Title: Moore v. Hartford Fire Insurance Company Group
Citation: 155 S.E.2d 128, 270 N.C. 532
Docket Number: 603
State: north-carolina
Issuer: north-carolina Supreme Court
Date: June 20, 1967

155 S.E.2d 128 (1967) 270 N.C. 532 George M. MOORE, Administrator v. HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY GROUP, Hartford Fire Insurance Company, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. No. 603. Supreme Court of North Carolina. June 20, 1967. *130 S. H. McCall, Jr., Troy, and W. Kenneth Hinton, Smithfield, for plaintiff appellant. Hudson, Ferrell, Petree, Stockton, Stockton &amp; Robinson, by Ralph M. Stockton, Jr., and J. Robert Elster, Winston Salem, for defendant appellees. PARKER, Chief Justice. G.S. § 20-279.21(b) (3) provides, inter alia, that Subsection (c) of G.S. § 20-279.5 provides that the minimum amount of such insurance must be $5,000, exclusive of interest and cost, of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, and $10,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident. Farther on G.S. § 20-279.21(b) (3) states: G.S. § 20-279.21(f) provides, inter alia: The Court said in Buck v. United States Fidelity &amp; Guaranty Co., 265 N.C. 285, 144 S.E.2d 34: Our uninsured motorist statute was enacted by the General Assembly as a result of public concern over the increasingly important problem arising from property damage, personal injury, and death inflicted by motorists who are uninsured and financially irresponsible. Its purpose was to provide, within fixed limits, some financial recompense to innocent persons who receive bodily injury or property damage, and to the dependents of those who lose their lives through the wrongful conduct of an uninsured motorist who cannot be made to respond in damages. A compulsory motor *131 vehicle insurance act is a remedial statute and will be liberally construed so that the beneficial purpose intended by its enactment by the General Assembly may be accomplished. 7 Am.Jur.2d, Automobile Insurance § 6. "In North Carolina today all insurance policies covering loss from liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle are, to the extent required by G.S. § 20-279.21, mandatory." Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Roberts, 261 N.C. 285, 134 S.E.2d 654. The specific question for decision is this: May Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, an automobile liability insurance carrier, providing coverage against bodily injury or death in accord with the mandatory requirements of G.S. § 20-279.21, after accepting a premium for such coverage, deny coverage on the ground that the insured has other similar insurance available to him? The State of Virginia has a statute substantially similar to our G.S. § 20-279.21. We summarize the facts in Bryant v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 205 Va. 897, 140 S.E.2d 817, from the statement of facts in the opinion as follows: Plaintiff while driving a Ford truck, belonging to his father, was negligently injured by an uninsured motor vehicle being driven by "W." He brought suit against the driver and owner of the vehicle, and recovered a judgment against them for $85,000. At the time of the accident, plaintiff was insured under the terms of a bodily injury liability insurance policy issued by State Farm to his father, which covered his car "and any other person while occupying the insured motor vehicle," and he was also the named insured in a bodily injury liability insurance policy issued to him by State Farm. Each policy had a limit of $10,000 for each person injured. State Farm acknowledged liability on its policy issued to his father and paid plaintiff $10,059 on his $85,000 judgment in settlement of all claims of plaintiff under his father's policy. Action was brought by plaintiff to recover on the policy issued to him by State Farm. State Farm, his insurer, denied liability, relying upon substantially the exact language of the "other insurance" clause which is involved in the present case. The lower court held for State Farm and the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia reversed, and granted to the plaintiff judgment against the defendant for $10,000 with interest. The Virginia Court stated in substance, except when quoted: That the "controlling instrument is the statute and that provisions in the insurance policy that conflict with the requirements of the statute, either by adding to or taking from its requirements, are void and ineffective." Section 38.1381(b), Code of Virginia (1964 Cum.Supp.), requires all automobile liability insurance policies issued in the State to include an endorsement undertaking "to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle." (Emphasis ours). The Virginia Court held that the "other insurance" clause, approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, was in derogation of the requirement of the statute and, therefore, of no effect. Defendant in its brief relies upon and quotes at length from the case of "United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. v. Sellers, 185 So. 2d 689 (Fla., 1965)." The citation is wrong. It should be 179 So. 2d 608. The decision in 179 So. 2d 608, from which the brief quotes extensively, was rendered by the District Court of Appeals of Florida, First District, on 4 November 1965. The Supreme Court of Florida on appeal reversed the judgment of the District Court of Appeals, First District, 179 So. 2d 608, in a decision rendered on 20 April 1966, rehearing denied 17 May 1966, and this case is reported under the name of Sellers v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., 185 So. 2d 689. The extensive quotation in defendant's brief from the opinion rendered by the District Court of Appeals of Florida does not appear in the opinion rendered in the same case by the Supreme Court of Florida. The Supreme Court of Florida, *132 after reviewing the Bryant case from Virginia, stated: The Court held, as correctly summarized in the following headnotes in the opinion reported in 185 So.2d 689: The Supreme Court of Florida further stated in its opinion: In very recent years the courts have frequently been confronted with situations where there are two or more automobile policies which provide coverage for the particular event. Many cases have arisen in the last few years involving conflicts between insurance policies, both of which purport to restrict or escape liability for a particular risk in the event that there is other insurance. The