 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Legros v. Atlantic Mutual Companies12/24/2002
so agree with respondent that the policy, when read as a whole, distinguishes between UIM and liability coverages. Liability coverage provides protection where the insurer pays damages to a third-party who the insured has injured. Although "liability" is undefined in the policy, it is explained under "PART III: YOUR LIABILITY COVERAGE." In that section, the policy states:
his part of your Atlantic Master Plan covers you and your family against financial loss if any of you accidentally hurts someone or damages their property * * * we'll pay damages for which you are legally liable for * * * We'll pay money an insured person is legally obligated to pay as damages * * *. (bold emphasis added).
In contrast, UIM coverage compensates insureds for damages suffered as a result of the actions of an underinsured third-party tortfeasor. UIM coverage is described by the "Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists' Coverage" section of the policy. This provision states:
e will pay compensatory damages which an insured is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle or underinsured motor vehicle because of bodily injury .
Respondent correctly asserts that liability and UIM coverage are not synonymous in the Atlantic Mutual policy and the umbrella endorsement. Minnesota law also recognizes the general differences between liability and UIM insurance. In State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Levinson, 438 N.W.2d 110 (Minn. App. 1989), this court found that a personal umbrella policy did not provide UIM coverage. Id. at 115-16. Furthermore, Levinson held that an umbrella policy is a third-party insurance contract that does not include UIM coverage unless the parties expressly contract for it or anticipate that it would be included. Id.
Here, we conclude the umbrella endorsement did not expressly include UIM coverage. The unambiguous manner in which the policy and umbrella endorsement discuss liability coverage and UIM emphasizes that the parties intended different coverages. The cases cited by respondent and the district court are not directly relevant to the precise language at issue here. Like those cases, however, the language of the umbrella endorsement here unambiguously extends coverage only to liability claims.
Affirmed.
Page 1 2 3 Minnesota Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|