Nunn v. Stewart
| Citation | 756 P.2d 6,1988 OK 51 |
| Decision Date | 03 May 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 62883,62883 |
| Parties | Mary Lou NUNN, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Ralph A. STEWART and Farmers Insurance Company, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Oklahoma |
Appellant, Mary Lou Nunn, has sought writ of certiorari from this Court to obtain review of an opinion rendered in this case by the Court of Appeals, Oklahoma City Divisions on March 12, 1986. This Court has previously granted the requested writ.
Two issues were raised in appellant's petition for certiorari. The first issue concerns the Court of Appeal's ruling that a written rejection is mandated by 36 O.S.1981 § 3636(F) only as to the total rejection of uninsured motorist coverage. We do not find this issue to be proper for address by this Court. The import of the Court of Appeals' ruling in favor of appellant on the question of the insurer's (appellee's) duty to affirmatively offer limits of uninsured motorist coverage equal to the liability limits of the relevant policies was to award appellant the benefit of coverage equal to the higher liability limits. No actual relief could result to appellant from our examination of this question on certiorari. See Town of Covington v. Coberly, 136 Okla. 20, 275 P. 1064 (1929).
The second issue raised by appellant, however, we find to be meritorious. The Court of Appeals, in regard to the question of the date from which interest should be due on the sums payable under the uninsured motorist provisions of the policies covering appellant, properly stated that under 23 O.S.1981 § 22:
"The law in Oklahoma is that where the obligation is to pay money, and that obligation is fixed, and the only thing to be determined is the amount, interest will attach from the time the obligation arises." ...
The Court of Appeals then correctly stated that the obligation to pay under the uninsured motorist provisions did not arise until the liability of the uninsured motorist was fixed. The Court of Appeals then incorrectly held that this liability did not become fixed until judgment was rendered by the trial court. A review of the record indicates that appellee confessed the liability of the uninsured motorist as of June 25, 1983.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Court of Appeals' opinion rendered in this case is hereby MODIFIED to reflect that interest on the amount due to appellant from appellee under the uninsured motorist provisions of the policies covering her shall run from the date of June 25, 1983 until paid, pursuant to the terms of 23 O.S.1981 § 22. The Court of Appeals' opinion is AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED. The Court of Appeals' opinion is WITHDRAWN FROM PUBLICATION.
The following facts have been stipulated by the parties in this case:
(1) On July 21, 1977 Ralph Stewart struck the insured with his car and injured her. The insured was a pedestrian at the time of the accident.
(2) The accident was entirely the fault of Ralph Stewart.
(3) Farmers insured Ralph Stewart under an automobile liability policy and paid the $10,000 limit to the insured, pursuant to the policy owned by Stewart.
(4) At the time of the accident, insured and her husband, now deceased, owned three vehicles which were also insured by Farmers. One vehicle had a $25,000 liability limit, while the other two were insured with only $10,000 liability limits. Each of these policies stated an uninsured motorist limit of $5,000 per person and $10,000 per accident, with $2,000 medical payment limits. Farmers has paid insured $5,000 of UM coverage.
(5) Insured's damages equal or exceed $51,000, the amount which the insured claims she is entitled to, should the court rule in her favor.
(6) Farmers did not offer insured or her husband UM limits of coverage equal to the liability limits in the insured's policies. [Emphasis supplied.]
Applying the unadulterated Oklahoma Uninsured Motorist Law, as plainly stated at 36 O.S.1981 § 3636(B) and (F) to the undisputed facts of this case, above, it is manifestly clear that the insurer, Farmers Insurance Company, failed to comply with its statutory duty to offer the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Carney v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.
...calculating when prejudgment interest begins to accrue, if the amount due the insured becomes fixed at an earlier date. In Nunn v. Stewart, 756 P.2d 6, 7 (Okla.1988), that earlier date was fixed when the insurer confessed the liability of the uninsured motorist. The statutory authority for ......
-
State Ins. Fund v. ACCORD HUMAN RESOURCES
...6, of Title 23 applies to an obligation to pay money fixed by a contract of insurance. Fidelity-Phenix Fire Ins. Co., supra, Nunn v. Stewart, 1988 OK 51, 756 P.2d 6. Application of these opinions requires us to determine the date the obligation to pay the premium was fixed, or more specific......
-
Porter v. Farmers Ins. Co.
...interest. An insured may be entitled to prejudgment interest on a UM claim, running from the date liability is fixed. See Nunn v. Stewart, 756 P.2d 6, 6-7 (Okla. 1988) (citing Okla. Stat. tit. 23 § 22). Here, the earliest date at which Farmers can be said to have admitted liability is Decem......
-
Gregg v. LE MARS INS. CO.
...date pre-judgment interest began to run. ¶ 15 The applicable case law is set out as follows. The Oklahoma Supreme Court in Nunn v. Stewart, 1988 OK 51, 756 P.2d 6, The Court of Appeals, in regard to the question of the date from which interest should be due on the sums payable under the uni......