Ippolito v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 27 August 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 15476,15476 |
| Citation | 705 P.2d 134,101 Nev. 376 |
| Parties | Gisele IPPOLITO and Pasquale Ippolito, Sr., Appellants, v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
The Ippolitos appeal the lower court's order granting Liberty Mutual's motion to dismiss a declaratory relief action. The Ippolitos contend that the district court erred in its determination that the controlling statutory provision requiring insurance carriers to offer equal limits of uninsured motorist limits, among other protections, does not apply to Gisele Ippolito's policy with Liberty Mutual. We agree with the Ippolitos, and reverse the judgment of the lower court.
The facts in this appeal are not in dispute. Gisele Ippolito purchased an automobile insurance policy to go into effect on April 4, 1979. The policy provided $300,000 limits in liability protection, but only $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident, in uninsured motorist protection. On July 1, 1979, NRS 687B.145(2) 1 became effective. This provision requires insurance carriers to offer uninsured motorist coverage equal to the insured's bodily injury limits. Nearly six months after this statutory change in insurance coverage, December 22, 1979, appellants' son, Pasquale Ippolito, Jr., was killed in a one-car automobile accident. However, the tort-feasor's policy limits of $15,000 could not satisfy the wrongful death judgment for over $100,000 which the Ippolitos obtained.
Gisele Ippolito then filed an action for declaratory relief, alleging that Liberty Mutual had breached its statutorily imposed duty to offer her higher uninsured limits, pursuant to the statute. Pasquale Ippolito, Sr., filed a complaint in intervention, claiming benefits under the policy. Liberty Mutual filed a motion to dismiss the complaint with prejudice, claiming that because its policy was issued prior to the effective date of the statute, the statute did not apply to the policy. The lower court granted the motion to dismiss.
Inferably, the district court must have thought that, because the policy predated the date of the statute, the statute cannot be applied to the policy unless the insured requests the additional protections offered by the statute. 2 In any case, we are asked on appeal to decide whether the increased insurance coverage required by NRS 687B.145(2) became, by implication of law, a part of Mrs. Ippolito's insurance policy after the effective date of the statutory change. 3
We have previously determined that we will strictly construe provisions of an uninsured motorist statute in favor of recovery by the insured, and that the requirements of such a statute are implicitly a part of every policy of automobile insurance in Nevada, as if expressly written into the policy. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. v. Hinkel, 87 Nev. 478, 483, 488 P.2d 1151, 1153-54 (1971); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Maglish, 94 Nev. 699, 702, 586 P.2d 313, 314 (1978). We have recognized that the policy itself may not limit coverage in contravention of the public policy provided in the statute, and that provisions in conflict are "void and unenforceable because they are repugnant to the intent of the statute and against public policy." 87 Nev. at 482, 488 P.2d at 1154. The public policy expressed in NRS 687B.145(2) is that, effective July 1, 1979, insurance companies doing business in Nevada must offer uninsured-underinsured motorist coverage "equal to the limits of bodily injury coverage sold to the individual policy holder."
Interpreting the law in light of these principles, then, effective July 1, 1979--and certainly prior to the date of the accident, December 22, 1979--Liberty Mutual was obligated to offer Mrs. Ippolito uninsured-underinsured motorist limits equal to the limits of liability it had sold to her. As issued, the Liberty Mutual policy offers liability limits of $300,000, but only uninsured motorist limits of $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident....
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