keri, pursuant to NMSA 1978, § 41-2-3 (2001). As personal representative, Wiard settled the wrongful death claims of Amy and Keri with State Farm under the Devlin policies for the policies’ limits of $200,000, combining the $100,000 “each person” limits of the policies for each of the two children. In the settlement agreements, Wiard explicitly reserved any separate and individual claims he might have based upon the deaths of Keri and Amy, who were insured under his own State Farm policies.

{5} After settling the wrongful death claims, Wiard asserted a separate and individual claim for parental loss of consortium under each of his UIM policies. After State Farm denied that claim, Wiard filed an action for declaratory relief against State Farm. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment and stipulated to the relevant facts. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Wiard and this appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

{6} This Court reviews de novo whether the trial court erred in determining there are no genuine issues of material fact, ruling that coverage exists for Wiard’s separate loss of consortium claims under his UIM coverage, and granting summary judgment in Wiard’s favor. See Mitchell-Carr v. McLendon, 1999-NMSC-025, ¶ 30, 127 N.M. 282, 980 P.2d 65. Because no issue of material fact exists as to the underlying facts of this case, we review whether the trial court properly applied the law to the uncontradicted facts. See Strata Prod. Co. v. Mercury Exploration Co., 121 N.M. 622, 627, 916 P.2d 822, 827 (1996).

ANALYSIS

The UIM Policies’ Language

{7} We look to the language of Wiard’s UIM policies to determine the nature and extent of Wiard’s UIM coverage. See Gonzales v. Allstate Ins. Co., 122 N.M. 137, 140, 921 P.2d 944, 947 (1996) (stating that an insurance claim arises from the policy language). Under the terms of Wiard’s State Farm UIM policies, “ ‘Bodily injury to one person ’ includes all injury and damages to others resulting from this bodily injury.” This language is comparable to that of the insured in Gonzales, in which case our Supreme Court held that a claim for loss of consortium was subsumed by liability payments for the bodily injury that gave rise to the loss. See id. at 138, 921 P.2d at 945. The same question presents itself in this case: is any claim against Wiard’s policies subsumed by the settlement against the Devlin policies? In light of Gonzales, in order for Wiard to state a viable claim for loss of consortium against his own UIM insurance, this case must be distinguished from Gonzales. We evaluate this case within the Gonzales framework below.

2. Separate Cause of Action for Loss of Parental Consortium

{8} Wiard argues that he has a separate cause of action for loss of consortium which was not affected by his settlement, as personal representative, of his daughters’ wrongful death claims. Indeed, our Supreme Court has recognized claims for loss of consortium when made by the “family caretaker and provider of parental affection to the deceased.” Fernandez v. Walgreen Hastings Co., 1998-NMSC-039, ¶33, 126 N.M. 263, 968 P.2d 774. The fact that Wiard has a separate cause of action, however, does not address the viability of such a claim against his own UIM coverage. That question was addressed by our Supreme Court’s decision in Gonzales.

{9} Gonzales similarly sought separate compensation for loss of consortium from her own UIM policy, above and beyond the liability policy limits paid for her husband’s bodily injury. Id. at 138-39, 921 P.2d at 945-46. She argued that the loss of consortium was not only a separate cause of action, but a separate bodily injury that implicated “each accident” policy limits. Id. Our Supreme Court held that under the language of the policy, loss of consortium was not a bodily injury. • There, as here, the policy covered bodily injury, including damages sustained by others as a result of that bodily injury. Id. at 140, 921 P.2d at 947. Without specific policy language to the contrary; bodily injury does not include emotional injuries such as loss of consortium, and instead emotional injuries are covered under the language of “damages to others resulting from this bodily injury.” See id. at 140-12, 921 P.2d at 947-49. Wiard’s argument that his consortium claim is one for “bodily injury” within the meaning of his UIM stacked policies, therefore, is contrary to the law as set out in Gonzales.

{10} Wiard further argues that the loss of consortium must be treated as a separate injury because the compensation for bodily injury that State Farm paid under the Devlin policies only addressed the daughters’ injuries, and was paid to the estate. He charges that his own policy addresses his own emotional injury that resulted from their deaths, and that his emotional injury was not contemplated in the settlement of the daughters’ claims. These facts do not alter our analysis. Because, under Gonzales, Wiard’s emotional injury resulted from bodily injury to his daughters, his claims are derivative of, and subsumed by, the policy limits settlement of his daughters’ claims. See id. at 142 — 43, 921 P.2d at 949-50.

{11} The fact that Wiard initiated a release that purportedly reserved his personal claims is also of no legal import. The release read: “This release does not bar any claims that Theodore J. Wiard, individually, may have in the above described matter.” With respect to claims against his own UIM policies, this release bears no legal significance.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2002 NMCA 073, 50 P.3d 565, 132 N.M. 470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiard-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-nmctapp-2002.