Prior to 1980, an injured party was allowed to stack multiple uninsured motorist coverages if the tortfeasor was totally uninsured but an injured party was not allowed to do so if the tortfeasor was merely underinsured. See
Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Austin,
*736 That issue arises in the following context: Appellant-plaintiff was injured when his employer’s vehicle was struck by a vehicle that was being operated by Jerry Miller. Miller has a policy of automobile insurance which provides $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage. Appellee-defendant is appellant’s own automobile insurance carrier and, in that capacity, it provides appellant with $15,000 in uninsured motorist coverage. Appellant’s wife also has her own automobile policy with appellee which provides $15,000 in uninsured motorist coverage. Appellant is an insured under his wife’s policy. Appellant’s employer has an automobile policy which provides $40,000 in uninsured motorist coverage. Appellant is an insured under his employer’s policy.
Appellant brought suit against Miller and he also served appellee. Appellee filed an answer in its own name and it thereby became a party to the action. See generally
Moss v. Cincinnati Ins. Co.,
Appellee relies upon the wording of the 1980 amendment to OCGA § 33-7-11 (b) (1) (D), as subsequently amended in 1986, as the support for its contention that appellant has no right to stack the uninsured motorist coverages of his wife’s and his employer’s policies. That statute provides, in relevant part, that an “uninsured motor vehicle” is a vehicle as to which there is liability insurance “with available coverages which are less than the limits of the uninsured motorist coverage provided under the insured’s insurance policy, but the motor vehicle shall only be considered to be uninsured for the amount of the difference between the available coverages under the . . . liability insurance ... on such motor vehicle and the limits of the uninsured *737 motorist coverage provided under the insured’s motor vehicle insurance policy. . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) OCGA § 33-7-11 (b) (1) (D) (ii). According to appellee, one is not an “insured” under a given policy and that policy cannot be considered to be his unless he is the named insured therein. Thus, appellee urges that one who is injured by an underinsured motorist would be authorized to stack only the uninsured motorist coverages of those policies wherein he is the named insured.
The statute speaks in terms of “the insured’s” policies, not of “the
named
insured’s” policies. If, in consideration of the payment of a premium, an injured party would otherwise be entitled to benefits under a given policy, he is as much an “insured” thereunder as the named insured would be and, insofar as the right to receive benefits is concerned, that policy is as much his as it is the named insured’s. Appellee recognizes that the construction of OCGA § 33-7-11 (b) (1) (D) (ii) that it advances has been implicitly rejected in previous decisions of this court. See
Travelers Indem. Co. v. Md. Cas. Co.,
It is undisputed that appellant is an insured under his wife’s and his employer’s policies. It follows that appellant is entitled to stack the respective $15,000 and $40,000 uninsured motorist coverages of those policies on the $15,000 coverage of his own policy. Since the $70,000 in uninsured motorist coverage available to appellant exceeds the $25,000 in liability coverage available under Miller’s policy, appellee is contractually obligated, as appellant’s own uninsured motorist carrier, to provide him up to $15,000 in coverage and then to provide him coverage up to the limits of his wife’s policy. See Travelers Indem. Co. v. Md. Cas. Co., supra. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of appellee and in denying appellant’s motion for summary judgment.
Judgments reversed.