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State Farm Auto. Ins. Co. v. Rose8/21/1991
HOLMES, J.
The sole issue before us on certification from the federal district court is whether "the language in coverage A, liability coverage, as amended in endorsement 6890AW ["endorsement"] clear and unambiguous so as to limit all derivative death claims of John Rose to a single $50,000.00 recovery?" (Emphasis added.) For the reasons which follow, we answer this query in the affirmative.
The language in the endorsement (numbered 6890AW) which the parties agree controls the resolution of this issue is as follows:
"The amount of bodily injury liability coverage is shown on the declarations page under 'Limits of Liability--Coverage A--Bodily Injury, Each Person, Each Accident'. Under 'Each Person' is the amount of coverage for all damages, including damages for care and loss of services, arising out of and due to bodily injury to one person. Under 'Each Accident' is the total amount of coverage, subject to the amount shown under 'Each Person', for all such damages arising out of and due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident."
A clause similar to the one at bar was reviewed in Burris v. Grange Mut. Cos. (1989), 46 Ohio St.3d 84, 545 N.E.2d 83. In Burris, the administrator of an estate sought recovery in the amount of $300,000 from Grange Mutual. Grange Mutual had issued a "split limits" policy in the amount of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence. Id. at 87, 545 N.E.2d at 87. This court, in construing the policy language, held that only $100,000 was available to be recovered by the deceased's estate. In so holding, this court relied upon the following policy language:
"'Limits of Liability: The limit of bodily injury liability stated in the declarations as applicable to "each person" is the limit of the company's liability for all damages, including damages for care and loss of services, arising out of bodily injury sustained by one person as the result of any one occurrence; the limit of such liability stated in the declarations as applicable to "each occurrence" is, subject to the above provision respecting each person, the total limit of the company's liability for all such damages arising out osbodily injury sustained by two or more persons as the result of any one occurrence.' " Id. at 87, 545 N.E.2d at 87.
We find the "Limits of Liability" clauses in Burris and the case at bar to be essentially the same. Both policies in these cases make it absolutely clear that all claims resulting from an injury to one person involved in a single accident will be subject to the "Each Person" limit of liability contained in the respective policy.
As in Burris, the claimant in this case, Mr. Rose, cites Wood v. Shepard (1988), 38 Ohio St.3d 86, 526 N.E.2d 1089, as controlling the outcome of this decision. In Wood, this court stated:
"Each person entitled to recover damages pursuant to R.C. 2125.02 for wrongful death, and who is an insured under an underinsured motorist provision in an insurance policy, has a separate claim and such separate claims may not be made subject to the single person limit of liability in the underinsured motorist provision." Id. at syllabus.
In Burris, this court distinguished and limited Wood by stating:
"Appellant [the decedent's mother] argues that since she is within the class of beneficiaries enumerated in R.C. 2125.02(A) (1), as are Sanford J. Burris, Jr. [the decedent's son and the administrator of the estate] and the siblings, each has a claim of recovery under Wood, supra, and the $300,000 per occurrence limitation rather than $100,000 each person limitation applies. It is claimed that an
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