Brake v. MFA Mut. Ins. Co., 35893
| Decision Date | 25 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 35893,35893 |
| Citation | 525 S.W.2d 109 |
| Parties | Nancy A. BRAKE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MFA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Respondent. . Louis District, Division Four |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Cox, Moffitt & Cox, Dallas W. Cox, Jr., St. Louis, for plaintiff-appellant.
William B. England, St. Louis, for defendant-respondent.
Silas William Brake, husband of plaintiff Nancy A. Brake, was killed in a two-car automobile collision caused solely by the negligence of Donald W. Miller. Others killed in the collision between the Brake and Miller vehicles were Miller, Harold G. Brake and one Lorance. Silas William Brake, Harold G. Brake and Lorance each left surviving a widow and several minor children. Four other persons received serious personal injuries in the collision. At time of collision Miller carried a policy of automobile liability insurance issued by Automobile Club Inter-Insurance Exchange which complied with the minimum requirements for exception from the suspension provisions of The Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law, Chapter 303, § 303.030, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S., i.e., subject to limits of $10,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident and $2,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident. Miller's insurer filed an interpleader suit against twenty-one persons who had asserted claims of various kinds arising out of the negligence of Miller, and paid $20,000 (the maximum liability under the insurance policy) into the registry of the court. The court ordered the $20,000 prorated among the claimants, awarding Nancy A. Brake $2,600 for her individual claim and $1,400 for the benefit of her five minor children, and awarding sums of from $1,000 to $4,000 to other claimants. Nancy A. Brake gave a receipt but not a release for the $4,000. Her cause of action for the wrongful death of her husband and on behalf of her five children had an agreed value of $50,000.
Silas William Brake, joint owner with his wife Nancy of the automobile in which he was riding as a passenger at time of collision, had purchased and paid premiums on two policies of automobile liability insurance issued by MFA Mutual Insurance Company on two different automobiles. Each policy provided uninsured motorist coverage for Mr. Brake and his spouse in the sum of $10,000 for each person and $20,000 for each accident. Following receipt of the $4,000 Nancy A. Brake filed this suit against MFA, praying for $40,000 damages under the two insurance policies. MFA moved to dismiss the petition and for summary judgment. Plaintiff filed a countermotion for summary judgment. The parties stipulated as to the facts. Upon submission the circuit court denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment; sustained defendant's motion for summary judgment, and rendered judgment in favor of MFA and against plaintiff. Plaintiff appealed.
The Uninsured Motorist Law, § 379.203, RSMo 1969, par. 1, V.A.M.S., requires that automobile liability insurance provide coverage 'in not less than the limits for bodily injury or death set forth in section 303.030, RSMo (the Safety Responsibility Law), for the protection of persons injured 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, resulting therefrom.' Paragraph 2 provides: 'For the purpose of this coverage, the term 'uninsured motor vehicle' shall, subject to the terms and conditions of such coverage, be deemed to include an insured motor vehicle where the liability insurer thereof is unable to make payment with respect to the legal liability of its insured within the limits specified herein because of insolvency.' Paragraph 4 gives rights of subrogation to the insurer making payment under this coverage.
The Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law, Chapter 303, § 303.030, par. 5, sets the limits of the required coverage at not less than $10,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and not less than $20,000 because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident.
The provisions of the two MFA policies extending uninsured motorist protection to Silas William Brake and his spouse are contained in Coverage E, Part V of the identical policy forms. Paragraph I obligated MFA to 'pay all sums which the insured or his legal representative shall be legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured highway vehicle because of bodily injury sustained by the insured, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of such uninsured highway vehicle; * * *.' Paragraph 2 defined 'uninsured highway vehicle' as 'a highway vehicle with respect to the ownership, maintenance or use of which there is no bodily injury * * * insurance policy applicable at the time of the accident with respect to any person * * * legally responsible for the use of such highway vehicle * * *.'
The first question is whether miller's automobile was an uninsured highway vehicle within the meaning of that term as used in Part V, Coverage E, par. I of the MFA policy.
Plaintiff contends that, as evidenced by the Uninsured Motorist Law, § 379.203, supra, there is a statutory mandate on MFA under an established public policy to pay all sums referred to in par. I; that every insured such as Mrs. Brake is entitled under the uninsured motorist coverage to payment of the damages which she could have recovered had the tort-feasor maintained a policy of liability insurance in a sum sufficient to respond in damages to the extent of the $10,000 statutory minimum; that the term 'uninsured motor vehicle' as used in § 379.203 is ambiguous; that it was drafted to comply with and was designed to satisfy the Safety Responsibility Law; that when considered in that frame of reference it makes no sense to extend coverage under which the insured is better off if the tort-feasor has no insurance than if he has some but not enough insurance to pay for the damages inflicted; that the courts ought to allow additional recovery under the uninsured motorist endorsement 'whenever the uninsured motorist coverage exceeds the tort feasor's liability insurance and the tort feasor's insurance is insufficient to fully indemnify the claimant'; that the policy reference to uninsured motor vehicles conflicts with The Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law, Chapter 303, and is void because in this case it effectively reduces the statutory minimum of $10,000 to $4,000. Plaintiff asks for a liberal construction of the language of the policy to effectuate the legislative intention that indemnity in the minimum sum of $10,000 be afforded against loss inflicted by a financially irresponsible person; contends that the coverage afforded by the Miller policy of insurance was only hypothetically or partially available to her, i.e., to the extent of $4,000 only instead of the $10,000 to which she had a legal right under the Uninsured Motorist Law; that because of the multiple claims made against Miller's $20,000 coverage the basic policy of the Uninsured Motorist Law has been frustrated; that the words 'uninsured highway vehicle' should be construed to include every situation in which the tort-feasor actually has insufficient insurance 'for whatever reason' to cover and pay in full all claims against him, up to the limits of the uninsured motorist protection he has purchased.
Uninsured motorist statutes are to be liberally construed to accomplish their highly remedial purpose, which is "'to give the same protection to the person injured by an uninsured motorist as he would...
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