Opinion ID: 1652872
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: UM Coverage under the Lafayette Policy

Text: Plaintiffs and intervenors also claim the Lafayette policy provided UM coverage for the passengers in the Brown automobile, namely, Ms. Fannaly, Ms. Thibodeaux, and Ms. Mosley. Plaintiffs and intervenors again focus merely on the insuring agreement, arguing the Lafayette policy provided UM coverage for the passengers in the Brown automobile because they suffered `bodily injury' arising out of the use of a `non-owned auto' driven by a person other than the policyholder in the course of the policyholder's business. Under Louisiana's UM statute, LSA-R.S. 22:1406, automobile liability insurance which is delivered or issued for delivery in Louisiana and covers liability arising out of ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle registered in Louisiana and designed for use on public highways must provide UM coverage equal to the liability limits provided for bodily injury, unless UM coverage is validly rejected or lower UM limits are selected. Id. at 195; Jones v. Henry, 542 So.2d 507, 508 (La.1989). Thus, because the Lafayette policy neither contained a waiver of UM coverage nor selection of lower UM limits, the policy provided UM coverage equal to the liability limits provided for bodily injury. However, this consequence is of no avail to plaintiffs and intervenors because the passengers in the Brown automobile do not qualify as insureds under the provisions of the Lafayette policy for non-owned auto liability. [I]t is well-settled that a person who does not qualify as a liability insured under a policy of insurance is not entitled to UM coverage under the policy. See Magnon, 739 So.2d at 196 (collecting cases). In other words, a plaintiff must be an `insured' under auto liability coverage to be entitled to UM coverage. Id. at 196. For the passengers in the Brown automobile to be insureds under the provisions of the policy for non-owned auto liability, the passengers would need to be partners or executive officers of Tucker. As noted above, the district court found, and plaintiffs and intervenors concede, the occupants of the Brown automobile, including passengers Ms. Fannaly, Ms. Thibodeaux, and Ms. Mosley, were independent contractors for Tucker. Thus, like Mr. Brown, the passengers in the Brown automobile are also not insureds under the provisions of the policy for non-owned auto liability. Consequently, the Lafayette policy does not provide UM coverage for the passengers in the Brown automobile.