Morelock v. Millers' Mut. Ins. Ass'n of Ill.
| Decision Date | 30 September 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 43525,43525 |
| Parties | Kathryn F. MORELOCK, Appellee, v. MILLERS' MUTUAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Ray H. Freeark, Jr., and Robert D. Francis, Belleville, for appellant.
Dick H. Mudge, Jr., Edwardsville, for appellee.
The plaintiff, Kathryn F. Morelock, brought an action for declaratory judgment in the circuit court of Madison County in which she asked the court to declare that the defendant, Millers' Mutual Insurance Association of Illinois, was liable to her under the uninsured motorist provision of an automobile liability policy which had been issued to her by the defendant. The circuit court held that the defendant was not liable because of an 'other insurance' clause which appeared in the uninsured motorist provision of the policy. On appeal provision of the policy. On appeal the Appellate Court for the Fifth District, 125 Ill.App.2d 283, 260 N.E.2d 477, held that the 'other insurance' clause was contrary to the legislative intention underlying section 143a of the Illinois Insurance Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1969, ch. 73, par. 755a(1)), which requires that automobile liability policies issued in this State contain provisions for insurance against specified damages sustained through the operation of uninsured motor vehicles.
The relevant facts were stipulated to by the parties in the circuit court. On August 14, 1965, the plaintiff was driving an automobile owned by her father, Claude Wedel, in an easterly direction on Interstate Highway No. 70, south of Madison, Illinois. The other occupants of the automobile were the plaintiff's sister, Phyllis Wedel, her parents, Claude and Ruth Wedel, and another couple. There was a head-on collision between the Wedel automobile and the uninsured automobile of Alfred M. Holley, who drove in a westerly direction in a lane for east-bound traffic. All of the occupants of the Wedel automobile were injured. Phyllis Wedel and the plaintiff were severely and permanently injured and each suffered damages in excess of $20,000. Each is legally entitled to recover such damages from Holley, the operator of the uninsured automobile. The plaintiff is the named insured in a policy issued by the defendant, and her father, Claude Wedel, is the named insured in another policy issued by the defendant. The policies are identical in coverage. Each policy limits the liability of the defendant under the uninsured motorist coverage to $20,000 for each occurrence. At the time of the proceeding in the circuit court the defendant had paid $5,525.83 under the policy it had issued to Claude Wedel and the court was informed that the remaining $14,474.17 of the $20,000 limit was available to be divided between Phyllis Wedel and the plaintiff. It was stipulated that the plaintiff's damages alone are in excess of the $14,474.17 which is undisbursed.
The statute requiring the inclusion of uninsured motorist coverage in automobile liability policies in part provided: '* * * no policy insuring against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or death suffered by any person arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle shall be renewed or delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, in limits for bodily injury or death set forth in Section 7--203 of the 'Illinois Motor Vehicle Law', approved July 11, 1957, as heretofore and hereafter amended, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles and hit-and-run motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death, resulting therefrom * * *.' Ill.Rev.Stat.1969, ch. 73, par. 755a(1).
The 'other insurance' provision in the policy issued to the plaintiff, which is relied on by the defendant and which the circuit court held excused the defendant from liability, stated: 'With respect to bodily injury to an insured while occupying an automobile not owned by the named insured, the insurance under the Uninsured Motorists Coverage shall apply only as excess insurance over any other...
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