 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Hoover v. State Farm Mutual Insurnce Co.3/4/2003
ting to UM coverage, N.C.G.S. § 20-4.01 (2001) provides, " nless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply throughout this Chapter to the defined words and phrases and their cognates: (26) Owner. - A person holding title to a vehicle. . . ." We are unpersuaded the context of G.S. § 20-279.21(b)(3) requires "owner" to mean anything other than the owner of a motor vehicle.
Plaintiffs complain defendants would receive an "undeserved windfall" if they were not required to pay the full amount delineated by each UM policy. However, this argument is unpersuasive as it applies equally to plaintiffs. They would receive an additional $1,000,000 in coverage for which they have paid no premiums were stacking permitted. Even applying the anti-stacking provision, plaintiffs receive $750,000 more in coverage than they bargained for when obtaining their own insurance through State Farm.
Moreover, our reasoning demonstrates the intended meaning of the statute. It is undisputed that interpolicy stacking by a single individual holding multiple policies is prohibited by the same provision at issue. See G.S. § 20-279.21(b)(3). It is illogical that an individual who has purchased multiple UM policies and who pays multiple insurance premiums for those policies would not be allowed to stack coverage from those policies but that an individual who has only one UM policy and is injured while driving another's vehicle for which the individual may have third party UM coverage could stack coverage.
Additionally, plaintiffs argue that even if "owner" refers to a vehicle owner the provision nonetheless is inapplicable here because plaintiff Lloyd Hoover is not the owner who "has" the Selective policy. However, a full reading of the provision reveals the owner need not own more than one policy but only be an owner who has coverage under more than one of the owners' policies. G.S. § 20-279.21(b)(3). Here, plaintiff Lloyd Hoover was a joint owner of the vehicle and was covered under the State Farm policy, and Employer, owner of the Selective policy under which plaintiff Lloyd Hoover was covered, was also a joint owner of the vehicle. Therefore, G.S. § 20-279.21(b)(3) must apply.
As we find the legislature unambiguously prohibited plaintiffs from stacking the Selective and State Farm policies, we need not address plaintiffs' remaining assignments of error.
Affirmed.
Judges TIMMONS-GOODSON and TYSON concur.
|