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Sammarco v. USAA Casualty Insurance Co.6/30/2005
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| $33.00
| $27.50
| $51.00
| $43.00
| $64.00
| $55.00
| $69.00
| $59.00
| $85.00
| $72.00
|
The foregoing schedule reflects that Sammarco could have obtained UM/UIM coverage from USAA at the same level of his liability policy limits of $300,000/$500,000, for $51.00 a year.
The USAA declaration of coverages and offering materials also included the following statements:
? UM Coverage limits are initially issued at $15,000/$30,000 unless the coverage is rejected or a higher limit is selected. Future renewals will remain the same. ? We offer higher limits of UM, which you may select, but the UM limits selected must not exceed your policy's BI limit. To select a higher limit of UM coverage, you must check the appropriate box above, "UM Coverage Selection Option," and sign and date the "Acknowledgement of Coverage Selections" at the end of this form.
The record includes an affidavit of Alan Sammarco which asserts that he would have purchased UM/UIM coverage equal to his liability coverage of $300,000/$500,000, if he had been properly advised of his option to purchase the higher additional coverage.
Prior Precedents Distinguished
Once again, we are required to resolve a dispute over the reformation terms of a UM/UIM automobile insurance policy. Section 3902(a) requires insurers to offer a minimum amount of uninsured motorist coverage.
Section 3902(b) requires insurers to offer the insured the option to purchase additional uninsured and underinsured 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."
In Arms, the issue presented to this Court was an insured's complete failure to make the offer of additional coverage as required by section 3902(b). In Arms, we held that when an insured breaches its section 3902(b) statutory duty to offer increased UM/UIM coverage, it results in an implied extension of a continuing offer of additional UM/UIM motorist coverage.
In Arms, the insured had limits of $100,000/$300,000 in a bodily injury liability policy and the UM/UIM coverage was reformed to equal those amounts.
In Mason v. USAA, the issue was this same insurer's alleged failure to make the offer of UM/UIM additional insurance that is required by section 3902(b) in a meaningful way -- rather than making no offer at all, as was the situation in Arms. In Mason, we held that USAA's frequent mailings to that plaintiff did not constitute proper statutory offers of additional UM/UIM coverage within the meaning of section 3902. In Mason, the plaintiff sued to reform the terms of the UM/UIM insurance contract to the statutory amounts of $100,000/$300,000. Therefore, reformation beyond those statutory amounts was not an issue.
In USAA v. Knapp, a case involving similar facts and -- once again -- this same insurance company, we held that, " he statute, in plain language, requires insurers to offer UM/UIM coverage 'up to a limit of' $100,000/$300,000 or $300,000 for single limit coverage (or such lesser amount as are contained in the basic policy)." In USAA v. Knapp, the Superior Court ordered reformation of the UM/UIM policy to equal the $300,000/$500,000 limits of the insured's bodily injury liability policy, even though those limits were in excess of the statutory amounts of $100,000/$300,000 for UM/UIM coverage that must be offer
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