Alfa Ins. Corp. v. Ryals
| Decision Date | 15 June 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 2002-CA-01652-COA.,2002-CA-01652-COA. |
| Citation | 918 So.2d 676 |
| Parties | ALFA INSURANCE CORPORATION, Appellant v. Kenneth Wayne RYALS, Administrator on Behalf of the Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Kenneth Ryals, Deceased, and Kenneth Wayne Ryals, Administrator on Behalf of the Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Georgia Ryals, Deceased, Appellees. |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
Herman M. Hollensed, Hattiesburg, attorney for appellant.
Norman William Pauli, Hattiesburg, T. Jackson Lyons, Jackson, attorneys for appellees.
Before KING, C.J., THOMAS and MYERS, JJ.
MYERS, J., for the Court.
¶ 1. Alfa Insurance Corporation appeals from a final judgment of the Circuit Court of Forrest County for the plaintiff, Kenneth Wayne Ryals, as administrator on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of Kenneth Ryals and Georgia Ryals, and an award of $210,000 for each of the deaths. Aggrieved by the judgment, Alfa raises three issues on appeal.
ISSUES PRESENTED
I. Whether the Ryals family is barred from recovering uninsured motorist benefits from Alfa?
II. Whether the Ryals family is entitled to recover uninsured motorist benefits as the deaths were not caused by an accident arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of the Mississippi Department of Transportation platform truck as required by the Alfa insurance agreement?
III. Did the trial court err by admitting the testimony of Richard Hagenson, the Ryalses' expert witness?
STATEMENT OF FACTS
¶ 2. On April 28, 1998, Kenneth Ryals and his wife, Georgia Ryals, sustained fatal injuries as they were traveling north on Highway 49, near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. A dead pine tree fell across the cab of their truck and the couple was killed instantly. On July 26, 1999, Kenneth Wayne Ryals, co-administrator of the Ryalses' estates, filed wrongful death complaints against the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Mississippi Transportation Commission. The complaints alleged that the Ryalses' deaths were caused by MDOT's failure to provide reasonably safe highways and that prior to the accident, MDOT employees left a dead pine tree standing in a weakened condition after several attempts to knock the tree down with a platform truck were unsuccessful.
¶ 3. The two cases were consolidated and an amended complaint was filed to include Alfa as a co-defendant. The Ryalses had automobile insurance coverage with Alfa which included an uninsured motorist provision. The Ryals family sought uninsured motorist benefits from Alfa because MDOT admitted that its platform truck was not covered by insurance. Alfa answered the Ryalses' complaint and alleged that the wrongful death beneficiaries were not entitled to recover from Alfa because MDOT was immune from suit under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, therefore the Ryals family was not "legally entitled to recover" under the Alfa policies. Alfa also filed a cross-claim against MDOT for subrogation of the Ryalses' claims.
¶ 4. The trial was set for August 2002; however, MDOT settled with the Ryals family for $250,000, the statutory limit set by the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. The trial judge entered an agreed order of dismissal in May 2002. Alfa agreed to dismiss its counter-claim against MDOT but specifically reserved the right to use MDOT's sovereign immunity claim as a defense in its suit against the Ryals family. A jury trial was held against the remaining defendant, Alfa, and the jury returned a unanimous verdict for the Ryals family and awarded a recovery of $210,00 for each death (the maximum amount recoverable under Alfa's uninsured motorist policy). Alfa timely filed its motion for JNOV or alternatively for a new trial, which was denied by the trial court.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
I. WHETHER THE RYALS FAMILY IS BARRED FROM RECOVERING UNINSURED MOTORIST BENEFITS FROM ALFA?
¶ 5. Alfa asserts that the Ryals family is barred from recovering uninsured motorist benefits under the Alfa policy because they do not meet the standard of being "legally entitled to recover." Alfa's position is that the Ryalses are not "legally entitled to recover" because they have received all they are entitled under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. Conversely, the Ryals family asserts that they are entitled to uninsured motorist benefits from Alfa because the measure of their damages claim arising from the fatality was stipulated at over $670,000 and they only received the statutory cap of $250,000 from MDOT.
¶ 6. The basis of Alfa's argument is that the Ryalses are not "legally entitled to recover" uninsured motorist benefits because they have already received the statutory cap of $250,000 from MDOT. The applicable uninsured motorist statute states:
No automobile liability insurance policy or contract shall be issued or delivered after January 1, 1967, unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages for bodily injury or death from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle. . . .
