Wilkinson v. Louisiana Indemnity

682 So. 2d 1296, 1996 WL 660624
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 8, 1996
Docket96 CA 0447
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 682 So. 2d 1296 (Wilkinson v. Louisiana Indemnity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkinson v. Louisiana Indemnity, 682 So. 2d 1296, 1996 WL 660624 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

682 So.2d 1296 (1996)

James WILKINSON and Frances Wilkinson
v.
LOUISIANA INDEMNITY/PATTERSON INSURANCE.

No. 96 CA 0447.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 8, 1996.

*1297 S. Alfred Adams, Baton Rouge, for plaintiffs/appellants James and Frances Wilkinson.

Donna Bramlett Wood, Baton Rouge, for defendant/appellee Louisiana Indemnity/Patterson Insurance Company.

Before WHIPPLE, PITCHER and FITZSIMMONS, JJ.

WHIPPLE, Judge.

This is an appeal by plaintiffs, James and Frances Wilkinson, from a trial court judgment, granting the motion for summary judgment filed by defendant, Louisiana Indemnity Insurance Company, now known as Patterson Insurance Company ("Patterson"), on the finding that the automobile liability policy issued to plaintiffs by Patterson did not provide uninsured/underinsured motorist *1298 ("UM") coverage. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On May 13, 1989, plaintiff, James Wilkinson, initially obtained a policy of automobile liability insurance bearing policy number 3L 3016121 from Patterson. The bodily injury liability limits under the Patterson policy were $10,000/$20,000, and the policy also provided uninsured motorist (UM) coverage of $10,000/$20,000. Becky Wilkinson, Mr. Wilkinson's wife at that time, was also listed as a named insured driver, and the policy covered a 1982 Dodge pickup truck and a 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier.

Subsequently, James and Becky Wilkinson separated, and as a result, Becky Wilkinson and the 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier were deleted from the policy effective July 17, 1989. From May 1989 to May 1992, the Patterson policy was regularly renewed at six-month intervals, and each renewal provided UM coverage with limits of $10,000/$20,000. While the record does not reveal why the policy number changed, when Patterson policy number 3L 3016121 was renewed for the policy period of May 13, 1990 to November 13, 1990, a new policy number, 4L 4012868, was assigned to the policy.

When the Patterson policy was renewed on May 13, 1992, it was renewed for one year, rather than six months, and it again provided UM coverage with $10,000/$20,000 limits. However, several changes were made to the Patterson policy during this one-year policy period. On June 9, 1992, a 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup truck was added as a second vehicle to the policy. The coverage provided on this vehicle included liability coverage with bodily injury limits of $10,000/$20,000, UM coverage with limits of $10,000/$20,000, and comprehensive and collision coverage.

Additionally, on August 4, 1992, during the one-year policy period, Mr. Wilkinson contacted Cathy Cobb, the insurance secretary at Southeastern Insurance Agency, apparently seeking to reduce his insurance premiums. As a result of this conversation, Ms. Cobb mailed Mr. Wilkinson a UM rejection form which read, in pertinent part, as follows:

UNINSURED MOTORISTS COVERAGE REJECTION

POLICY HOLDER'S REJECTION OF INSURANCE

PROTECTION AGAINST UNINSURED MOTORISTS

The undersigned insured hereby rejects Protection Against Uninsured Motorists as provided in Louisiana Revised Statutes 22:1406 from Policy Number 4L4012868 and subsequent renewals issued by Louisiana Indemnity [n/k/a Patterson Insurance Company].

Mr. Wilkinson signed the UM rejection form, and effective August 5, 1992, UM coverage was canceled on both vehicles covered by the Patterson policy (the 1982 Dodge pickup truck and the 1992 Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup truck).

An additional change was made to the Patterson policy on August 14, 1992, when Frances Lofton Wilkinson, Mr. Wilkinson's new wife, was added as an additional driver on the policy. No other significant changes were made to the policy during this one-year policy period, nor was a new UM rejection form executed by the Wilkinsons at the time Mrs. Frances Wilkinson was added to the policy.[1]

On March 5, 1993, Frances Wilkinson was involved in an automobile accident, while driving the 1992 Mitsubishi pickup truck. The accident allegedly occurred when Roman Firmin proceeded through a red traffic signal and collided with the vehicle being driven by Frances Wilkinson.

Thereafter, the Wilkinsons instituted the instant action against Patterson, averring that the Patterson policy in effect on the date of the accident provided the Wilkinsons with UM coverage and that any UM rejection form previously submitted to them failed to comply with the mandates of Louisiana law and, thus, was a complete nullity.

Patterson filed an answer, specifically denying that the Patterson policy in question provided the Wilkinsons with UM coverage *1299 and averring that the UM rejection form executed by Mr. Wilkinson complied with LSA-R.S. 22:1406. Thereafter, Patterson filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of UM coverage, contending that there were no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Patterson contended that the UM rejection form executed by Mr. Wilkinson was clear and unambiguous and was in compliance with LSA-R.S. 22:1406.

In opposition to Patterson's motion for summary judgment, the Wilkinsons argued that the UM rejection form in question did not place the insured in a position of making an "informed rejection" of UM coverage, which requires that the insured be given a "meaningful selection" from the options provided to him by statute. They reasoned that because the form did not provide them with a "meaningful selection" of the two options available to them, UM coverage equal to bodily limits or no UM coverage, it failed to meet the requirements of Tugwell v. State Farm Insurance Company, 609 So.2d 195 (La.1992), and its progeny.[2]

On August 21, 1995, a hearing was held on the motion for summary judgment, and in oral reasons, the trial court found as follows:

We know that U.M. was canceled on August the 5th. Tugwell doesn't stand for anything that's involved in this case, in my opinion. This is not a rejection case.... This is a case where there has been coverage issued. Now the person desires to eliminate certain coverage. Your rejection case is where people make application for insurance that there's not an existing policy. So Tugwell, in my opinion, is not applicable, and it's not a rejection case. I believe that when Mr. Wilkinson requested the elimination of U.M. and he signs the form asking that it be rejected, it means eliminated.... I don't know what more the insurance agent can do when their client requests elimination [of] certain coverage. So the court will grant the motion for summary judgment filed on behalf of Patterson Insurance Company.

By judgment dated August 29, 1995, the trial court granted Patterson's motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiffs' claims with prejudice. From this judgment, plaintiffs appeal, averring that the trial court erred in: (1) concluding that plaintiffs' claim was not one requiring Tugwell analysis, (2) concluding that there was no material issue of fact as to plaintiffs' understanding and intent in canceling UM coverage, and (3) allowing the introduction of improper evidence by Patterson at the summary judgment hearing.

At oral argument in this matter, the parties were given ten days to file supplemental briefs to address the effect, if any, of this court's decision in Waller v. Automotive Casualty Insurance, 95-2108 (La.App. 1st Cir. 6/28/96); 680 So.2d 675, on the present case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
682 So. 2d 1296, 1996 WL 660624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkinson-v-louisiana-indemnity-lactapp-1996.