Lewis v. LenardLewis v. Lenard
In our review of this summary judgment, we are asked to decide whether an insurer should have obtained a new, valid rejection of uninsured motorist coverage where the insured, following her divorce, had the policy reissued in her maiden name alone, without her former husband, but with the same coverage on the same vehicle. The trial court granted the insurer, Shelter Mutual Insurance Company, summary judgment finding that the policy issued to the insured, Rose Averitte Lewis, was a “renewal” policy and that her original waiver of UM coverage had survived the renewal. We affirm.
On June 13, 1990, Rose Averitte Lewis and Rodney Lewis, husband and wife, applied for automobile insurance with Shelter Mutual Insurance Company. The policy was issued in the names of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. Rose executed a valid written waiver of UM covеrage. The policy originally covered only a 1984 Ford Tempo, which was community property.
Two years later, on June 30, 1992, Rose and Rodney were divorced. Rose began using her maiden name again, Rose Mary Averitte. As part of the property settlement, Rose obtained the 1984 Ford Tempo. Subsequent to the divorce, Rose requested that the coverage for the 1984 Ford be placed solely in her maiden name. She did not request any additional or different coverage. The original 10/20/10 coverage continued. Shelter reissued Rose a policy with the changes requested effective on the renewal date of the old policy with a different policy number.1 No new UM waiver was executed. Rodney retained the former policy number to insure a van which apparently may also have bеen previously added to the policy.
Rose was in an accident while driving the Ford Tempo on December 22, 1993, over a year after the policy changes mentioned above were implemented. The policy at the time of the accident had been rеnewed quarterly several times. Rodney, whom she remarried nine days after the accident, was a guest passenger in the vehicle. They filed suit against the driver of the other automobile,
The trial court, after initially rejecting the motion, granted Shelter‘s motion for summary judgment on grounds that the policy issued to Rose after her divorce was a “renewal” of the initial policy in which a valid UM rejection was executed. According to
... need not be provided in or supplemental to a renewal, reinstatement, or substitute policy where the named insured has rejected the coverage or selected lower limits in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer or any of its affiliates. (Emphasis added).
Plaintiffs appeal, claiming that the trial court erred in finding that the policy in effect on the date of the accident was a renewal of the policy issued to Rose and Rodney in 1990, and that the valid UM rejection signed by Rose for that policy was in effect and valid in her 1993 policy.
Discussion
Appellate courts review the grant of a summary judgment de novo under the same criteria governing the trial court‘s consideration of whеther a summary judgment is appropriate. Thomas v. Goodson, 26,356 (La.App. 2d Cir.1994), 647 So.2d 1192, 1193. Under
Initially, we note that
La. R.S. 22:636.1(A)(5) defines a “renewal” policy as one issued and delivered to replace “at the end of the policy period” a policy prеviously issued and delivered by the same insurer. A renewal can therefore occur only at the end of the policy period it renews; it is not a renewal if the second issuance occurs after the end of the first policy period. A renewal contemplates unintеrrupted coverage.* * * * * *
The distinction between a substitute and reinstated policy is given in 18 Couch on Insurance 2d Secs. 69.1-69.3, Revival and Reinstatement. If there is coverage and an agreement is made for a different coverage, there is a substitution of policies. To rеinstate an insurance policy mean to restore the insured to all the benefits accruing under the policy contract. For there to be a reinstatement, it is necessary that there be an interval during which the insured no longer is covered by insurance.
With these three events allowing for the original UM coverage to continue, various disputes have arisen in the jurisprudence regarding what types of changes, if any, may occur to the original policy upon renewal, instatement or substitution.2 Even the definition
Regardless of whether any change in policy terms may occur at the time of renewal or reinstatement, the event of а substitute policy clearly must encompass some change. In this regard, we do not view “substitute policy” to mean only that some type of actual substitution of vehicles or insureds must occur. The deletion of Mr. Lewis from the policy in this instance was a change in the policy which can be said to have resulted in a substitute policy. The determinant question is whether the change in the policy is material to the initial selection or waiver of UM coverage that would require the execution of a new selection or waiver.
In this instance, а policy bearing Policy No. 17-1-2757471-1 solely in the name of Rose Mary Averitte was issued subsequent to the divorce and became effective on the renewal date after her divorce, and subsequent renewals occurred at the end of each quarterly policy рeriod, keeping the policy in effect through the date of the accident. Were there no changes in the policy, clearly no new waiver would be required under
First, we conclude that a change in policy numbers does not necessarily indicate a new policy has been issued rather than a renewal or substitute policy. In Maatki v. Moore, 760 F.Supp. 1180 (E.D.La.1991), on rehearing, the court held that a subsequent motor vehicle policy was a renewal policy rather than new policy and, therefore, the rejection of greater UM coverage that was valid and operative as to initial policy continued to bе valid and operative as to the subsequent policy, even though the initial and subsequent policies had different policy numbers. The federal district court reached the conclusion that a change in policy numbers is of no legal significance citing Schwoch v. Sutor, 559 So.2d 552 (La.App. 2d Cir.1990), wherein a panel from this court observed that it was unnecessary to list a policy number on the
Nor does the change of one‘s name on the policy amount to a material change sincе, obviously, in this instance, the named insured, who was also the party who executed the waiver, is still the same person. This is to say, there is no change in the named insured where the insured merely reverts to using her maiden name.
Finally, regarding the removal of an insured from a jointly titled policy and the incidental change in the nature of the ownership of the insured vehicle, we have found no Louisiana cases where this precise question was raised. An analogous situation occurred under Florida law, which is similar to Louisiana law regarding the rejection of UM coverage. In Kerr v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 434 So.2d 970 (Fla. App. 5 Dist.1983), the court held that replacing the husband‘s name as the “named insured” with that of the wife who was an “additional insured” on an existing policy continued to provide the same coverage on the same vehicle after the husband‘s death and did not constitutе a variation of the terms of the policy material enough to require the insurer to again offer UM coverage. In Kerr, as in this case, the ownership of the vehicle changed from community to sole ownership by the wife. Louisiana courts have also utilized the “materiаl change” test employed in Kerr. See, e.g., Troha v. State Farm Ins. Co., supra.
Despite the change in the number of insureds from two persons to one, the first and last policies now in dispute insofar as they apply to Rose remain identical. There was a constancy of the insured who executed the waiver, the vеhicle, and the stated “bodily injury liability” coverage which is the key to
Conclusion
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. Costs of this appeal are assessed against the appellant.
AFFIRMED.