courts have rendered many decisions since the article on automobile insurance in 7 Am.Jur.2d was written, and the volume containing that article was published in 1963. The same is true in respect to the pertinent volume of Corpus Juris Secundum. The Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit, in LeBlanc v. Allstate Insurance Company, 194 So. 2d 791, in the majority opinion written by Judge Savoy, rendered 11 January 1967, rehearing denied 15 February 1967, has correctly analyzed many of these more recent decisions, many of which are cited and quoted from in defendant's brief. The facts in that case are these: On 27 October 1963, a vehicle owned and operated *133 by Pellerin collided with an automobile owned and operated by Deshotel. LeBlanc, the plaintiff, was a guest passenger in the Deshotel vehicle and was injured in the collision. The husband of the plaintiff in a companion case was also a passenger in the Deshotel automobile, and was killed as a result of the collision between the two vehicles. The Pellerin automobile was uninsured, and on the trial it was established that the negligence of its driver was the sole proximate cause of the accident. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company was the insurer of the Deshotel vehicle, and it deposited the sum of $10,000, the limit of liability under the uninsured motorist provision of the Deshotel policy, into court to be distributed among the three claimants. In the distribution, the widow of Joseph Courville received $5,000, plaintiff $3,000, and Deshotel $2,000. It was stipulated that the damages of plaintiff and Marie Courville were each in excess of $10,000. At the time of the collision plaintiff was insured by Allstate Insurance Company as a passenger in a non-owned automobile under the provisions of the family policy covering his own automobile. In like manner, Joseph Courville was an insured under a policy of public liability insurance on his family automobile, which policy was written by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. In the present suit and in the companion suit plaintiff and the widow of Joseph Courville are suing the insurers of their respective family automobiles under the uninsured motorist coverage in the policies issued to each passenger. The trial judge rendered judgment in favor of each plaintiff in the amount of $5,000, the policy limit for a single person under the uninsured motorist endorsement. The two insurance companies appealed claiming that the distribution of the $10,000 fund deposited in the court under the policy covering the automobile of Deshotel extinguished further liability under plaintiff's policy. The policies of both insurance companies appealing had a provision for other insurance substantially similar to the provision for other insurance in the instant case. In his opinion, Judge Savoy speaking for three members of the Court said: Judge Frugé dissented on the ground that the Florida Court in the Sellers case and the Virginia Court in the Bryant case, though they constituted a numerical minority, are correct. Judge Tate agreed with Judge Frugé's dissent. This is said in 7 Am.Jur.2d, Automobile Insurance, § 201 (1963): "As distinguished from a `pro rata' or proportionate recovery clause, some automobile policies, and especially automobile liability policies, provides that as to a particular coverage, it shall be `excess insurance' only. Under such a policy, and as to such a coverage, the insurance company issuing the policy is not liable for any part of the loss or damage which is covered by other insuranceit is liable only for the amount of loss or damage in excess of the coverage provided by the other policy or policies of insurance." We have read all the cases cited in the briefs of the parties, and many cases on the subject not cited in the briefs. It seems plain that the decisions are based on the particular language of the statutes in the various states in respect to compulsory automobile liability insurance, and the construction each state court puts on its statute. To analyze the statute of each state would be a herculean labor and would serve no useful purpose, for the reason that our decision must rest upon our own statute. "Where a statute is applicable to a policy of insurance, the provisions of the statute enter into and form a part of the policy to the same extent as if they were actually written in it. In case a provision of the policy conflicts with a provision of the statute favorable to the insured, the provision of the statute controls." Howell v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 237 N.C. 227, 74 S.E.2d 610. In the written stipulations of agreed facts this is stated: The answer to the precise question stated before in this opinion is, No. The answer to the question presented in Paragraph 12(a) in the written stipulations of agreed facts is, Yes. One of the written stipulations of agreed facts states in part: "The plaintiff's intestate at the time of her death was 45 years of age, was a housewife in good health. * * *" So far as the record before us shows the amount plaintiff is entitled to recover from Willie Tillman for the wrongful death of his intestate has not been determined. The trial judge concluded that under the agreed facts defendant's policy afforded no coverage, and that the plaintiff recover nothing of defendant. In this he committed prejudicial error. The judgment appealed from is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Superior Court of Montgomery County to the end that according to the stipulation of agreed fact "that if the Court finds that coverage is available under the policy issued by the defendant Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, that the Court may then hear evidence of and rule on the question of damages; and the parties do hereby waive their right to trial by jury." By this stipulation the defendant has waived any plea of the statute of limitations to the determination of damages. When the court determines the amount of damages which plaintiff is entitled to recover for the wrongful death of his wife by the sole proximate negligence of Willie Tillman, it will enter judgment that the plaintiff have and recover of defendant the unpaid part of the damages, if any, after deducting from such amount the sum of $3,333.33 that he has received from the Insurance Company of North America, within the limit of defendant's policy, to wit, $5,000.00. Reversed and Remanded with Directions.