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Shelter Mutual Insurance Company v. Barton9/7/2001
g committed, but indeed is frequently the only injurious consequence to follow from [the breach of the contract].'" Golston, 573 S.W.2d at 704 (quoting Crenshaw v. O'Connell, 235 Mo. App. 1085, 150 S.W.2d 489, 493 (1941)). In Brion v. Vigilant Ins. Co., supra, a physician sued his medical- malpractice insurer and claimed damages for mental anguish after the insurer, without the physician's consent and contrary to the express provisions of the insurance contract, settled a professional negligence action that had been filed against the physician. 651 S.W.2d at 184-85. The Missouri court reasoned that the physician had stated a claim for mental-anguish damages because the contract gave the physician control over litigation that could jeopardize his professional reputation. Id. Such control, the court stated, "is a valuable right," and the breach of a contract protecting that right "may, therefore, give rise to damages not generally recoverable in a conventional breach of contract action." 651 S.W.2d at 185.
Because mental anguish was not a "natural and probable consequence" of the alleged breach of the Shelter policy, because the policy did not concern interference with rights involving dead human bodies, and because the policy did not expressly concern a valuable intangible right such as a person's reputation, we interpret Missouri law to preclude the recovery by Barton of mental-anguish damages resulting from a breach of the Shelter policy. Moreover, Missouri courts have held that the "mere failure to perform a contract cannot serve as the basis for tort liability unless the breach is also an independent tort." Haugland v. Parsons, 863 S.W.2d 609, 610 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992). Although the breach of an insurance contract may lead to the independent tort of bad-faith refusal to pay an insurance claim, we have determined that Barton could not maintain her bad-faith claim against Shelter. Thus, she would not be entitled to mental-anguish damages for a breach of the Shelter policy.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
See, Brown, and Stuart, JJ., concur.
Lyons and Harwood, JJ., concur in part and concur in the result in part.
Houston, Johnstone, and Woodall, JJ., concur in the result.
Moore, C.J., recuses himself.
LYONS, Justice (concurring in part and concurring in the result in part).
I.
Barton, a passenger in Walters's automobile, was injured when Walters's automobile collided with an automobile driven by Vaden. Vaden was uninsured. Walters had uninsured-motorist ("UM") coverage under a policy issued by Shelter Mutual Insurance Company. Under the terms of the Shelter Mutual UM coverage, Walters's passengers, as occupants of an insured automobile, are also insureds.
Barton sued Shelter Mutual on two separate breach-of-contract theories and coupled each breach-of-contract claim with a separate claim alleging bad-faith refusal to pay an insurance contract. First, Barton alleged breach of contract based upon Vaden's negligence, giving rise to Shelter Mutual's liability to Barton for UM benefits under the Shelter Mutual policy issued to Walters. Barton then alleged that Shelter Mutual had acted in bad faith in refusing to pay contract benefits arising from Shelter Mutual's UM coverage and related to Vaden's negligence. Second, Barton alleged breach of contract based upon Walters's negligence, giving rise to Shelter Mutual's liability to Barton for UM benefits under the Shelter Mutual policy issued to Walters. Barton then alleged that Shelter Mutual had acted in bad faith in refusing to pay contract benefits arising from Shelter Mutual's UM coverage and related to Walters's negligence.
The trial
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