Opinion ID: 1896549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Virginia McCray

Text: On September 16, 2000, Stacy McCray was driving a 1986 Chrysler Fifth Avenue owned by his wife, Virginia McCray, on Interstate 10 in Jefferson Parish when the vehicle he was driving was struck from behind by a vehicle being driven by Geno Jenkins. Virginia McCray was a guest passenger in the Chrysler Fifth Avenue. The vehicle being driven by Geno Jenkins was owned by Maurice Jenkins and insured by a policy of motor vehicle liability insurance issued by Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate). The vehicle owned by Virginia McCray was insured by Young American Insurance Company (YAIC). The McCray policy expressly excluded Stacy McCray from all coverage provided by the policy. On May 31, 2001, Virginia McCray (plaintiff) filed a petition for damages against Geno Jenkins, Maurice Jenkins, and Allstate (defendants), alleging that Geno Jenkins's negligence was the cause of the accident and that she suffered bodily injury, loss of earnings, and property damage as a result of the accident. Plaintiff further alleged that the negligence of Geno Jenkins could be imputed to Maurice Jenkins as he entrusted a dangerous instrumentality to the care and control of an individual who he knew or should have known to be a careless and reckless driver. In answer to plaintiff's petition, defendants denied the allegations contained in the petition and asserted the applicability of the no pay, no play statute. Subsequently, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment seeking judgment as a matter of law that La. R.S. 32:866 applies to prohibit plaintiff from recovering the first $10,000 of her claim. Defendants contended that because the driver of plaintiff's vehicle was excluded from coverage under her policy, there was no insurance coverage in full force and effect on plaintiff's vehicle. Consequently, defendants argued, plaintiff is barred from recovering a portion of her damages pursuant to the no pay, no play statute. Plaintiff opposed the motion, arguing that although her husband is precluded from recovering his damages, she is entitled to full redress for her damages because her vehicle was insured as required by law. After a hearing on the matter, the district court denied defendants' motion for summary judgment, stating that because plaintiff had insurance on the vehicle, she had complied with the law. The matter was tried on December 3, 2002. In lieu of live testimony, the parties submitted to the district court a joint stipulation of facts and a number of exhibits. Included in the stipulation were the facts that Geno Jenkins was solely at fault for the accident, that the written agreement providing for the exclusion of Stacy McCray was in full force and effect on the date of the accident, that the agreement excluded any insurance coverage under the YAIC policy to Stacy McCray for use or operation of the Chrysler Fifth Avenue involved in the accident, that Stacy McCray's driver's license had been suspended since 1991, and that plaintiff had given her husband permission to operate the vehicle on the date of the accident. Certain items of damage were included in the stipulation. On December 23, 2002, the district court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff for a total amount of $14,890.65, together with interest and costs, finding that the no pay, no play statute does not apply in this case. On appeal, a five-judge panel of the court of appeal reversed the district court's ruling that La. R.S. 32:866 is inapplicable to this case. In reaching its decision, the court of appeal rejected the reasoning of the A.K. Durnin court, choosing instead to follow the court of appeal's holding in Lantier v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 02-0301 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/2/02), 827 So.2d 597, writ denied, 02-2628 (La.12/13/02), 831 So.2d 991. The court of appeal found that the no pay, no play statute applies to this case because plaintiff did not have liability coverage for her vehicle when she allowed Stacy McCray to drive it. The court of appeal noted that the purpose of the no pay, no play law is to discourage the operation of uninsured vehicles and that while La. R.S. 32:900(L) permits an insurer and an insured to specifically exclude the named insured's spouse from coverage, the statute does not permit the insured to allow an excluded spouse to operate the vehicle. The court of appeal therefore found that La. R.S. 32:866 applies, reversed the judgment of the district court on this issue, and amended plaintiff's award accordingly. In two separate writ applications, Williams and USAA and Virginia McCray sought review of the judgments of the courts of appeal described above. This court granted certiorari and consolidated the matters. Bryant v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 03-3491 (La.3/19/04), 869 So.2d 834 and McCray v. Jenkins, 04-0028 (La.3/19/04), 869 So.2d 835. We granted certiorari primarily to resolve a split among the circuit courts of appeal on the narrow issue of whether La. R.S. 32:866 applies to bar a specified portion of a named insured's recovery when an excluded driver is involved in an accident while driving the named insured's vehicle.