State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Horne
| Decision Date | 23 July 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-8833,85-8833 |
| Citation | 794 F.2d 621 |
| Parties | STATE AUTOMOBILE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Nina Bowen HORNE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Lester B. Johnson, III, Savannah, Ga., for defendant-appellant.
Michael J. Goldman, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
Before KRAVITCH and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges, and TUTTLE, Senior Circuit Judge.
This is an appeal by Nina Bowen Horne from a district court order granting summary judgment to plaintiff/appellee State Automobile Insurance Company (hereafter, "State Auto") in its action for declaratory judgment to determine whether it was required to extend to Horne full optional ($50,000) Personal Injury Protection ("PIP") coverage on her automobile liability insurance policy. We affirm the ruling of the district court that the company was not required to extend appellant Horne the additional protection.
On September 12, 1980, John Chokos of Pederson-Chokos and Company, an independent insurance agency, which solicits insurance applications for numerous insurance companies, met with appellant Horne and her mother to renew various insurance policies taken out by the Hornes, collect the required premiums, and acquire their signatures on the various policy applications. Chokos had apparently been performing State Auto issued the policy in question in early October, 1980, by delivering it to Chokos who in turn forwarded the document to appellant. Horne, however, never requested any change in the policy and on January 13, 1981 she was involved in an automobile accident, following which she claimed and received $5,000 in PIP benefits. On March 9, 1984 she made a demand for $50,000 in optional PIP benefits and tendered the additional premium to State Auto. The insurance company refused to provide the extra benefits and subsequently commenced a declaratory judgment action in U.S. District Court to determine whether it was required to extend the full optional ($50,000) coverage to Horne. The court below entered summary judgment in favor of State Auto, declaring that the optional benefit selector form used by State Auto and signed by Horne was in substantial compliance with Georgia statute O.C.G.A. Sec. 33-34-5(b) as interpreted by St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Nixon, 252 Ga. 469, 314 S.E.2d 215 (1984) and its progeny. Thus the court found that as a matter of law, appellant made a knowing and intentional waiver of her right to optional PIP benefits when she signed the form. Additionally, it found that State Auto had no obligation to make any more payments to Horne because as a matter of law, Chokos was her agent and, as such, even if he did make the checkmarks on the form after she had signed it, she was bound by that action. Following entry of final judgment in the action, this appeal ensued.
this service for the Hornes for a number of years past. Included in the policies discussed was an application for standard automobile liability insurance with appellee State Auto. The application has two separate sections. The first contains the basic liability application with a signature space at the end. The second, labeled "Offer to Purchase Optional Coverages" contains within an application for additional, optional, personal injury protection ("PIP") above and beyond the $5,000 coverage included in the basic standard, liability policy. This section of the application has the heading: "Personal Injury Protection ($5,000 coverage included in your basic premium charges)." To receive the additional coverage, there are spaces indicating the amount of extra-insurance sought from $10,000 to $50,000. Additionally, there is a separate clause and blank space following stating: "I reject all PIP options below." At the end of the one page second section is a separate signature space for the insured to sign. According to appellant, Chokos, in whom she had "complete confidence" did not explain the contents of this policy, nor did she question him about it. However, at his request, she simply signed both sections of the automobile liability insurance application. She contends that she additionally told Chokos that she wanted the maximum PIP protection. The application that was eventually received and accepted by State Auto, although requesting several other forms of optional insurance, indicated on the form by various checkmarks, expressly waived the optional PIP protection by a checkmark next to the "I reject all PIP options below" statement on the form. Horne claims that Chokos made the checkmarks in the blanks on the form after she had signed it. Appellee disputes appellant's view of the events leading to the filing of the application, stating that Chokos "made the appropriate checkmarks as per Ms. Horne's instructions, providing minimum $5,000 personal injury protection, dated the application, and presented Ms. Horne with the form for her review and signature." Once signed, he forwarded the application to State Auto for its consideration
1. Whether the district court erred when it granted appellee's State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company's motion for summary judgment when it concluded appellee's application was in substantial compliance with O.C.G.A. Sec. 33-34-5(b).
2. Whether the district court erred when it granted appellee's State Automobile
Mutual Insurance Company's motion for summary judgment when it concluded that Pederson-Chokos was not appellee's agent.
Appellant Horne has raised two issues on appeal. She first argues that the district court erred in finding that the automobile liability insurance application form used by State Auto here was proper under Georgia law. We cannot agree with a...
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...insurer when the insurer was only one of a number of insurance companies with which it placed insurance. State Automobile Mut. Ins. Co. v. Horne, 794 F.2d 621, 624 (11th Cir.1986); Kirby v. Northwestern Nat'l Cas. Co., 213 Ga.App. 673, 445 S.E.2d 791 (1994). Finally, Crump did not have auth......
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