Opinion ID: 1896549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Marolyn W. Bryant

Text: On October 26, 2002, Justin Bryant was driving a 1990 Ford Mustang owned by his mother, Marolyn Bryant, on Highway 167 in Jonesboro, Louisiana, when Robertnique Williams ran a red light and collided with his vehicle. At the time of the accident, Williams was covered by an automobile liability insurance policy issued by United Services Automobile Association (USAA). The Mustang owned by Marolyn Bryant was insured by Direct General Insurance Company (DGIC). The Bryant policy expressly excluded seventeen-year-old Justin, who was a resident of Marolyn Bryant's household, from coverage. On January 10, 2003, Marolyn Bryant (plaintiff) filed a petition for damages against Williams and USAA (defendants), alleging that Williams's negligence was the sole and legal cause of the accident and that she suffered property damage as a result of the accident. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that her automobile was rendered a total loss and that she was therefore entitled to recover $5,000, or the value of her vehicle, together with damages for loss of use of the vehicle from defendants. In answer to plaintiff's petition, defendants denied the allegations contained in the petition and asserted the provisions of La. R.S. 32:866, the no pay, no play statute, as an affirmative defense. Defendants contended that the statute applied to bar plaintiff's recovery because plaintiff's son was uninsured due to the fact that he was an excluded driver under plaintiff's policy at the time of the accident. Plaintiff then filed a Motion for Summary Judgement on Insurance Coverage seeking a judgment as a matter of law that defendants could not deny coverage on the basis of La. R.S. 32:866. Plaintiff argued that the statute, which seeks to punish an owner or operator who fails to maintain compulsory motor vehicle liability security, did not apply because she did, in fact, maintain automobile liability coverage in compliance with the compulsory motor vehicle liability security law. Attached to plaintiff's motion was her affidavit and a certified copy of the insurance policy containing the named driver exclusion. Defendants opposed the motion, contending that the no pay, no play law applies to situations in which an excluded driver was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. The district court granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, holding that defendants could not deny coverage on the basis of La. R.S. 32:866. In its written reasons for judgment, the district court, relying on the case of A.K. Durnin Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. v. Jones, 01-0810 (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/10/02), 818 So.2d 867, explained that plaintiff would not be excluded from collecting on her insurance policy because this was not an `uninsured' vehicle for the purposes of L[a]. Revised Statutes 32:866.... After expressly determining there was no just reason for delay in accordance with La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B)(1), [1] the district court designated the judgment as final. On appeal, the court of appeal affirmed the judgment of the district court. Bryant v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 37,926 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/10/03), 862 So.2d 446. The court of appeal found that La. R.S. 32:866 clearly and unambiguously bars owners from recovering the first $10,000 of property damage if they failed to own or maintain compulsory motor vehicle liability security. The court noted, however, that there is a split among various courts of appeal regarding whether the no pay, no play law applies to bar an insured owner from recovering his or her own damages when an excluded driver is operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Citing A.K. Durnin, supra, the court concluded that because La. R.S. 32:900 specifically allows an insured to exclude a child who is a resident of the same household, the fact that plaintiff specifically excluded her son from coverage under her policy did not alter her compliance with the compulsory motor vehicle liability security law. Therefore, the court of appeal concluded, because plaintiff had an automobile insurance policy on the vehicle at the time of the accident, she is entitled to recover property damages without any deduction under the no pay, no play law.