This is an insurance coverage dispute in which the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has certified two questions to this Court. Before we get to the questions, however, some background would be appropriate. In November 2001, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut “Travelers”1 issued a personal umbrella insurance policy to Louis and Betty Wilson. At that time, Georgia law provided that certain insurance policies could be issued only with a provision for uninsured motorist coverage, OCGA § 33-7-11 a 1 2000,2 unless the insured had rejected such coverage in writing, OCGA § 33-7-11 a 3 2000, and umbrella policies were among the policies in which uninsured motorist coverage was required. Abrohams v. Atlantic Mut. Ins. Agency, 282 Ga. App. 176, 180 1 638 SE2d 330 2006.3 No one disputes that the Wilsons did not reject uninsured motorist coverage in writing, and so, although their original policy purported to exclude uninsured motorist coverage, such coverage was required by law and, therefore, implied into their original policy by operation of law. See OCGA § 33-24-12 a insurance policy that is not in compliance with the Georgia Insurance Code “shall be construed and applied in accordance with such conditions and provisions as would have applied had the policy . . . been in full compliance with the Code.”. See also Flewellen v. Atlanta Cas. Co., 250 Ga. 709, 714 3 300 SE2d 673 1983 “When an insurer issues a policy with provisions not in compliance with the law, the contract will not be rendered void, but the provisions of the statute will be grafted into the policy.”.
The term of the original policy was for one year, and the Wilsons renewed their policy annually thereafter. For as long as the law required that their policy afford uninsured motorist coverage, they had such coverage by operation of law. Then, in 2008, our General Assembly amended the law to exempt umbrella policies from its mandatory coverage requirements: “The coverage required under OCGA § 33-7-11 a 1 excludes umbrella or excess liability policies unless affirmatively provided for in such policies or in a policy endorsement.” Ga. L. 2008, p. 1192, § 1. This amendment applied to “all policies issued, delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in this state on and after January 1, 2009.” Id. at § 5. The Wilsons renewed their umbrella policy again in November 2009, a renewal to which the 2008 amendment applied by its terms.