Crabtree v. State Farm Ins. Co.
| Citation | 632 So.2d 736 |
| Parties | 93-0509 La |
| Decision Date | 28 February 1994 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Louisiana |
Madeleine M. Landrieu, Robert J. David, Gainsburgh, Benjamin, Fallon, David & Ates, New Orleans, for applicant.
David J. Mithcell, Dan R. Dorsey, Porteous, Hainkel, Johnson & Sarpy, New Orleans, Stephen N. Elliott, Bernard, Cassisa, Saporito & Elliott, Metairie, for respondent.
[93-0509 La. 1] KIMBALL, Justice. *
We granted certiorari to consider whether a wife's mental anguish suffered upon witnessing an injury to her husband constitutes a separate bodily injury under an automobile insurance policy thereby entitling the wife to her own per person policy limit subject to the aggregate per accident limit. We conclude the wife's mental anguish constitutes "bodily injury" within the meaning of the policy, and finding that the policy language defining "bodily injury to one person" to include "all injury and damages to others resulting from this bodily injury" does not reasonably contemplate bodily injury to others, we conclude the wife's mental anguish claim is not subject to the single person policy limit regardless of whether her mental anguish "results from" or "derives from" her husband's bodily injuries. We further conclude the wife's mental anguish was suffered "in the same accident" as that which caused the injury to her husband. Accordingly, we hold the wife's mental anguish constitutes a separate bodily injury under the policy entitling her to her own per person policy limit subject to the aggregate per accident limit.
On January 27, 1990, Stephen Crabtree was riding his motorcycle while his wife Debra followed him in her automobile. An oncoming car, owned by Robert F. Vetter and operated by his son, James, crossed the center line and struck Mr. Crabtree head on. Mrs. Crabtree witnessed the accident. When she went to help her husband, she discovered one of his legs had [93-0509 La. 2] been almost completely severed below the knee.
Plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree, brought suit against their UM insurer, the Vetters, and the Vetters' insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, seeking damages for Mr. Crabtree's injuries and for Mrs. Crabtree's loss of consortium and mental anguish claims. 1 Prior to trial, the parties stipulated to the following: (1) the accident was caused solely by the fault of James Vetter; (2) Debra Crabtree meets all the requisites for a Lejeune claim; 2 (3) State Farm's policy provides to plaintiff limits of $25,000 per person with an aggregate of $50,000 per accident; and (4) Stephen Crabtree's injuries exceed $25,000. Additionally, in argument before the trial court, both parties stated State Farm had stipulated that Debra's Lejeune claim is worth or exceeds $25,000.
In accordance with the stipulations, State Farm tendered into the registry of the court the sum of $27,604.17, representing its single bodily injury policy limits plus accrued legal interest. Both parties agreed this amount was to be applied to Stephen Crabtree's personal injuries and Debra Crabtree's loss of consortium claim.
State Farm contended it had no further liability under the policy. Plaintiffs argued Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim constituted an additional bodily injury under the policy such that Mrs. [93-0509 La. 3] Crabtree would be entitled to her own $25,000 per person limit subject to the $50,000 per accident aggregate limit.
Plaintiffs filed a "Motion for Declaratory Judgment" seeking a declaration that the mental anguish suffered by Mrs. Crabtree constitutes a separate bodily injury from Mr. Crabtree's thus invoking the $50,000 per accident limits of the policy. 3 State Farm, on the other hand, filed a motion for summary judgment arguing Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim is "derivative" of Mr. Crabtree's claim and thus subject to the $25,000 single policy limit attributable to Mr. Crabtree's injuries. State Farm argued in the alternative that mental anguish is not a "bodily injury" covered under the policy.
The trial court granted State Farm's motion and denied plaintiffs' motion, finding Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim is derivative.
The Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed, agreeing with the trial court's conclusion that Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim derived from the bodily injury to Mr. Crabtree. 613 So.2d 701. The court of appeal further concluded Mrs. Crabtree's damages "resulted from" the bodily injury to her husband within the meaning of the policy's definition of "bodily injury to one person." Accordingly, the court held State Farm was liable only up to the $25,000 single person limit.
We granted plaintiffs' writ application 4 and now reverse.
