Court Opinion

ID: 9616457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:47:02.920508+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:44:35.402622
License: Public Domain

Judge Phillips
dissenting.
I believe that this case is controlled by Sutton v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 325 N.C. 259, 382 S.E.2d 759, reh’g denied, 325 N.C. 437, 384 S.E.2d 546 (1989), and that under it the underinsured motorist coverages of both policies are available to the plaintiff. Even if the “household-owned vehicle” exclusion provision of the policy in Driscoll v. United States Liability Insurance Co., 90 N.C. App. 569, 369 S.E.2d 110, disc. rev. denied, 323 N.C. 364, 373 S.E.2d 544 (1988) was properly enforced, which it apparently was not in view of Sutton, the policies here contain no such exclusion and one should not be written therein by us. As in Sutton, the two underinsured motorist coverages in this case were paid for by plaintiff and in keeping with Sutton, as well as ordinary business practice, he is entitled to receive what he paid for. Both coverages would certainly be available to plaintiff, as the majority concedes, if the daughter had been riding in a neighbor’s car. That she was riding in an insured family car is no proper basis, in my opinion, for holding that only one coverage applies.