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Shelter Mutual Insurance Company v. Barton9/7/2001
This is an appeal from the denial of a motion for a judgment as a matter of law following a jury's award of damages in a breach-of-contract and bad-faith action against an insurer providing uninsured motorist coverage. We reverse and remand.
Facts and Procedural History
On November 30, 1996, Carolin M. Barton, her husband, and her daughter were passengers in a vehicle owned and operated by Bobby Dale Walters. As Walters's vehicle was leaving Regency Square Mall in Florence, Walters pulled into the path of, and was struck by, a vehicle driven by Shannon Derek Vaden. Barton was injured in the accident.
Testimony at trial indicated that, just before the accident, Walters had stopped his vehicle at a stop sign located at the southern end of the mall and was preparing to make a left turn onto Hough Road, a four-lane road running east and west along the southern boundary of the mall. Walters testified that as he was stopped at the stop sign, he noticed several cars in the right westbound lane of Hough Road that appeared to be turning into the mall. Walters stated that he did not see any cars in the left westbound lane. Walters said that after he looked to the left, to the right, and then back to his left, he proceeded into the intersection. As Walters began to cross the westbound lanes of Hough Road, Vaden, who was driving in the left westbound lane of Hough Road, struck Walters's vehicle.
At the time of the accident, Vaden was uninsured. Walters's vehicle was insured by Shelter Mutual Insurance Company ("Shelter"). Because Walters was a resident of Missouri and his vehicle was principally garaged in that state, Shelter had issued Walters's policy in Missouri. The policy provided liability coverage with applicable limits of $50,000 per person/$100,000 per occurrence, as well as uninsured motorist benefits of $25,000 per person/$50,000 per occurrence. The policy had a limit of $2,000 for medical expenses. When Walters reported the accident to Shelter, the claim was assigned to senior claims representative Warren Medley. When Medley adjusted the claims arising from the accident, he was unaware of the Alabama Guest Statute, ยง 32-1-2, Ala. Code 1975. The Alabama Guest Statute bars a passenger from suing a driver for injuries sustained in an accident, unless the accident is caused by the driver's willful or wanton misconduct. Applying Missouri law, Medley adjusted the claims of Barton, her daughter Angela Batchelor, and Vaden as potential personal-injury claims against Walters.
As part of his investigation, Medley obtained recorded statements from Walters and Barton. Medley also spoke with Batchelor and reviewed the police report and photographs of Walters's vehicle. The police report indicated that witnesses told the investigating officer that Vaden's vehicle had moved from the right lane to the left westbound lane of Hough Road just before the accident.
On December 17, 1996, Medley prepared a "Special Auto Report" that summarized his investigation and his conclusions regarding the accident. The report indicated that Walters had contributed to cause the accident. Additionally, Medley wrote that Vaden may have also contributed to cause the accident; Medley based this conclusion on Barton's statement to him that Vaden appeared to have been speeding just before the accident. Medley did not estimate the potential liability, i.e., set a reserve, for the uninsured-motorist benefits under the policy, although he knew that Vaden was uninsured at the time of the accident. At trial, Medley stated that he would have set a reserve for the uninsured-motorist coverage if he had determined that Vaden was negligent and that that negligence had, in fact, contribut
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