GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE COMPANY AND TRAVELERS INDEMNITY COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
CLEM TAYLOR, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1977-02-11
No. BB-360
BOYER, C. J., and MILLS, J., concur.
342 So. 2d 547 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1977) Negative Treatment
Cited by 37 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Government Employees Insurance Company and Travelers Indemnity Company appealed from a declaratory judgment that allowed stacking of uninsured motorist coverage. The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that uninsured motorist coverage limits in § 627.727(2)(b) refer only to the injured person's own policy, not coverage from other policies of which he is merely a beneficiary.


Holding

The court held that uninsured motorist coverage limits in § 627.727(2)(b) refer only to the coverage purchased under the injured person's own policy, not to coverage from another person's policy of which the injured person is merely a beneficiary. Therefore, stacking is not permitted.


Headnotes

[1] Uninsured motorist coverage under a policy is personal to the named insured who paid the premium and does not extend to a permissive user of a vehicle.

[2] A permissive user of a vehicle cannot "stack" uninsured motorist coverage from their own policy with that of the vehicle owner's policy.

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Key Quotes

“the term 'uninsured motor vehicle' shall, subject to the terms and conditions of such coverage, be deemed to include an insured motor vehicle when the liability insurer thereof... Has provided limits of bodily injury liability for its insured which are less than the limits applicable to the injured person provided under his uninsured motorist's coverage.”

The statutory language at issue in the case, defining when an insured motor vehicle is treated as uninsured.

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Facts & Procedural History

Taylor held a GEICO policy covering one automobile with $10,000 uninsured motorist coverage. While driving a vehicle owned by Sammy Lee Jones (insured…

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Opinion of the Court
McCORD, Judge.

McCORD, Judge.

This is an appeal by defendant insurance companies from a declaratory judgment. Appellee Taylor had his personal insurance with Government Employees Insurance Company. Included in his policy covering only one automobile was uninsured motorist coverage with limits of $10,000 for injury to one person in one accident. He was involved in a collision with a third party while driving a vehicle owned by Sammy Lee Jones who had his insurance with Travelers Indemnity Company. The policy issued by Travelers to Jones included uninsured motorist coverage with limits of $50,000 for injury to one person in one accident. The third party with whom Taylor had the collision had liability insurance with limits of $10,000 for injury to one person in one accident. Appellee contends that the $10,000 coverage in the policy issued to him by Government Employees should be added to the $50,000 coverage in the policy issued to Jones by Travelers which would mean that his uninsured motorist coverage would then exceed the liability coverage of the third party (which would not happen in relation to Government Employees policy if no stacking occurred since its $10,000 uninsured motorist coverage is not higher than the $10,000 insurance coverage of the tort feasor). By stacking the two, he contends that he is entitled to recover uninsured motorist benefits from both Government Employees and Travelers up to a maximum of $60,000. The trial court construed the applicable statute, § 627.727(2)(b), Fla.Stat.1975, to allow such stacking. We disagree and reverse.

§ 627.727(2)(b), Fla.Stat.1975, provides as follows:

“(2) For the purpose of this coverage, the term ‘uninsured motor vehicle’ shall, subject to the terms and conditions of such coverage, be deemed to include an insured motor vehicle when the liability insurer thereof:
it* * * * * *

(b) Has provided limits of bodily injury liability for its insured which are less than the limits applicable to the injured person provided under his uninsured motorist’s coverage.”

The issue here hinges upon the meaning of the phrase in the above statute “the limits applicable to the injured person provided under his uninsured motorist’s coverage” (emphasis supplied). It appears clear that use of the words “his uninsured motorist’s coverage” refers to the coverage of the policy issued to the injured person and does not include uninsured motorist coverage of another person’s policy of which the injured person happens to be a beneficiary. Such other person’s policy is that person’s uninsured motorist coverage which that person, rather than the injured person, has purchased. The District Court of Appeal, Second District, in Travelers Ins. Co. v. Pac, 337 So. 2d 397 (Fla. 2 DCA 1976), quoted as follows from Cunningham v. INA, 213 Va. 72, 189 S.E. 2d 832 (1972), which we consider appropriate to construction of this statute.

“The purpose of uninsured motorist insurance is to provide compensation to the innocent victim of the uninsured motorist. The named insured in a policy receives coverage, and a contract benefit, for which he has paid a consideration. He seeks indemnity based on the pay ment of that premium and where he has paid separate premiums he is entitled to the additional coverages. However, this argument and reasoning does not apply to a permissive user of a vehicle who pays no premium and does not receive the broader uninsured motorist coverage of a named insured.”

Our ruling on the foregoing point renders the second point on this appeal moot — whether or not the injured motorist can settle with the third party tort feasor’s insurance carrier for its full policy limits without obtaining the consent of his insurance carrier, Government Employees Insurance Company.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

BOYER, C. J., and MILLS, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (18 total)

  • Ivey v. Chicago Ins. Co., 410 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 1982)
    …)(b), Florida Statutes (1975). The trial court herein, on a motion by respondent for judgment on the pleadings, entered final judgment in favor of respondent, basing its décision upon the holding of Government Employees Insurance Company v. Taylor, 342 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 353 So. 2d 680 (Fla.1977). The District Court of Appeal, First District, affirmed the trial court in a per curiam decision without opinion. For the following reasons we quash the decision of the district court. Florida…
  • AETNA Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Ilmonen, 360 So. 2d 1271 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
    …In so ruling, we are particularly influenced by those decisions which prohibit the use of uninsured motorist coverage, when the tortfeasor’s coverage is in an equal amount to the insured’s coverage. Government Employees Insurance Company v. Taylor, 342 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977); Government Employees Insurance Company v. Butt, 296 So. 2d 599 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974). The prohibition is based upon the premise that to add the like amount of tortfeasor and uninsured/underinsured coverage would be to duplicate the…
  • COX v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 378 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)
    …ing Moeller’s vehicle, she must turn to her own policy or the policy of a relative residing in her household, if any, in order to recover un-derinsured benefits. It grounds this argument upon the case of Government Employees Insurance Co. v. Taylor, 342 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977), where on essentially the same facts the court rejected a claim for underinsured motorist coverage under a [*332] policy issued to the owner of the vehicle which the injured party was driving. The court construed the statutory pr…
    1 / 2

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