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State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Naomi Luebbers6/14/2005
Naomi Luebbers (Luebbers) presented a claim to State Farm Mutual Insurance Company (State Farm) on behalf of her minor son, Brian Salazar, Jr. for uninsured motorist benefits, alleging that Brian Jr. sustained loss of consortium damages as a result of the shooting death of his Father by or with the complicity of the operator of an uninsured motor vehicle. State Farm sought a declaratory judgment that its insurance policies did not provide coverage for Luebbers' claims. In a motion for summary judgment, State Farm argued (1) Brian Jr. did not qualify as an insured under the policy because, as a four-week-old fetus at the time of the shooting, he was not a viable person; (2) under the policies, bodily injury triggering coverage must be to an insured, and Father was not an insured under its policies; and (3) Brian Jr. had no cause of action available to him since there is no New Mexico precedent allowing recovery for loss of parental consortium outside of a wrongful death act proceeding.
The district court granted State Farm's motion for summary judgment. We reverse.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Brian Salazar, Sr. (Father) was shot and killed in November 1996 by an unidentified person shooting from a moving vehicle. Before being shot, Father argued with the occupants of a blue truck. Father and the driver of the blue truck engaged in a fistfight while stopped at a red light. The fight ended when the passenger of the blue truck fired a gunshot into the air. The two vehicles continued down the street and Father was hit by a shot fired through his windshield. It is currently unknown who actually fired the gun.
On the day of the shooting, Luebbers was approximately four weeks pregnant with Father's son, Brian Jr. Luebbers lived with her mother and stepfather, Kathleen and Edward O'Brien, and was a member of their household.There were two insurance policies issued by State Farm in force providing uninsured motorist coverage to members of the O'Brien household. Brian Jr. was born on July 8, 1997, and continued to reside with his mother in the O'Brien household until September 2001. Father was not a member of the O'Brien household at the time of the shooting.
Slightly reorganized from their argument, the parties briefed the following issues:
1. Does the provision of the State Farm policy limiting coverage for loss of consortium claims to damages caused by "bodily injury to an insured" comply with New Mexico's uninsured motorist statute, NMSA 1978, ยง 66-5-301 (1983)?
2. Can Brian Jr. be deemed an insured under the policy where the event causing his injury occurred when he was a four-week-old fetus?
3. Is loss of consortium of a parent available to Brian Jr. as a cause of action separate from a wrongful death claim?
4. Was the shooting death of Father an accident within the requirements of the insurance policy?
The first three issues present pure questions of law. As such, we apply a de novo standard of review. Cooper v. Chevron USA, Inc., 2002-NMSC-020, 16, 132 N.M. 382, 49 P.3d 61 ("The meaning of language used in a statute is a question of law that we review de novo."); Envtl. Control, Inc. v. City of Santa Fe, 2002-NMCA-003, 14, 131 N.M. 450, 38 P.3d 891 ("Whether ambiguity exists [in a contract] is a question of law; therefore, this Court reviews the district court's decision de novo.").
State Farm did not raise issue number four in its own motion for summary judgment, but instead argued it in response to Luebbers' motion for summary judgment. The language of the order granting State Farm's motion for summary judgment does not indicate that this issue was
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