Opinion ID: 1060165
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Lexie Incident

Text: In November 1991, Patricia Dian Bigby Lexie was fatally injured in the District of Columbia in an unprovoked shooting by an occupant of an uninsured motor vehicle. At the time, she was a passenger in a vehicle operated on Interstate 295 by her husband, Freddie B. Lexie, Jr., who was also injured in the incident. The Lexies resided in the City of Alexandria; Mrs. Lexie maintained a separate residence in North Carolina. The vehicle operated by Lexie was insured by an automobile liability policy containing uninsured motorist coverage issued in Virginia by appellee State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. At the time of the incident, another automobile liability policy with uninsured motorist coverage issued in North Carolina by appellee Liberty Mutual Insurance Company to Mrs. Lexie was in effect. As pertinent to the issue to be decided in these appeals, the respective policies obligated the insurer to pay all sums the insured was legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the uninsured motor vehicle. Subsequently, appellant Lexie, individually and as executor of his wife's estate (collectively, Lexie), made demand upon the insurers for payment of benefits under the respective policies. He also filed an action for damages in federal court against the owner and operator of the vehicle in which the gunman was riding. Later, the insurers separately filed the present actions seeking declaratory judgments that Lexie is not entitled to coverage under the respective policies. The parties agreed there were no material facts in dispute, and the insurers sought pre-trial summary judgment. The trial court, upon consideration of the pleadings and argument of counsel, ruled in favor of State Farm, applying Virginia law, and ruled in favor of Liberty Mutual, applying North Carolina law. Lexie appeals the November 1994 State Farm judgment individually and as executor. He appeals the December 1994 Liberty Mutual judgment in his representative capacity only. This dichotomy is irrelevant, however, because of the dispositive issue in the appeals.