Owens v. FEDERATED MUT. IMPLEMENT & HARDWARE

• Citation: 328 NW 2d 162
• Decision Date: 07 January 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-486.,82-486.
• Parties: Donald J. OWENS, Appellant, v. FEDERATED MUTUAL IMPLEMENT AND HARDWARE INSURANCE CO., Respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

328 N.W.2d 162 (1983)

Donald J. OWENS, Appellant, v. FEDERATED MUTUAL IMPLEMENT AND HARDWARE INSURANCE CO., Respondent.

No. 82-486.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

January 7, 1983.

R.M. Bracewell, St. Paul, for appellant.

Meagher, Geer, Markham, Anderson, Adamson Flaskamp & Brennan and James F. Roegge, Minneapolis, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

SIMONETT, Justice.

This case presents the issue of whether former Minn.Stat. § 72A.149 (1969) automatically increased the limits of uninsured motorist coverage, as of January 1, 1971, for auto liability insurance policies then in force but issued prior to that date. The trial court held that the limits were not increased. We agree and affirm.

Appellant-plaintiff Donald J. Owens was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident on June 18, 1971. He commenced this action against his own insurer, defendant Federated Mutual Implement and Hardware Insurance Company, for uninsured motorist benefits. Two issues were presented to the trial court: (1) whether Owens could stack his policy coverage with Federated Mutual; and (2) whether former Minn.Stat. § 72A.149 (1969) mandated an automatic increase in the uninsured motorist limits. The trial court allowed stacking but denied the automatic increase. Federated Mutual does not appeal the ruling on stacking, so we have here only the issue of an increase in the limits.

Federated Mutual renewed its policy to Owens on December 10, 1970, for a 1-year period with the next renewal date scheduled for December 10, 1971. The policy covered four motor vehicles. As to each vehicle, there was bodily injury liability coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident and uninsured motorist coverage of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per accident. On June 18, 1971, Owens had his auto accident.

At the time Federated Mutual issued its renewal on December 10, 1970, Minn.Stat. § 72.149, subd. 2 (1969), read:

No automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policy of insurance * * * shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state * * * unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, under provisions approved by the commissioner of insurance, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles * * *; provided, that the named insured shall have the right to reject in writing such coverage; and provided further that, unless the named insured requests such coverage in writing, such coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal policy where the named insured had rejected the coverage in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer. The policy limits of the coverage required to be offered by this section shall be as set forth in section 170.25, subdivision 3, until January 1, 1971; thereafter, at the option of the insured, the uninsured motorist limits shall be equal to those provided in the policy of bodily injury liability insurance of the insured or such lesser limits as the insured elects to carry.

(Emphasis added.)

Appellant Owens argues this statutory language means that, as of January 1, 1971, all policies of insurance then outstanding or thereafter issued or delivered for issuance in Minnesota were required to have uninsured motorist coverage equal to the bodily injury limits of the policy, unless otherwise waived by the policyholder in writing. So, although Owens' policy was issued to him prior to January 1, 1971, as of that date, his uninsured motorist coverage automatically increased from $10,000/20,000 to $100,000/300,000.

Appellant arrives at this conclusion by arguing that this is the plain meaning of the second sentence of the statute. The second sentence, says appellant, can only be read to mean that the uninsured motorist policy limits shall be $10,000/20,000 (the amounts designated by section 170.25, subd. 3) until January 1, 1971, but "thereafter" shall be increased. Appellant points out the word "thereafter" is not qualified in any way; for example, ...