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Hill v. Shelter Mutual Insurance Co.6/10/2005
Before: WHIPPLE, DOWNING, and HUGHES, JJ.
This appeal challenges a trial court's determination that wrongful death claimants were entitled to recover, as separately injured persons, the each accident bodily injury limits of an automobile liability insurance policy. We reverse and remand.
BACKGROUND
On January 16, 2002, vehicles driven by Kathleen Cannon and William Richard collided at an intersection in East Baton Rouge Parish. Donald Cannon, Kathleen's husband and a passenger in her vehicle, sustained injuries in the accident, from which he later died. Three of the Cannon children, Susan Hill, Michael Cannon and Randall Cannon, filed lawsuits in Ascension Parish asserting survival and wrongful death claims against Kathleen Cannon and Shelter Mutual Insurance Company, which issued an automobile liability policy insuring the Cannon vehicle, as well as William Richard and his liability insurer, U.S. Agencies.
The lawsuits were consolidated in the trial court. Plaintiffs and Shelter filed motions for summary judgment on the issue of insurance coverage. These motions raised the issue of whether the Shelter policy's "each person" or "each accident" bodily injury limits applied to the plaintiffs' claims. The plaintiffs asserted that because their claims involved separate bodily injuries--the first for their father's suffering, and the second for their own suffering as a result of their father's death--the higher each accident limits of the policy applied. Shelter, on the other hand, contended that its policy unambiguously limited the plaintiffs' claims to the lower each person bodily injury limits of the policy. Specifically, Shelter argued, the policy limited Donald Cannon's surviving children's recovery to the same each person limit from which their father's survival claim must be satisfied.
The trial court granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, ruling that plaintiffs were entitled to the each accident limits of the policy. Thereafter, the parties entered into a joint stipulation declaring that the plaintiffs' damages exceeded the limits of the Shelter policy and setting forth the amounts to which they would be entitled, depending on this court's determination as to which limitation applied to their claims. This appeal, taken by Shelter, followed.
Initially, we note that the trial court's ruling is a partial judgment. The trial court designated the judgment as final and appealable under La. C.C.P. art.1915, but did not state its reasons for concluding there was no just reason for the delay. Accordingly, we are required to conduct a de novo review of the propriety of the certification. R.J. Messinger, Inc. v. Rosenblum, 2004-1664, pp. 13-14 (La.3/2/05), 894 So.2d 1113, 1122. We find that the trial court's certification was indeed appropriate and there is no just reason for delay because the determination of this insurance coverage issue will resolve this lawsuit. Therefore, we have jurisdiction over this appeal.
DISCUSSION
A motion for summary judgment should only be granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. La. C.C.P. art. 966. Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the trial court's determination of whether a summary judgment is appropriate. Bel v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 99-1922, p. 4 (La.App. 1st Cir.9/22/00), 767 So.2d 965, 968, writ denied, 2000-2913 (La.2/9/01), 785 So.2d 821.
The sole issue in this case is whether Shelter
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