Williams v. Smith

465 S.W.3d 150, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 724
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedNovember 6, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 465 S.W.3d 150 (Williams v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Smith, 465 S.W.3d 150, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 724 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

FRANK G. CLEMENT, JR., P.J., M.S.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which ANDY D. BENNETT and W. NEAL McBRAYER, JJ., joined.

This appeal arises from an underinsured motorist coverage claim that hinges on the validity of a choice of law provision in the insurance policy. Plaintiffs were involved in a car wreck in Tennessee while driving a vehicle they borrowed from North Carolina residents. Although the borrowed vehicle was owned by North Carolina residents, the car owners had elected an insurance policy with a Missouri choice of law provision because their daughter principally used the car in Missouri where she attended college. At issue in this appeal is whether the law of Missouri or North Carolina controls. If Missouri law controls, there is no underinsured motorist coverage; if North Carolina law controls, there is coverage. The trial court found that the Missouri choice of law provision was valid and enforceable because the choice of law provision was not contrary to a fundamental policy of North Carolina. We affirm.

On July 17, 2010, David and Summer Williams and their young child, Elle, (“Plaintiffs”), were involved in an automobile accident in Tennessee. At the time of the accident, Plaintiffs were moving from North Carolina to Missouri and were driving a borrowed vehicle owned by North [152]*152Carolina residents, Joseph and Amy Rieg. While traveling through Putnam County, Tennessee, Plaintiffs were hit head-on by Timothy Wayne Smith (“Defendant”), who was traveling east in the westbound lanes of Interstate 40.

At the time of the accident, Defendant was insured with the minimum policy limits required under Tennessee law, which provided liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. The Riegs’ vehicle was registered in North Carolina and insured by a Missouri insurance policy through Government Employees Insurance Company (“GEICO”). Mrs. Rieg purchased the policy after seeking advice from her GEICO representative, who advised her that she needed a “Missouri Policy” so her daughter, Joanna, could use the vehicle while attending college in Missouri. The insurance policy included a Missouri choice of law provision and provided $50,000 per person, and $100,000 per accident in uninsured motorist coverage. However, the policy did not provide underinsured motorist coverage, and such coverage was not required under Missouri law.

Plaintiffs filed this action and served GEICO as an alleged uninsured/underin-sured motorist carrier.1 Plaintiffs alleged the Missouri choice of law provision was invalid and that North Carolina law controls, which mandates underinsured motorist coverage. North Carolina requires minimum automobile insurance liability limits of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident.2 Moreover, a driver with an automobile liability insurance policy with less than the minimum limits as required by North Carolina law is considered an “uninsured motorist.”3 Because Defendant’s liability policy provides only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, Defendant would be considered an “uninsured motorist” under North Carolina law. Thus, if the choice of law provision is unenforceable, then North Carolina law controls, and GEICO is required to provide underinsured motorist coverage in excess of the coverage provided by Defendant’s policy; if the choice of law provision is enforceable, then Missouri law controls, and there is no underinsured motorist coverage.

Plaintiffs and GEICO filed competing motions for summary judgment, and the trial court heard oral arguments on September 20, 2018. The trial court granted GEICO’s motion for summary judgment and denied Plaintiffs’ motion, finding the choice of law provision in the insurance policy to be valid and enforceable. Plaintiffs appeal.

Standard of Review

This appeal arises from the grant of summary judgment, which is appropriate when a party establishes that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that a judgment may be rendered as a matter of law. Tenn. R. Civ. P. 56.04; Stovall v. Clarke, 118 S.W.3d 715, 721 (Tenn.2003). The material facts with respect to the issue raised on this appeal are not in dispute; accordingly, our review is de novo on the record with no presumption of correctness as to the trial court’s conclusions of law. See Tenn. R.App. P. 13(d); BellSouth Adver. & Publ’g Co. v. Johnson, 100 S.W.3d 202, 205 (Tenn.2003).

[153]*153Analysis

At issue on appeal is whether the substantive law of Missouri or North Carolina will govern the construction of the insurance policy at issue. When determining which state’s law to apply to a particular dispute, a choice of law analysis is appropriate using the rules applicable in the forum court’s state. Gov’t Emp. Ins. Co. v. Bloodworth, No. M2003-02986-COA-RIO-CV, 2007 WL 1966022, at *26 (Tenn.Ct.App. June 29, 2007).

Tennessee’s conflict of law doctrine applicable to contractual claims is as follows:

Tennessee follows the rule of lex loci contractus. This rule provides that a contract is presumed to be governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which it was executed absent a contrary intent. Ohio Cas. Ins. Co. v. Travelers Indem. Co., 493 S.W.2d 465, 467 (Tenn.1973). If the parties manifest an intent to instead apply the laws of another jurisdiction, then that intent will be honored provided certain requirements are met. The choice of law provision must be executed in good faith. Goodwin Bros. Leasing, Inc. v. H & B Inc., 597 S.W.2d 303, 306 (Tenn.1980). The jurisdiction whose law is chosen must bear a material connection to the transaction. Id. The basis for the choice of another jurisdiction’s law must be reasonable and not merely a sham or subterfuge. Id. Finally, the parties’ choice of another jurisdiction’s law must not be “contrary to ‘a fundamental policy’ of a state having [a] ‘materially greater interest’ and whose law would otherwise govern.” Id., n. 2 (citing Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 187(2) (1971)).

Messer Griesheim Indus., Inc. v. Cryotech of Kingsport, Inc., 131 S.W.3d 457, 474-75 (Tenn.Ct.App.2003) (quoting Vantage Tech., LLC v. Cross, 17 S.W.3d 637, 650 (Tenn.Ct.App.1999)).

The trial court held that the choice of law provision was executed in good faith, that Missouri law bears a material connection to the transaction, and that the basis for the choice of Missouri law was reasonable and not merely a sham or subterfuge. Relying on Government Employees Insurance Company v. Bloodworth,

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465 S.W.3d 150, 2014 Tenn. App. LEXIS 724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-smith-tennctapp-2014.