Opinion ID: 741876
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Does the UM Act Provide Broader Protection than the Atlanta Speciality Policy?

Text: 46 Both the district court and the Boatners rely on language from the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision in Lowery, 285 So.2d 767, which states that 47 Whenever bodily injury is inflicted upon [a] named insured or insured members of his family by the negligence of an uninsured motorist under whatever conditions, locations, or circumstances, any of such insureds happen to be in at the time, they are covered by uninsured motorist liability insurance .... 48 Id. at 773 (quoting Mullis v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 252 So.2d 229, 233 (Fla.1971)). From this statement, the district court and the Boatners conclude that the UM Act provides for worldwide uninsured motorist coverage and that therefore Atlanta Speciality's territorial restriction is void because it provides less protection than that contemplated by the UM Act. 12 We cannot agree. 49 To begin with, we hesitate to hold that this language is a permanent fixture of Mississippi uninsured motorist law because the language (1) comes from an out-of-state court's interpretation of its own uninsured motorist statute and (2) was quoted, for illustrative purposes, in a series of quoted passages from other jurisdictions. Nonetheless, even if we assume that this language is a correct statement of Mississippi law, we do not subscribe to the district court's or the Boatners' interpretation of that language. We agree with Atlanta Speciality that the Lowery court was not speaking of worldwide uninsured motorist coverage; rather, the court was suggesting--as the plain language of the Lowery opinion states--that covered insureds  'may be pedestrians at the time of ... injury, they may be riding in motor vehicles of others or in public conveyances and they may occupy motor vehicles (including Honda motorcycles) owned by but which are not insured automobiles of [the] named insured.'  Lowery, 285 So.2d at 773 (quoting Mullis, 252 So.2d at 233). 50