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Mancillas v. Arizona Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Fund12/15/1994
TOCI, Judge
Plaintiff was one of seven people injured in an automobile accident by a tortfeasor with the statutory minimum uninsured motorist coverage. Apportionment of the tortfeasor's liability policy limits among the injured parties resulted in plaintiff recovering less than the minimum amount specified in the Financial Responsibility Law. The issue is whether the tortfeasor is therefore "functionally uninsured" so that plaintiff may recover under the uninsured motorist provisions of his own policy, the difference between the amount available to him from the tortfeasor's liability policy and the minimum amount of uninsured motorist coverage required by the Financial Responsibility Law.
Lucio Rosas Mancillas appeals the trial court's grant of summary judgment to The Arizona Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Fund ("the Fund"). He raises the following issues: (1) is he entitled to uninsured motorist benefits to the extent of the $15,000 statutory minimum required for such coverage, and (2) if not, should underinsured motorist coverage be written into his policy as a matter of law even though he signed a written waiver of such coverage?
We hold that Mancillas is entitled to uninsured motorist benefits up to the statutory minimum amount. Because we answer the first issue in the affirmative, we need not address the second issue raised in this appeal.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Mancillas purchased automobile liability insurance from Old Hickory Casualty Insurance Company ("Old Hickory"). The policy provided liability and uninsured motorist coverage of $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident. The policy defined "uninsured motor vehicle" in part as:
a motor vehicle for which there is no bodily injury policy or liability bond available at the time of the car accident with at least the minimum limits required by the financial responsibility law of the state in which your car is principally garaged.
Mancillas signed a form rejecting underinsured motorist coverage, and no such coverage was afforded by the policy.
Several months later, Mancillas was involved in an automobile accident caused by Roberto D. Enriquez. Mancillas, each of the four passengers in his car, and two of the passengers in Enriquez's car were injured and incurred medical bills. All seven claimants filed personal injury claims with Enriquez's insurer, and five of those claimants, including Mancillas, later sued Enriquez for their injuries.
After the suits were consolidated, counsel for Enriquez disclosed that Enriquez had only $30,000 in policy limits. His insurer proposed a pro-rata distribution of the $30,000 based on the amount of each claimant's medical bills. Mancillas' share of this distribution was $2,215.58, which did not fully compensate him for his injuries.
Mancillas made a claim for uninsured motorist benefits with his own insurer--Old Hickory. The claim was denied, and Mancillas sued Old Hickory for, among other things, breach of contract and bad faith. Mancillas later amended his complaint to add a claim for underinsured motorist benefits and to add his insurance agent as a defendant. This lawsuit was consolidated with Mancillas' lawsuit against Enriquez. When Old Hickory was declared insolvent, the Fund was substituted as the defendant.
Mancillas filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the uninsured motorist coverage issue. He argued that he was entitled to such benefits for the damages he had sustained in the accident, less the compensation received from Enriquez, up to the $15,000 minimum for uninsured motorist coverage required by the Uninsured Motorist Act, A.R.S. secti
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