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State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Naomi Luebbers6/14/2005
e second paragraph specifically recognizes payment for damages claims to non-injured insureds resulting from a bodily injury, while the first paragraph limits claims to those losses sustained by an insured suffering bodily injury. Luebbers claims that this conflict creates an ambiguity. In response, State Farm argues that the first paragraph quoted above is the general insuring provision, which sets forth the general limits of coverage. According to State Farm, if the general insuring provision does not provide coverage, there is no coverage.
We perceive no ambiguity in this policy. The Limits of Liability language makes clear that the per-person/per-accident limits cover all damages flowing from bodily injury to insureds, including derivative claims such as loss of consortium. Further, coverage for "hit and run" drivers as a specie of uninsured motorist requires that the unknown motor vehicle cause "bodily injury to an insured." The definition of "insured" for uninsured coverage includes "any person entitled to recover damages because of bodily injury to an insured." It is clear that State Farm sought to require bodily injury to an insured before coverage for any claims would be triggered. State Farm expressed its desire in language which cannot be interpreted by a reasonable insured in another way. See Computer Corner, Inc. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 2002-NMCA-054, 13, 132 N.M. 264, 46 P.3d 1264 (emphasizing that insurance contract language should be interpreted to reflect the "understanding that a non-lawyer insured could derive from the . . . policy").
In order to prevail in a claim under the language of the policy, Brian Jr. must demonstrate bodily injury to an insured. Father was not an insured under the policy, so his bodily injury cannot constitute bodily injury to an "insured." Assuming that Brian Jr. is an insured, he would have to demonstrate his own bodily injury in order to meet the terms of the policy. However, New Mexico case law has made clear that the emotional distress suffered because of loss of consortium is not "bodily injury" within the meaning of an insurance policy provision providing for "bodily injury, sickness, disease or death." Gonzales, 122 N.M. at 140, 921 P.2d at 947 (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, Brian Jr.'s loss of consortium injury does not fit the "bodily injury to an insured" required for coverage by the policy.
Is the requirement by State Farm that bodily injury must be sustained by an insured barred by the Uninsured Motorist Insurance Act?
The uninsured motorist act, Section 66-5-301(A), mandates coverage "for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death." There is no indication in the statute that bodily injury must be to an insured in order to obtain this mandated protection. New Mexico courts interpreting the uninsured motorist statute have held that the statute must be "liberally construed to implement the purpose of compensating those injured through no fault of their own. . . . he only limitations on protection are those specifically set out in the statute itself: that the insured be legally entitled to recover damages and that the negligent driver be uninsured." Schmick v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 103 N.M. 216, 219, 704 P.2d 1092, 1095 (1985) (citation omitted).
" ny provision allowing for an exception to uninsured coverage is strictly construed to protect the insured." Phoenix Indem. Ins. Co. v. Pulis, 2000-NMSC-023, 7, 129 N.M. 395, 9 P.3d 639; Romero v. Dairyland Ins. Co., 111 N.M. 154, 156, 803 P.2d 243, 245 (1990). "We
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