Opinion ID: 1881336
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fire Department Policies

Text: Mr. Hisaw further contends that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of State Farm on the three Fire Department policies. He argues on appeal that the Fire Department should be treated by this court as an unincorporated association and cites this court to Baskins v. United Mine Workers of America, 150 Ark. 398, 234 S.W. 464 (1921), and Lewelling v. Mfg. Wood-Workers Underwriters', 140 Ark. 124, 215 S.W. 258 (1919), for the proposition that unincorporated associations are legally only the sum of their members. Mr. Hisaw also submits that the underinsured motorist coverage for the Fire Department was purchased from State Farm for the sole purpose of benefitting injured firefighters who were injured by impecunious tortfeasors. Nothing in the policies, he argues, indicates otherwise. Mr. Hisaw also makes much of the fact that the actual declaration pages, which list insured drivers, are not in the record, having been replaced with affidavits from State Farm record-keepers who aver to the contents of the missing pages. He does not argue, however, that this might be a disputed issue of material fact or a basis for reversal. Rather, he urges that the State Farm affidavits are self-serving and conclusory and entitled to no evidentiary weight by this court. State Farm responds with two procedural-bar arguments. First, it contends that Mr. Hisaw cannot rely on his unincorporated association theory at this level, because he never made that argument to the circuit court. Secondly, State Farm asserts that Mr. Hisaw never objected to the contents of the declarations pages during the summary-judgment hearing; nor did he object to the use of the State Farm affidavits. Furthermore, State Farm emphasizes that the plain language of the underinsured motorist policies dictates that the person who is to be covered must be listed on the declaration page. We agree with State Farm that Mr. Hisaw is procedurally barred on this point for two reasons. It is boilerplate law that this court will not consider arguments made for the first time on appeal. See e.g., Raley v. Wagner, 346 Ark. 234, 241 n. 1, 57 S.W.3d 683, 687 n. 1 (2001); Barclay v. First Paris Holding Co., 344 Ark. 711, 724, 42 S.W.3d 496, 503 (2001). Mr. Hisaw never contended to the circuit court that the Fire Department was an unincorporated association. Rather, he urged before that court that all of the firefighters in the Fire Department were covered because that was the purpose of the coverage. In addition, Mr. Hisaw did not complain about State Farm's use of affidavits to prove the contents of the declaration pages to the circuit court, and, accordingly, he is foreclosed from doing so now before this court. The circuit court found: Based on the undisputed facts and the Inspiration Point policy language, Mr. Glenn Hisaw was neither a named insured nor an insured under the terms of the policies based on the facts of this case.... Mr. Hisaw offered no proof to contradict this finding. We affirm the circuit court.