Opinion ID: 1677447
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Scope of Underinsurance Coverage.

Text: Iowa Code chapter 516A provides mandatory protection against uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run motorists. We first consider whether the statute requires an insurer to offer insurance protection to an insured person who, as a pedestrian, is injured when struck by an uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle. The language of chapter 516A makes it clear that the statute was intended to protect persons insured under a liability policy. Protection extends to persons who are legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured ... or an underinsured motor vehicle because of bodily injury ... including death resulting therefrom, caused by accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of such uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle .... Iowa Code § 516A.1 (1989). We have construed this section so that uninsured and underinsured coverages are complementary. American States Ins. Co. v. Estate of Tollari, 362 N.W.2d 519, 522 (Iowa 1985). They protect against essentially one peril: loss caused by a tortfeasor who is not financially responsible. Id. To provide protection against this peril, the coverage must be personal and portable. See Bradley v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., 409 Mich. 1, 294 N.W.2d 141, 152 (1980) (Insureds are protected when injured in an owned vehicle named in the policy, in an owned vehicle not named in the policy, in an unowned vehicle, on a motorcycle, on a bicycle, whether afoot or on horseback or even on a pogo stick.). Uninsured and underinsured coverage protects and follows the person, not the vehicle. Although we have not directly addressed the applicability of chapter 516A to pedestrians, we find ample support for this conclusion. In Westerhausen v. Allied Mutual Insurance Co., 258 Iowa 969, 971-72, 140 N.W.2d 719, 721 (1966), we recognized [t]he parties seem to agree that, had the insured been struck by the [uninsured] vehicle while walking or riding a bicycle, he would have been covered under [the uninsured motorist provision]  The Minnesota Supreme Court, citing Westerhausen, concluded an insured was covered as a pedestrian under the uninsured motorist provisions because uninsured motorist protection is not coverage for vehicles but for persons . ... Northland Ins. Co. v. West, 294 Minn. 368, 201 N.W.2d 133, 135 (1972); see also Niemann v. Badger Mut. Ins. Co., 143 Wis.2d 73, 420 N.W.2d 378, 381 (Wis.App.1988) (once uninsured motorist coverage is purchased, those insured for liability purposes have uninsured motorist protection under all circumstances); 1 Alan I. Widiss, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance § 4.2, at 60-61 (2d ed. 1992) [hereinafter Widiss] (Persons who are either named insureds or family members who reside with named insureds are afforded relatively comprehensive protection under the uninsured motorist coverage. As insureds they are protected when they are operating or are passengers in a motor vehicle, as well as when they are engaged in any other activity such as walking, riding a bicycle, driving a hay wagon, or even sitting on a front porch.). Owners' policy provides we will pay bodily injury damages which you are legally entitled to recover from the owner or driver of any uninsured motor vehicle. Under the underinsured motorist endorsement, Owners agrees: Uninsured Motorist Coverage is extended to bodily injury arising out of the: 1. ownership; 2. maintenance; 3. operation; or 4. use; of a motor vehicle or motorcycle to which a bodily injury liability policy applies at the time of the accident but which provides limits of liability insufficient to satisfy damages the person is legally entitled to recover . . . All other terms and conditions which apply to Uninsured Motorist Coverage also apply to this coverage. Thus, under both section 516A.1 and under the terms of Owners' policy, an insured has underinsured protection as a pedestrian.