Miss.Code Ann. § 83-11-101(1) (Rev.1999). The provision in the Ryalses' insurance policy issued by Alfa contained the following language:
We will pay damages which an insured is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle because of:
1. Bodily injury sustained by an insured and caused by an accident; and
2. Property damage caused by an accident of the Schedule or Declaration indicates that both bodily injury and property damage Uninsured Motorist Coverage applies. The owner's or operator's liability for these damages must arise out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of the uninsured motor vehicle.
Alfa cites many workers' compensation cases in support of its proposition that the Ryalses are not legally entitled to recover uninsured motorist benefits.
¶ 7. Several cases have been decided relating to the interplay of workers' compensation and uninsured motorist benefits. Workers' compensation benefits received by the employee barred recovery under the employer's uninsured motorist policy because the phrase "legally entitled to recover" has been interpreted to mean the insured is entitled to recover at the time of the accident. Medders v. U.S. Fid. and Guar. Co., 623 So.2d 979, 989 (Miss.1993). The employee was not entitled to recover uninsured motorist benefits from his insurer because workers' compensation is the employee's exclusive remedy. Wachtler v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 835 So.2d 23, 27 (¶ 16) (Miss.2003); Steen v. Metro. Prop. and Cas. Ins. Co., 858 So.2d 186, 189 (¶ 15) (Miss.Ct.App.2003). The purpose of the uninsured motorist statute is to allow the insured to get all sums he is legally entitled to recover. McDaniel v. Shaklee U.S., Inc., 807 So.2d 393, 398-99 (¶ 17) (Miss.2001).
¶ 8. Alfa draws a parallel between workers' compensation cases and cases dealing with the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. Alfa argues that like worker's compensation, sovereign immunity bars the insured from receiving uninsured motorist benefits because the Mississippi Tort Claims Act provides the exclusive remedy against the government and its employees for torts. Alfa acknowledges that sovereign immunity may be statutorily waived, as was done in this case by MDOT, but argues that the statutory cap of $250,000 should remain the insured's exclusive remedy. While it is attractive to group workers' compensation cases together with sovereign immunity cases, the two are distinctly different and each should be decided by its own precedent.
¶ 9. The Ryals family argues that the case of City of Jackson v. Perry, 764 So.2d 373 (Miss.2000), holds precedential value for their claim of uninsured motorist benefits against Alfa. In Perry, the driver brought suit against a police officer, the city and the uninsured motorist carrier for an accident involving a speeding officer who hit the driver while going to dinner. Perry, 764 So.2d at 375(¶ 2). The court held that the officer was driving with a "reckless disregard for the safety of others" which waived sovereign immunity under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. Id. at 378 (¶ 19). The court opined that since the reckless disregard exception to the MTCA did apply, the city was liable for $50,000 (then the statutory maximum) and the uninsured motorist carrier was liable for $50,000 (the policy limits). Id. at 381 (¶ 38).
¶ 10. Both parties briefed the Perry case and each hold different views on its precedential value. Alfa claims that since Perry was decided by a split vote, it is not binding precedent. Our supreme court recently held that 4-4 decisions are good law and binding precedent. Bridges v. Park Place Entm't, 860 So.2d 811, 814(¶ 9) (Miss.2003) (citing Harper v. Harper, 491 So.2d 189, 202 (Miss.1986)). The Ryalses argue that similar to Perry, the waiver of immunity by MDOT meant that the insured was "legally entitled to recover" from MDOT up to the statutory cap of $250,000. The Ryalses contend that if the damages claim totals above and beyond the cap, the uninsured motorist funds should be available as funds not collectible from the tortfeasor.
¶ 11. The Uninsured Motorist Act is remedial in nature and its purpose is to "give the same protection to the person injured by an uninsured motorist as he would have had if he had been injured in an accident caused by an automobile covered by a standard liability policy." Glennon v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 812 So.2d 927, 930 (¶ 18) (Miss.2002) (citing Rampy v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 278 So.2d 428, 432 (Miss.1973)). The provisions of the Act are to be liberally construed to accomplish this purpose. Id. At trial, the parties stipulated that the Ryalses' claims for the wrongful deaths of their parents exceeded $670,000. Defining the term "legally entitled to recover" in the context of sovereign immunity is problematic. There has been no distinction made between...
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Alfa Ins. v. Ryals ex rel. Beneficiaries
...motorist insurance carrier, appealed, and a divided Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court judgment. See Alfa Ins. Corp. v. Ryals, 918 So.2d 676 (Miss.Ct.App.2004). Three judges dissented, concluding that the alleged negligent act did not cause the accident and that the accident did no......