Sammarco v. USAA Casualty Insurance Co.6/30/2005
Submitted: April 27, 2005
Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, BERGER, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices, constituting the Court en Banc.
Upon appeal from the Superior Court. REVERSED and REMANDED.
This is an appeal from a final judgment entered by the Superior Court. The plaintiff-appellant, Alan Sammarco, brought a declaratory judgment action against the defendant-appellee, USAA Casualty Insurance Company ("USAA"). Sammarco sought to reform an automobile insurance contract to provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage ("UM/UIM") from $15,000/$30,000 to $300,000/$500,000. The Superior Court denied Sammarco's request and granted USAA's motion for judgment on the pleadings.
Sammarco contends that USAA violated Del. Code Ann. tit. 18, § 3902(b) by failing to inform him, in a meaningful way, that he had the option to purchase additional UM/UIM coverage up to his bodily injury liability policy limits. Del. Code Ann. tit. 18, § 3902(b) reads as follows:
Every insurer shall offer to the insured the option to purchase additional coverage for personal injury or death up to a limit of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident or $300,000 single limit, but not to exceed the limits for bodily injury liability set forth in the basic policy.
Based upon this Court's holding against it in Mason v. USAA on the same issue of notice, USAA admits that it did not properly inform Sammarco of his statutory right to purchase additional UM/UIM coverage, and that reformation of the insurance contract between the parties is warranted. In fact, after Sammarco filed this lawsuit, USAA agreed to reform his policy to provide UM/UIM benefits of $100,000/$300,000. However, USAA refused Sammarco's request to reform the policy to provide UM/UIM benefits to the extent of Sammarco's bodily injury liability policy limits of $300,000/$500,000.
Issue on Appeal
The only question presented on appeal is the amount of additional coverage Sammarco is entitled to receive by reformation of his UM/UIM policy with USAA. Sammarco contends that he should receive UM/UIM coverage equal to his bodily injury liability policy limits of $300,000 per person and $500,000 per incident because those limits were being offered by USAA when his UM/UIM Policy was issued. USAA argues that section 3902(b) limits mandatory UM/UIM insurance, including that required by contract reformations like this one, at $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. We have concluded that Sammarco is entitled to have his UM/UIM policy reformed to the same $300,000/$500,000 limits that are in his bodily injury liability policy with USAA.
Facts
On May 2, 2004, Sammarco's minor son was seriously injured in an accident when an automobile being operated by Sammarco was hit head-on by an underinsured, drunk driver. At the time of the accident, Sammarco carried liability insurance with limits of $300,000 per person and $500,000 per accident through a contract with USAA. At the same time, Sammarco had UM/UIM motorist coverage with USAA at the statutory minimum of $15,000/$30,000.
USAA attached a declaration of coverages and corresponding costs for the various coverages that USAA offered, as Exhibit B to its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, as follows:
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