Family member who rejects UM not entitled to coverage
In Conner v. American Commerce Insurance, the Oklahoma Court of Appeals held that a family member who rejected uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on his motorcycle was not covered under another policy owned by a family member in his household. Plaintiff, Barry Connor, insured his motorcycle, with AIG, and rejected UM coverage. Plaintiff was also listed a driver on his parents’ insurance policy with American Commerce. He resided with his parents at all relevant times. After an accident with an underinsured motorist, Plaintiff requested UM benefits from American Commerce. American Commerce denied the claim, based on an exclusion for resident relatives who are injured while occupying an owned motor vehicle without UM coverage. The Court of Civil Appeals upheld the denial, based on Shepard v. Farmers Ins. Co., Inc., 1983 OK 103, 678 P.2d 250 and National American Ins. Co. v. Vallion, 2008 OK CIV APP 41, 183 P.3d 175. The Court of Civil Appeals reasons that the Plaintiff had the opportunity to purchase UM coverage but failed to do so and therefore, found the exclusion valid.
While there is case law which supports this conclusion, the law is not as clear as the Court of Appeals seems to claim. Oklahoma has held that UM follows the person and not the vehicle. See, e.g., State Farm v. Wendt, 708 P.2d 581 (Okl. 1985). In Wendt, the court states:
In conformity with the clearly expressed legislative intent, above, every automobile liability policy issued in this state must provide uninsured motorist coverage for "persons insured thereunder." Accordingly, this Court has examined with critical scrutiny policy provisions which purport to dilute the legislatively mandated uninsured motorist coverage. In Keel v. MFA Insurance Co., 553 P.2d 153 (Okl. 1976), this Court voided "other insurance" clauses to the extent that those clauses precluded the insured from stacking coverages under separate policies. In Biggs v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 569 P.2d 430 (Okl. 1977) this Court invalidated the "physical contact" requirement for hit-and-run coverage. In Porter v. MFA Mutual Insurance Co., 643 P.2d 302 (Okl. 1982), this Court invalidated the "consent to settle" clause. In Lake v. Wright, 657 P.2d 643 (Okl. 1982), this Court held the "limits of liability" clause was void and unenforceable as against public policy. In Chambers v. Walker, 653 P.2d 931 (Okl. 1982), this Court held invalid a clause in an uninsured motorist policy which permitted the uninsured motorist carrier to offset any amounts paid or payable under Workers' Compensation against the amounts payable under the uninsured motorist coverage. In Uptegraft v. Home Insurance Co., 662 P.2d 681 (Okl. 1983), this Court held invalid a clause in an uninsured motorist policy requiring the insured to sue the tort-feasor within two years or lose his uninsured motorist coverage. In Heavner v. Farmers Insurance Company, 663 P.2d 730 (Okl. 1983), this Court refused to apply the insurer's "insured motor vehicle exclusion" to deny uninsured motorist coverage to a passenger/plaintiff under the driver/tort-feasor's policy. We today reiterate and re-emphasize the viability of our prior decisions, which hold to the principle that once a person is insured under an uninsured motorist policy, subsequent exclusions inserted by the insurer in the policy which dilute and impermissively limit uninsured motorist coverage are void as violative of the public policy espoused by [Oklahoma’s UM statute].
Since Plaintiff in this case was insured under a UM policy, it is not clear why the owned car exclusion should be permitted while the insured motor vehicle exclusion or the vehicle furnished for the regular use of an insured exclusion is not permitted.
