Case Name: GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE CO., Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Arlene STAFSTROM and Terry Stafstrom, Appellee/Cross-Appellants
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1996-01-19
Citations: 668 So. 2d 631
Docket Number: No. 94-794
Parties: GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE CO., Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Arlene STAFSTROM and Terry Stafstrom, Appellee/Cross-Appellants.
Judges: PETERSON, C.J., and DAUKSCH, COBB, GOSHORN, GRIFFIN, THOMPSON and ANTOON, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 668
Pages: 631–635

Head Matter:
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE CO., Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Arlene STAFSTROM and Terry Stafstrom, Appellee/Cross-Appellants.
No. 94-794.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Jan. 19, 1996.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 28, 1996.
David B. Falstad of Gurney & Handley, P.A., Orlando, for AppellanVCross-Appellee.
Harlan L. Paul of James Zimmerman & Paul, DeLand, for Appellees/Cross-Appel-lants.

Opinion:
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
HARRIS, Judge.
We reconsider this case en banc and withdraw our prior opinion dated October 13, 1995.
When Terry Stafstrom initially obtained his liability insurance policy in the amount of $100,000 (the policy involved in this action), he elected to cap his uninsured motorist coverage at $10,000. Two vehicles were covered under this original policy. Subsequently, he added an additional vehicle to his original policy. No other changes were made.
When Arlene Stafstrom, Terry's wife, was subsequently injured in an accident, he asserted that he was entitled to $100,000 in uninsured motorist coverage on the newly added vehicle because he had not specifically rejected such coverage. The trial court agreed. The issue before us, then, is whether the addition of the new vehicle to the existing policy placed an obligation on the insurance carrier to again obtain an express rejection of the uninsured motorist coverage equal to the liability limits. Based on current Florida law, we hold that it does not.
In Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company v. McGowan, 425 So.2d 98 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), this court faced the same issue it does today and held:
We hold that the addition of a new vehicle to an existing policy does not constitute a variation in the terms of the policy material enough to require a new rejection of uninsured motorist coverage each time an additional vehicle is added.
The Stafstroms, however, urge that the Florida Supreme Court overruled Sentry, at least by implication, in Fireman's Fund Insurance Company v. Pohlman, 485 So.2d 418 (Fla.1986).
We reject this argument for two reasons. First, the issue before the Pohlman court was not whether the addition of a new vehicle to an existing policy would require an express rejection of UM coverage at liability limits, thereby overruling the various decisions, including Sentry, interpreting section 627.727 as imposing no such requirement. Rather, the question addressed in Pohlman was whether the addition of a new vehicle and the payment of an additional premium would constitute a "new contract" on that vehicle, thus rendering applicable an intervening statute which provided for the inclusion of a stacking provision in that portion of the contract that related to the added vehicle.
In answering this question, the Pohlman court held that a new contract on the added vehicle was created so that the provisions of section 627.4132, adopted between the issuance of the original policy and the addition of the new vehicle, would govern the "new contract." However, section 627.4132, unlike section 627.727, did not have a provision limiting its applicability to future contracts. The Pohlman court probably would have reached a different conclusion had section 627.4132 provided:
This provision shall not apply to any policy issued hereafter which is an extension, modification or change to a preexisting policy with the same bodily injury liability limits.
While the Pohlman court held that a new contract was created, it did not hold that the original contract was not extended or changed by the addition of a vehicle. Therefore, the section 627.727 waiver of the requirement to again obtain the rejection of increased uninsured motorist coverage remains applicable.
We believe that the addition of a new vehicle to an existing policy can constitute both a "new policy" as to the added vehicle sufficient to incorporate intervening statutory changes and, at the same time, constitute an extension or change to the existing policy so that the terms of section 627.727 remain in force.
Moreover, the Pohlman court acknowledged the continuing validity of Sentry when, instead of overruling Sentry, it distinguished that case as involving an entirely different issue from that then being considered in Pohlman.
Because the supreme court did not overrule Sentry when it had the opportunity, we should not presume to do so for them. Hoffman v. Jones, 280 So.2d 431 (Fla.1973).
REVERSED and REMANDED for further action consistent with this opinion.
PETERSON, C.J., and DAUKSCH, COBB, GOSHORN, GRIFFIN, THOMPSON and ANTOON, JJ., concur.
SHARP, W., J., dissents with opinion.
. This holding was based on the then applicable section 627.727 which provided "unless the named insured . requests such coverage in writing, the coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal policy when the named insured has rejected the coverage in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer." The legislature later amended 627.727 to make our interpretation even more compelling by providing:
When the named insured . has initially selected limits of uninsured motorist coverage lower than his bodily injury limits, higher limits of uninsured motorist coverage need not be provided in or supplemental to any other policy which renews, extends, changes, supersedes or replaces an existing policy.
This was the provision in effect at the time of the accident in our case.