Opinion ID: 1957121
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Attorney General opinion

Text: ¶ 19. Commissioner Dale reversed his initial decision based on an Attorney General opinion which determined Mississippi law does not provide that punitive damages can be excluded from insurance policies for automobile liability claims. Dale, Oct. 5, 2001, Miss. A.G. Op. # 01-0660, 2001 WL 1513775. The Attorney General based his opinion on State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Daughdrill, 474 So.2d 1048 (Miss.1985). ¶ 20. Even though Attorney General opinions are not binding, they are certainly useful in providing guidance to this Court. In re Assessment of Ad Valorem Taxes on Leasehold Interest Held by Reed Mfg., Inc. ex rel. Itawamba County Bd. of Sup'rs, 854 So.2d 1066, 1071 (Miss. 2003) (citing City of Durant v. Laws Constr. Co., 721 So.2d 598, 604 (Miss. 1998)). ¶ 21. We find that, although the Attorney General correctly interpreted the Daughdrill decision, he incorrectly applied its holding to the issue presented to him. In Daughdrill, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit certified to this Court the question of whether Mississippi law mandated punitive damage coverage for uninsured motorists policies. Answering in the negative, this Court carefully limited its decision to uninsured motorists policies by concluding: We hasten to state that the issue determined today has no relation to a charge of bad faith refusal to pay such a claim by the insurer or to a claim for punitive damages under liability coverage other than that of an uninsured motorist. We address the narrow issues presented. Daughdrill, 474 So.2d at 1054. In answering the certified question, this Court analyzed statutory and case law for uninsured motorists and the public policy behind punitive damages. The Daughdrill Court distinguished Anthony, insofar as it held that public policy does not prevent an insurance company's liability for punitive damages for acts of its insured. The determination by the Anthony Court that the statute does not prevent punitive damages is far different from a determination that the statute requires coverage for punitive damages. ¶ 22. We hold that the Attorney General erroneously interpreted this Court's opinion in Daughdrill as an indication that this Court would hold that punitive damages are required by statutory law. However, the Daughdrill decision, by its very specific language, addressed only the narrow question presented to it.