Opinion ID: 2622648
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Heading: introduction

Text: In this appeal we review the court of appeals' holding that it is permissible for an automobile insurance policy to exclude a person occupying a vehicle that is not a car from both personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage. DeHerrera v. Sentry Insurance Co., 992 P.2d 629 (Colo.App. 1999). We hold that excluding relatives of the named insured from personal injury protection coverage and uninsured motorist coverage based on their occupancy in a particular vehicle violates the mandates of Colorado statutes and contravenes public policy. The plaintiff, Elizabeth DeHerrera, is the named insured of an automobile policy carried by Sentry Insurance Company, the respondent. DeHerrera's son was injured in an accident with a pickup truck while riding his off-road motorcycle. DeHerrera sued Sentry seeking personal injury protection and underinsured motorist coverage because the owner of the pickup possessed a limited amount of liability insurance. Sentry denied coverage, claiming that the policy excludes from coverage persons occupying a vehicle that is not a car. Thus, applying the policy definition of car, a four-wheeled motor vehicle, Sentry claimed that this condition excluded DeHerrera's son from coverage because he was riding a motorcycle, and thus not occupying a car, when injured. In the trial court, DeHerrera sought a declaratory judgment construing Sentry's policy to permit her to recover personal injury protection (PIP) and underinsured motorist coverage (UM), a derivative of uninsured motorist coverage (UIM) (collectively UM/UIM). Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court awarded summary judgment in favor of Sentry and DeHerrera appealed. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that the insurance contract unambiguously denies both PIP coverage and UM/UIM coverage to an insured who is neither a pedestrian nor an occupant of a car. Thus, applying the definition section of the policy, the court of appeals held that because DeHerrera's son was riding a motorcycle at the time of injury (and thus not an occupant of a car ), DeHerrera is not entitled to PIP or UM/UIM coverage. DeHerrera, 992 P.2d at 633-34. Further, that court relied on Colorado case law to hold that the pertinent Colorado statutes do not require PIP or UM/UIM coverage for a person riding a motorcycle at the time of injury. Id. Hence, the court of appeals affirmed the award of summary judgment in favor of Sentry. Id. at 635. DeHerrera appealed. We granted certiorari to determine her eligibility for PIP and UM/UIM coverage. We hold that a policy provision restricting PIP coverage for relatives of named insureds to persons occupying a car at the time of injury places an impermissible restriction on the mandatory PIP coverage required by statute. Section 10-4-707(1)(a) of the Colorado Auto Accident Reparations Act unambiguously requires PIP coverage to apply to a relative of a named insured when injured in an accident involving any motor vehicle (emphasis added) irrespective of the type of vehicle driven at the time of injury. Likewise, we hold that the language and purpose of the UM/UIM statute require an insurer to provide UM/UIM benefits to a person insured under the policy when injured in an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured motorist without regard to the vehicle occupied by the insured at the time of injury. Thus, we do not reach the issue of whether the Sentry policy unambiguously conditions PIP or UM/UIM coverage to a person occupying a car at the time of injury because, irrespective of the provisions of the policy, our statutes mandate coverage in this case. Hence, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand this case to the court of appeals to return the case to the trial court with directions to grant DeHerrera's motion for summary judgment on her claims for PIP and UM/UIM coverage.