Court Opinion

ID: 9648474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:22:34.44252+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:01.558940
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The majority opinion leaves the trial courts out on a limb. It seems that no matter which way a trial court rules the appellate court is going to reverse. This rule obviously applies only in insurance coverage cases. In the present case the majority makes a hairline distinction which I cannot perceive. I believe M.F.A. Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wallace, 245 Ark. 230, 431 S.W.2d 742 (1968) is sound and logical as well as legally correct. Certainly the spirit of the uninsured motorist protection statute, Ark. Stat. Ann. § 66-4003 (Repl. 1980) is to provide minimum protection at a reasonable cost to the residents of Arkansas. M.F.A. issued its policy to Wallace and included the phrase, “. . . the total limit of the company’s liability under all such policies shall not exceed the highest applicable limit of liability or benefit amount under any one policy.” The Farm Bureau policy here in question contained the other insurance clause which in part states: “. . . and the Company shall not be liable for a greater proportion of any loss to which this coverage applies than the limit of liability hereunder bears to the sum of the applicable limits of liability of this insurance and such other insurance.” Both clauses clearly were intended to limit the liability to the requirement of the Arkansas Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act. I do not think it makes any difference whether the coverage afforded was by the same company or another company. One is no more ambiguous than the other because they convey the same central thought that only one policy limit applies and if there is other coverage the policies are prorated. This is a statutorily mandated coverage and the purpose of the Act is to protect those who are injured by uninsured motorists. The limits are contained in the statute. The burden should not be placed upon the insurance companies to prove that the coverage offered to policyholders is not in accordance with the statute. In Wallace, supra, we reversed the trial court for stacking coverages. In Harris v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Ins. Co., 247 Ark. 961, 448 S. W.2d 652 (1970) we prevented stacking of two insurance policies (different companies) and relied on Wallace. In the present case the trial court followed precedent, or so he thought, and disallowed stacking. Now he is reversed. I will not hazard a guess as to which way we will hold next. The policies here in question contained another clause which limited uninsured motorist protection to one policy limit “regardless of the number of automobiles to which this policy applies.” The policies here at issue are clearly in accord with Arkansas law and plainly limit coverage to one limit per person regardless of the number of policies available to each vehicle. I agree with the trial court.