In this dеclaratory judgment action defendants appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County which determined that plaintiff American Family Mutual Insurance Company’s liability was limited to the $100,000 per person liability limitation provision in its insurance policy. Defendants claim the insurance рolicy was ambiguous, and the $300,000 per occurrence liability limitation provision applied. We affirm.
Defendants, Dryden Gardner and Mark Gardner wеre injured in an automobile accident with Richard Evenson on November 26, 1993. Both defendants suffered substantial injuries in the accident and have filed negligence claims against Mr. Evenson. Lola Gardner and Linda Gardner, the wives of Dryden Gardner and Mark Gardner respectively, filed loss of consortium claims against Mr. Evenson. At the time of the accident, Mr. Evenson’s auto insurance carrier was plaintiff American Family Insurance. The insurance contract between American Family and Mr. Evenson contained a standard provision which limited American Family’s liability to $100,000 per person аnd $300,000 per occurrence.
American Family filed a declaratory judgment action naming all four Gardners as defendants. In this declaratory judgmеnt action, American Family petitioned the trial court to declare that under its insurance contract with Mr. Evenson, its liability was limited to $100,000 of bodily injury рer person. The Gardners responded by alleging that since more than one person was injured in the accident, only the $300,000 per ocсurrence provision in the insurance contract limited American Family’s liability.
In their only point on appeal, the Gardners argue that American Family was not entitled to summary judgment since Mr. Evenson’s insurance policy was ambiguous with respect to the limitation of Ameriсan Family’s liability. The propriety of summary judgment is a question of law and therefore our review is de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-America Marinе Supply Corp.,
Mr. Evenson’s insurance policy states in relevant part:
LIMITS OF LIABILITY
The limit of liability shown in the declarations apply, subject to the following:
1. The bodily injury limit for “each person” is the maximum for all damages sustained by all persons as the result of bodily injury to one person in any occurrence.
2. Subject to the bodily injury liability limit for “each person”, the bodily injury liability limit for “each occurrence” is the maximum for bodily injury sustained by two or more persons in any one occurrence. (Emphasis added).
The property damage liability for “each occurrence” is the maximum for all damages to all property in аny one occurrence.
Also, the declaration page provided liability limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence.
Our holding in Ward v. American Family Ins. Co.,
The Gardners first attempt to distinguish Ward on the basis that it involved insurance policies with a $100,000 per person and $200,-000 per accident liability limitations. The Gardners contend that the $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence liability limitation prоvision in the instant case creates a mathematical contradiction between the per person and per occurrence limitation while the $100,000 per person and $200,000 per accident limitations in Ward did not present such a contradiction. However, the Ward Court explicitly based its holding on the fact that the “subject to” language made it clear that a person’s recovery under the per accident provision was subject to the limitations in the per persоn provision. Id.
The Gardners also attempt to distinguish Ward on the premise that Karen Ward’s personal injury claim and her husband’s derivative loss of consortium claim were combined under the per person liability limitation provision. However, in the instant ease, Dryden Gardner’s personal injury claim and Lola Gardner’s derivative loss оf consortium claim will also be combined under the per person liability limitation provision. See Id.
The Gardners have also cited us to opinions from Washington and New Hamрshire which they assert support their argument that paragraph two of the liability limitation section does create an ambiguity as to whethеr the per person or per occurrence limitation applies when two or more persons or injured. In Andrews v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co.,
The Gardners also cite us to Baehmer v. Viking Ins. Co.,
When an insurance policy contains a clause that provides the “each occurrence” liability limitation is “subject to the bodily injury liability limit for ‘each person’”, a person’s recovery under the policy is limited to the “each person” limitation. Ward,
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.