Opinion ID: 2635588
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The district court erred when it relied upon Peterson and Baker in granting American Family's motion for summary judgment

Text: Because the district court in this case relied on Peterson and Baker in granting summary judgment, the Delgados assert error, arguing that their case is factually distinguishable from Peterson and Baker. Specifically, the Delgados maintain that unlike the Peterson and Baker cases, which involved single automobiles and the vehicles' respective insurance policies, their case involves the concurrent negligence of two drivers, with separate insurance policies, both of which were insufficient according to Dionicia. In response, American Family asserts that the Delgados' argument is meritless because it is identical to the insured's argument rejected by this court in Peterson and reaffirmed in Baker. As a result, American Family argues, because the Delgados are seeking to stack the underinsured motorist benefits on top of the liability benefits to increase the total available liability coverage for the loss caused by Marcelino, their recovery should be barred. We disagree. In both Peterson and Baker, we based our decisions, in part, on the following pertinent language in NRS 687B.145(2): Uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage must include a provision which enables the insured to recover up to the limits of his own coverage any amount of damages for bodily injury from his insurer which he is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of the other vehicle. Peterson, 100 Nev. at 475, 686 P.2d at 240; Baker, 107 Nev. at 27, 805 P.2d at 600. This court interpreted that language to require the tortious involvement of a party and vehicle other than the insured and the insured's vehicle. Peterson, 100 Nev. at 476, 686 P.2d at 240; see also Baker 107 Nev. at 27, 805 P.2d at 600. We reasoned that allowing a passenger to recover under the permissive driver's liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist policies based solely on the permissive driver's negligence would impermissibly increase the liability limit for the owner/insured. Peterson, 100 Nev. at 476, 686 P.2d at 240; Baker, 107 Nev. at 27, 805 P.2d at 600. While we determined in Peterson and Baker that a passenger may not recover under both coverages of a permissive driver's single insurance policy based on the permissive driver's negligence, we did not consider whether a guest passenger, whose injuries are attributed to jointly negligent drivers, may recover liability benefits under the permissive driver's policy based on the permissive driver's negligence, in addition to recovering underinsured motorist benefits under the same policy for damages caused by the other driver, who is underinsured. Although American Family argues that Peterson and Baker are authoritative on this matter, we disagree. [6] Neither Peterson nor Baker precludes recovery of underinsured benefits under the facts presented in this case. The passenger-claimants in Peterson and Baker did not properly allege that the vehicle involved in the accident was uninsured or underinsured. Rather, both passengers alleged that although both vehicles were insured, vehicles under their respective policies, the vehicle in which they were riding was the uninsured or underinsured vehicle, not the other vehicle involved in the accident. Moreover, both claims were based on the negligence of the permissive driver, not a third-party tortfeasor. Peterson, 100 Nev. at 475, 686 P.2d at 239; Baker, 107 Nev. at 27, 805 P.2d at 600. Recovery under those circumstances would have amounted to impermissible stacking of the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on top of the liability coverage. Contrary to the facts presented in Peterson and Baker, in this case, Dionicia made her underinsured motorist claim based on Dean's concurrent negligence and the Dean vehicle being underinsured. The Delgados are not asserting that Marcelino's vehicle qualifies as an underinsured vehicle. This difference is substantial because the stacking prohibition set forth in Peterson and Baker is not implicated in this situation.