Opinion ID: 1875795
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: contractual damage award against employers mutual

Text: Employers Mutual contends the contractual damage award (the jury verdict denotes this as actual damages) is excessive. As observed the jury returned a verdict for $500.00 in actual damages against Trina Smith. Employers Mutual contends this is the sum Tompkins is legally entitled to recover from the uninsured motorist and therefore the verdict of $50,000.00 is excessive as to it. Under the provisions of Miss. Code Ann., § 83-11-101 (Supp. 1985), we find, (1) No automobile liability insurance policy or contract shall be issued or delivered after January 1, 1967, unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages for bodily injury or death from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits which shall be no less than those set forth in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law ... (Emphasis added.) Tompkins' uninsured motorists policy states, We will pay damages which a covered person is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle ... Moreover, by Mississippi Code Annotated, § 83-11-107 (1972), the insurer is subrogated to the rights of the insured against the person causing such injury to the extent that payment has been made. We therefore think it anomalous that an award of $50,000.00 carries with it subrogation rights of only $500.00. From these statutes and the policy provisions, it is our opinion an award of contractual damages in excess of the verdict against the uninsured motorist is both unauthorized and excessive. The language of the policy quoted above being in clear and unambiguous language, no citation of authority is needed that the award of $50,000.00 is excessive by $49,500.00. The verdict of $50,000.00 is therefore reduced to $500.00.