Opinion ID: 1116146
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: did the trial court err in allowing a second class permissive user to stack uninsured motorist benefits under his employer's policy?

Text: This Court, in interpreting our UM statute, has recognized, as a general rule, that all classes of statutory insureds are allowed to stack uninsured motorist coverage. See Wickline v. U.S. Fidelity & Guar. Co., 530 So.2d 708, 715 (Miss. 1988). As there are no statutory distinctions between the various types of auto policies in our UM statute, this Court refuses to distinguish them jurisprudentially. Travelers contends that Class II insureds should not be allowed to stack in situations involving policies covering large commercial fleets. To this end, Travelers argues that the trial court erred in allowing Linda to stack coverage (21 vehicles X $10,000.00/vehicle) because the instant case involves a commercial fleet policy. For precedential authority, Travelers cites a number of cases from other jurisdictions which have refused to allow Class II insureds to stack commercial fleet policies. [I]n dealing with the question of whether a claimant-employee should be permitted to stack the coverages provided under a commercial fleet policy insuring several vehicles for which separate premiums were paid, the courts are virtually unanimous [in refusing to allow stacking]. Howell v. Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co., 305 Md. 435, 439, 505 A.2d 109, 111 (1986). A review of other jurisdictions seems to confirm this view. See Aetna Cas. and Sur. Co. v. Craig, 771 P.2d 212 (Okla. 1989), (Employees, as Class II insureds, are only entitled to the coverage afforded by the particular vehicle occupied when injured and could not stack coverage for all vehicles covered in a fleet insurance policy); Stanton v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co., 747 P.2d 945 (Okla. 1987), (Class II insured could not stack uninsured motorist coverage for all of employer's 379 vehicles insured under employer's fleet policy but was entitled to coverage provided for the vehicle he was driving at the time of the accident); Howell v. Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co., 305 Md. 435, 505 A.2d 109 (1986), (Class II insured was not entitled to stack commercial fleet policy which insured 19 vehicles.); Murphy v. Milbank Mut. Ins. Co., 388 N.W.2d 732 (Minn. 1986) (Class II insured, a corporate employee, could not stack under fleet policy covering employer's 2,000 vehicles. One must be an insured of all vehicles in order to stack coverage. Since employee was insured only by virtue of his occupancy in one vehicle, he was only insured as to that vehicle); Fuqua v. Travelers Insurance Company, 734 F.2d 616 (11th Cir.1984), (Automobile dealer's employee, a Class II insured, was not allowed to stack uninsured motorist coverage of 27 dealer plate automobiles which were insured under the same commercial fleet policy); Burke v. Aid Ins. Co., 487 F. Supp. 831 (D.C.Kan. 1980), (Class II insureds were not allowed to stack commercial fleet policy which insured 44 vehicles); Ohio Casualty Ins. Co. v. Stanfield, 581 S.W.2d 555 (Ky. 1979), (Class II insured was precluded from stacking uninsured motorist coverage under his employer's automobile fleet policy which covered 63 vehicles); Holloway v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 376 So.2d 690 (Ala. 1979), (Uninsured motorist coverage for employer's entire fleet of vehicles was not available to Class II insured, who was also the son of the corporation's principle stockholder, who was killed while driving one of the corporation's cars); Lambert v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 331 So.2d 260 (Ala. 1976), (Insured who was insured by virtue of his occupancy of employer's vehicle under a fleet policy issued to his employer was not entitled to stack employer's 1,699 vehicles which were insured under same policy); Cunningham v. Insurance Co. of North America, 213 Va. 72, 189 S.E.2d 832 (1972), (Class II insured could not stack 4,368 state owned vehicles covered under a single fleet policy). See 25 ALR 4th 896; Appleman, Insurance Law and Practice §§ 5101, 5106 (1981). As we recognized in Cossitt v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 551 So.2d 879, 884 (Miss. 1989), the rationale most commonly cited by the majority of jurisdictions which preclude Class II insureds from stacking under commercial fleet policies compares the potential for high exposure to the premium actually paid. According to Travelers, extending stacking to commercial fleet policies has the potential to produce absurd results. Travelers urges this Court to align with these other jurisdictions and refuse to allow a Class II insured to stack under an employer's commercial fleet policy. In reviewing these other jurisdictions, we note that their UM statutes are different from our own. While we are impressed by the volume of authority and respect their opinions, we are not persuaded to follow them. In making this determination, we have considered the following: 1. We are guided by our uninsured motorist statute, not the jurisprudence of foreign jurisdictions; 2. Throughout our jurisprudence and in the liberal rules of construction which we have compiled in interpreting our UM statute, we have consistently recognized and allowed a Class II insured to stack uninsured motorist coverage; 3. Most importantly, our legislature has not seen fit to distinguish a commercial fleet policy from any other auto policy. Stacking is a vital cog in our UM scheme. The legislature has not statutorily overruled our stacking decisions; therefore, we assume that stacking is not repugnant to Mississippi public policy.