Franke, Schultz & Mullen, PC | Eastern District Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment to Insurer Limiting Liability Coverage to Minimum Limits
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Eastern District Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment to Insurer Limiting Liability Coverage to Minimum Limits

07/17/2015
The United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri recently granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company on its claims for declaratory judgment negating the insured’s claims for extra-contractual damages.  The insurer issued a liability policy to its insureds, husband and wife, providing liability coverage on two separate vehicles with limits of liability of $100,000 per person / $300,000 per accident.  The policy contained an exclusion in the liability provisions of the policy limiting liability coverage for bodily injuries to family members of the insured to $25,000, the minimum limit mandated by the Missouri Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL).  Following an accident where husband was driving and wife sustained significant injuries, the insureds claimed the policy provided at least $200,000 in coverage for wife’s injury claims arising out of the negligence of the insured husband.  The insurer offered the $25,000 required by the MVFRL, but denied coverage beyond these mandated statutory minimums.  The insured filed suit claiming ambiguities in the policy’s exclusion and anti-stacking language seeking $200,000 in coverage under the policy as well as extra-contractual damages.  In addressing the coverage arguments, the District Court held that the policy was unambiguous and coverage for wife’s injury claims against husband was limited to the $25,000 of mandated coverage.  The Court further held that the anti-stacking provisions in the policy unambiguously prohibited the stacking of coverage on individual vehicles insured under the policy.  Additionally, the District Court held that the facts negated the insured’s claim for extra-contractual damages.  Jennings v. AMCO Insurance Company, Case No. 1:14-cv-00093.  AMCO Insurance Company was represented by FSM partner Nikki Cannezzaro.