Opinion ID: 1190369
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Wyoming Uninsured Motorist Act.

Text: An accurate understanding of the scope and intent of Wyoming's Uninsured Motorist Act (WUMA) is best garnered by briefly reviewing its relationship to Wyoming's Motor Vehicle Safety-Responsibility Act (WMVSRA), Wyo.Stat. §§ 31-9-101 to -414 (1989). WMVSRA, in a nutshell, provides that each person involved in a motor vehicle accident must submit proof of financial responsibility [2] to the Department of Transportation within thirty days of the Department's receipt of the accident report. Wyo.Stat. § 31-9-103 (Supp.1992) and Wyo.Stat. § 31-9-202 (1989). Failure to submit proof of financial responsibility within the requisite time period results in suspension of both driving privileges and vehicle registration. Wyo.Stat. § 31-9-202 (1989). While proof of financial responsibility may be demonstrated in various ways, the thrust of WMVSRA is to encourage motorists to procure and maintain automobile liability insurance so that victims of motor vehicle accidents will have a reliable source from which to seek compensation for their injuries. See generally, Wyo.Stat. §§ 31-9-101 to -414 (1989 & Supp.1992). The legislature, cognizant of the fact that not all motorists would carry liability insurance, passed WUMA as a necessary companion to WMVSRA. WUMA § 31-10-101 furthers the legislature's compensatory objective by requiring insurance carriers to offer UM coverage with every liability policy issued in Wyoming, unless such coverage is specifically rejected by the insured. [3] If UM coverage is purchased, the net effect is to place a person injured by an uninsured motor vehicle in essentially the same position that he would have been in had the uninsured motorist carried liability insurance as prescribed by WMVSRA. Glenn E. Smith, The Wyoming Uninsured Motorist Act: A Regulatory Reconciliation of Mandated Coverages with the Standard Uninsured Motorist Endorsement, 11 Land & Water L.Rev. 213, 215 (1976). Specifically addressing § 31-10-101, this court has stated: [T]he purpose of uninsured-motorists insurance coverage is to provide to innocent automobile accident victims an opportunity to procure a means of insulating themselves from damages incurred as a result of unfortunate and far too frequently occurring automobile collisions with uninsured motorists. Stamper, 732 P.2d at 537 (emphasis in original). Applying the plain and ordinary meaning to the terms motor vehicle accident, automobile accident, and automobile collisions, we perceive no legislative intent which would require insurance carriers to be answerable under the UM coverage mandated by statute for injuries sustained from instrumentalities other than motorized vehicles, i.e., for injuries inflicted by gun, knife, club, fist, etc. during an intentional criminal assault. See Cerullo v. Allstate Ins. Co., 236 N.J.Super. 372, 565 A.2d 1125, 1127-28 (1989) (interpreting legislative intent underlying New Jersey UM statute). Consequently, we proceed to the second stage of our analysis.