The State Farm insurance policy at issue obligates State Farm to "pay damages which an insured becomes legally liable to pay because of ... bodily injury to others." The policy provides $25,000 in coverage for damages due to bodily injury to each person with an aggregate of $50,000 in bodily injury for each accident regardless of the number of people injured in the accident. Under the Limits of Liability section, as modified by the 6994RR Amendatory Endorsement, the policy provides:
The amount of bodily injury liability coverage is shown on the declarations page under "Limits of Liability--Coverage A--Bodily Injury, Each Person, Each [93-0509 La. 4] Accident". Under "Each Person" is the amount of coverage [$25,000] for all damages due to bodily injury to one person. "Bodily injury to one person" includes all injury and damages to others resulting from this bodily injury. Under "Each Accident" is the total amount of coverage [$50,000], subject to the amount shown under "Each Person", for all damages due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident.
The policy defines "bodily injury" as "bodily injury to a person and sickness, disease or death which results from it."
Plaintiffs contend State Farm is liable under the $50,000 aggregate policy limit for "all damages due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident." State Farm contends its liability is limited to the $25,000 policy limit for "all damages due to bodily injury to one person."
To determine the amount of State Farm's liability, we must interpret the insurance policy to decide three issues: (1) whether the policy language defining "bodily injury to one person" to include "all injury and damages to others resulting from this bodily injury" encompasses Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish; (2) whether Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish constitutes "bodily injury" as defined in the policy; and (3) whether Mrs. Crabtree suffered her mental anguish "in the same accident" as that which caused Mr. Crabtree's bodily injuries. If "bodily injury to one person" encompasses Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish, then State Farm's liability is limited to the $25,000 policy limit for "all damages due to bodily injury to one person." If not, and if Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish constitutes "bodily injury" suffered "in the same accident," then State Farm is liable under the $50,000 aggregate policy limit for "all damages due to bodily injury to two or more persons in the same accident."
(1) Does "bodily injury to one person" encompass Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish?
State Farm characterizes the first issue in terms of whether Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim is "derivative" of Mr. Crabtree's claim for personal injuries. According to State Farm, even if Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish constitutes "bodily injury," her Lejeune claim is by its nature "derivative" of Mr. Crabtree's claim and therefore necessarily falls under the husband's single person bodily injury limit. Because our decision must rest solely on the terms of the insurance contract between the parties, 5 we interpret State Farm's argument to mean that [93-0509 La. 5] "bodily injury to one person" encompasses Mrs. Crabtree's mental anguish because that mental anguish "results from" or "derives from" Mr. Crabtree's bodily injury within the intendment of the similar policy language used to define "bodily injury to one person."
State Farm bases its argument on several court of appeal decisions which have held a loss of consortium claim is derived from the injury to the tort victim and therefore falls under the single person policy limit. For example, in Shepard v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 545 So.2d 624, 629 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied, 550 So.2d 627, 628 (La.1989), the fourth circuit held the tort victim's parents' consortium claim was derived from their son's injuries and therefore fell under the policy limit applicable to bodily injury to one person. The court stated:
[A] loss of consortium claim is a derivative claim of the primary victim's injuries.... The derivative claim does not come into existence until someone else is injured. Thus, the parents ... did not suffer a harm to their relational interest until Gregory suffered his injuries.... [B]ecause the right of action in the loss of consortium claim is derived from Gregory's injuries, recovery is restricted to the per person limits. Therefore, if the injured party exhausts the per person limits, the derivative claim is extinguished.
Likewise, in Sharff v. Ohio Casualty Insurance Co., 584 So.2d 1223, 1226 (La.App. 2d Cir.), writ denied, 589 So.2d 1055 (La.1991), the second circuit held a mother's consortium claim fell under the single person bodily injury limit and not the aggregate per accident limit because her consortium claim was "derivative" of her son's claim for bodily injury. The court stated the mother's consortium claim was one "arising from her son's claim for bodily injury and therefore the single per person limit governs both the son's claim for personal injuries and the mother's claim for loss of consortium." 6
In the present case, the trial court accepted State Farm's argument that Mrs. Crabtree's Lejeune claim is...
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