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Lewis v. State Farm8/25/1992
As Corrected October 23, 1992
MICHELLE LEWIS, a/k/a MICHELLE L. ANDREWS, AND ALMA WALKER, PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF SHARMARCO RODREQUIS (MACK) LEWIS, DECEASED, APPELLEES,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, A FOREIGN CORPORATION, APPELLANT. A PPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF MCCURTAIN COUNTY; JOHN A. BENSON, JUDGE.
D. Craig Shew, Ada, for appellant.
Willard L. Driesel, Idabel, for appellees.
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED.
OPINION
The opinion of the court was delivered by: HANSEN, Vice Chief Judge.
Appellant (State Farm) seeks review of the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellees. This action was brought to seek recovery under the uninsured motorist coverage of a motor vehicle insurance policy written by State Farm.
Appellee Michelle Lewis, and her infant son, Shamarco (Mack) Lewis, were passengers involved in a one car accident in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Michelle was injured and her son was killed. The car was owned by Ricky Parker, an Arkansas resident, and was driven with Parker's permission by James Boyle, another Arkansas resident.
State Farm's policy was issued to the owner, Parker, in Arkansas. The policy had $25,000.00 per person liability limits for personal injury , with uninsured motorist coverage of an equal amount. State Farm paid the policy liability limits in a "friendly suit", but denied Appellees' claims under the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. There is no dispute that Appellees' claims exceed the liability limits of the Parker policy.
In denying underinsured motorist coverage, State Farm relied upon a provision in the Parker policy which excluded from the definition of an underinsured vehicle any land motor vehicle "insured under the liability coverage of this policy". Upon its face, this provision, if given effect, would obviate underinsured motorist coverage under the facts here.
The parties agreed there were no material issues of fact to be determined by a jury. They presented the matter to the trial court upon respective motions for summary judgment, to be decided as a matter of law. In its Journal Entry of Judgment in favor of Appellees, the trial court framed the question presented as:
. . . whether certain exclusionary language . . . of the Parker policy is valid and enforceable as against the Plaintiffs, or whether it is void and unenforceable in violation of the public policy of this State.
The exclusionary language referred to in the trial court's Judgment was that provision excluding the insured vehicle from the policy's definition of an underinsured vehicle. The trial court concluded, as a matter of law, that such an exclusion was violative of the public policy of Oklahoma as set forth in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Wendt, 708 P.2d 581 (Okla. 1985).
In Wendt, the Supreme Court held that any attempt to tie uninsured motorist coverage to a vehicle alone, rather than who was entitled to coverage as an insured, must fail. As the Supreme Court did in Wendt, the trial court here found the exclusionary provision to be unenforceable and awarded judgment for Appellees.
We find no reversible error of law. We further find the conclusions of law of the trial court in its Judgment attached hereto, adequately explain its decision. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED under Rule 1.202(d), Rules of Appellate Procedure in Civil Cases, 12 O.S. 1991, Ch. 15, App. 2. and the mat
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