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Stafford v. Soha8/16/2001
JUDGMENT: REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Plaintiff-appellant Lamont Stafford ( Stafford ) appeals from the July 13, 2000 denial of his motion for summary judgment and the granting of summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee-movant Nationwide Insurance Company ( Nationwide ) in this action seeking underinsured motorist coverage ( UM ). For the reasons adduced below, we reverse and remand.
A review of the record on appeal indicates that on April 4, 1997, Stafford was a passenger in a 1990 Buick automobile operated by defendant Virginia Gullion (who was Stafford's girlfriend at the time). This Buick was titled in the name of Gullion's estranged husband, defendant Ronald Coleman. The Buick vehicle was involved in a collision with another vehicle at the intersection of Memphis Avenue and West 63rd Street in Cleveland, Ohio. The tortfeasor's vehicle was operated by defendant Barbara Soha, and caused Stafford to suffer serious physical injuries. On the date of the accident, defendant Ronald Coleman was living at his mother's (Mercedes Coleman) home located at 3520 West 47th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. Similarly, on the date of the accident, Stafford was living with Gullion (who was separated at the time from Ronald Coleman) in the leased marital home of Gullion/Coleman located at 4332 West 47th Street, Cleveland, in a rent-sharing arrangement with Stafford. Ronald Coleman had separated from Gullion and left the marital home approximately two months before the accident and moved to his mother's home.
On the date of the accident herein, Mercedes Coleman, the mother of the titled owner of the Buick and the mother-in-law of Gullion, was the policyholder of a Nationwide Century II automobile liability insurance policy (policy number 92 34 H 440901) first issued to her in 1992, and most recently renewed on December 13, 1996 (with a policy period of January 7, 1997 to July 7, 1997). The policy's Declarations identified the insured vehicles as a (1) 1993 Ford Escort and (2) 1985 Toyota Van, and provided UM bodily injury coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence. This policy, in the Definitions section at page 2 of the policy, defined the following terms:
1. POLICYHOLDER means the first person named in the Declarations. The policyholder is the named insured under this policy and does not include the policyholder's spouse. If the first named insured is an organization, that organization is the policyholder.
2. YOU and YOUR means the policyholder and spouse if living in the same household.
3. RELATIVE means one who regularly lives in your household, related to you by blood, marriage or adoption (including a ward or foster child). A relative may live temporarily outside your household.
4. INSURED means one who is described as entitled to protection under each coverage.
*
6. YOUR AUTO means the vehicle(s) described in the Declarations. (Emphasis in the original.)
The policy, in Endorsement 2352 -- Uninsured Motorists Coverage, which defines uninsured motor vehicle as a vehicle which has no liability insurance or bond in effect or is underinsured,states the following with respect to uninsured motor vehicles, the policyholder, and relatives of the policyholder:
YOU AND A RELATIVE
We will pay compensatory damages, including derivative claims, which are due by law to you or a relative from the owner or driver of an uninsured motor vehicle because of bodily injurysuffered by you or a relative. Damages must result from an accident arising out of the:
1. ownership;
2. maintenance; or
3. use; of the
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