Steinhaeufel v. Reliance Ins. Companies

• Citation: 495 S.W.2d 463
• Decision Date: 08 May 1973
• Docket Number: No. 34682,34682
• Parties: John J. STEINHAEUFEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RELIANCE INSURANCE COMPANIES et al., Defendants, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant-Respondent. . Louis District, Division One
• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)

Page 463

495 S.W.2d 463

John J. STEINHAEUFEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RELIANCE INSURANCE COMPANIES et al., Defendants, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 34682.

Missouri Court of Appeals, St. Louis District, Division One.

May 8, 1973.

Hullverson, Hullverson & Frank, Stephan J. Glynias, Leon Feigenbaum, St. Louis, for plaintiff-appellant.

Evans & Dixon, William Wallace Evans, Eugene Buckley, St. Louis, for defendant-respondent.

WEIER, Acting Presiding Judge.

From a judgment denying coverage under the uninsured motorist provision of his policy, plaintiff, John J. Steinhaeufel, has appealed. The issues on appeal arise out of the provisions of plaintiff's policy of automobile liability insurance and an interpretation of Missouri statutory law as it applies to the policy. We reverse and remand.

The facts of liability and coverage are simple and were submitted to the trial court on a stipulation of the parties. On March 3, 1970, a truck operated by plaintiff and owned by Griffith Brokerage Company, plaintiff's part-time employer, came into collision with an automobile driven by Frances Brown, an uninsured motorist. The collision was occasioned by the negligence of Frances Brown. At the time of the collision plaintiff's employer, and the vehicle he was driving, was insured by Reliance Insurance Company whose policy contained uninsured motorist coverage with a limit of $10,000.00 for each person and $20,000.00 for each accident respecting bodily injury. Defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company had issued a policy to plaintiff on his personal automobile which also contained uninsured automobile coverage. The policy by reference to the amount specified by safety responsibility laws of Missouri limited its coverage to $10,000.00 for one person or $20,000.00 for one accident as to bodily injury. By stipulation, it was agreed that Reliance Insurance Company had the primary coverage under their uninsured motorist provision and that they had exhausted their coverage by paying to plaintiff an amount equivalent to $10,000.00, the limit of their coverage on plaintiff. Plaintiff, having previously received satisfaction as to defendant Reliance, dismissed as to that defendant. At time of submission to the trial court without a jury, evidence as to the nature and extent of injuries suffered by plaintiff was introduced. The court determined that plaintiff had suffered damages in the amount of $15,000.00. After determining that the provisions of the State Farm policy prevented the payment of any excess amount over the $10,000.00 coverage provided by Reliance, the court rendered judgment in favor of defendant State Farm.

On appeal, plaintiff charges error in the trial court's denial of recovery against State Farm. He contends that under the Missouri statute requiring uninsured motorist coverage State Farm must provide insurance protection for the recovery of damages occasioned by the operators of uninsured motor vehicles and it cannot avoid this obligation by provisions of its policy. Plaintiff relies not only upon the wording of the Missouri statute but also upon public policy to require payment of his claim. To sustain the jdugment below, defendant State Farm maintains that the trial court properly denied the recovery under its policy because its conditions provided in plain and unambiguous language that its coverage should apply only as excess insurance over any other similar insurance available and would then apply only in the amount by which the applicable limit of liability of the coverage exceeded the sum of the applicable limit of liability of all such other insurance. Thus, posed, the issue as presented is one of first impression in this state, not having been previously passed upon by any of our appellate courts. In the resolution of this matter, an answer must be given to the question as to whether such an excess-escape clause is a valid exclusion in the light of the uninsured motorist statute, Section 379.203, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S., (later amended by RSMo Supp.1971; Laws 1972, p. --- S.B. No. 548, Section 1). The pertinent portion of the statute reads: '1. No automobile liability insurance covering liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle shall be 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 not less than the limits for bodily injury or death set forth in section 303.030, RSMo, for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death, resulting therefrom; * * *.' Section 303.030, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S., a part of our safety responsibility law, requires minimum coverage as to bodily injury of not less than $10,000.00 for one person and not less than $20,000.00 for one accident in each policy of liability insurance to prevent suspension of the operator's license and the registration of the motor vehicle involved in an accident.

After providing coverage as required in Section 379.203, the policy of State Farm contained this condition: '14. Other Insurance. With respect to bodily injury to an insured while occupying an automobile not owned by a named insured under this coverage, the insurance hereunder shall apply only as excess insurance over any other similar insurance available to such occupant, and this insurance shall then apply only in the amount by which the applicable limit of liability of this coverage exceeds the sum of the applicable limits of liability of all such other insurance.' State Farm urges us to follow the language of this condition and affirm the trial court. The language appears to be clear, plain and unambiguous. Under its provisions, if the insured, Steinhaeufel, receives bodily injury while occupying an automobile not owned by him under the uninsured motorist coverage, then the insurance provided by this clause is to apply only as excess insurance over other insurance available to the occupant. In this event, coverage here provided by State Farm would apply only in the amount by which the limit of liability, $10,000.00, exceeds the applicable limit of the other insurance, which in this case was $10,000.00. This would allow State Farm to escape any payment to the plaintiff. We are aware, of course, of the rule which is well established in this state that an insurance contract couched in plain and unambiguous language must be given its plain meaning. It is only when the contract is ambiguous that a court may be called upon to construe it, and it is only at that time that a construction favorable to the insured must be adopted. Central Sur. & Ins. Corp. v. New Amsterdam Cas. Co., 359 Mo. 430, 222 S.W.2d 76, 78(1) (1949). But we are not here concerned with construing the clause found in State Farm's policy. Rather, we are concerned with the validity of such a clause when considered in the light of the legislative mandate requiring no automobile liability insurance shall be delivered or issued in this state unless uninsured motorist coverage is provided in this insurance for not less than the limits set forth in the motor vehicle responsibility law.

The parties to an insurance contract are free to place limitations and restrictions on the insurer's liability as the contracting parties may be willing to agree unless prohibited by statute or public policy. Webb v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., 479 S.W.2d 148, 150(1) (Mo.App.1972). Thus in State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Western Cas. & Sur. Co., 477 S.W.2d 421 (Mo.1972) an escape clause in a garage liability policy was held to be valid and enforceable by the insurer in consideration of a reduced rate of...