The underlying facts in the uninsured/underinsured motorist UM case are undisputed. Plaintiff/appellee Ricky North was injured in a collision between an automobile and the motorcycle he was riding in August 2007. He and his wife subsequently brought suit against the driver of the vehicle, and additionally sought to recover $250,000 in UM coverage under North’s motor vehicle insurance policy and $1,000,000 in UM coverage under an umbrella insurance policy issued to him by appellant Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company GFB. The Norths subsequently filed a motion for partial summary judgment against GFB on the issue of their entitlement to UM benefits under the umbrella policy, and GFB filed a response and an opposing motion for summary judgment, contending that the Norths were not entitled to UM coverage under the umbrella policy because Ricky North had rejected UM coverage in writing at the time he applied for the policy. The trial court granted the Norths’ motion for partial summary judgment and denied GFB’s motion. GFB then filed the present appeal, which was docketed in this Court as Case No. A11A0047. The Norths also filed a cross-appeal, which was docketed in this Court as Case No. A11A0134, challenging portions of the trial court’s factual findings, and arguing that summary judgment was proper here for the additional reason that GFB placed an impermissible condition on their ability to obtain uninsured motorist coverage. We have consolidated the main appeal and cross-appeal, and now affirm the judgment of the trial court. The starting point for our analysis is OCGA § 33-7-11 a.1 In pertinent part, subsection a 1 of the relevant version of that statute provided that: no automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policy shall be issued or delivered in this state . . . unless it contains an endorsement or provision undertaking to pay the insured damages for bodily injury, loss of consortium or death of an insured, . . . sustained from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits exclusive of interests and costs which at the option of the insured shall be: A Not less than $25,000.00 because of bodily injury or death of one person in any one accident, . . . , or B Equal to the limits of liability because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident . . . if those limits of liability exceed the limits of liability set forth in subparagraph A of this paragraph. In any event, the insured may affirmatively choose uninsured motorist limits in an amount less than the limits of liability. . . . Pursuant to subsection a 3 “the coverage required under paragraph 1 of this subsection shall not be applicable where any insured named in the policy shall reject the coverage in writing.”
The application North completed at the time the umbrella policy was issued contained the following: VIII. UNINSURED/UNDER INSURED MOTORISTS COVERAGE: A. DO YOU DESIRE UNINSURED/UNDER INSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE: SYMBOL 168 “Wingdings” 10 YES. IF YES, THE UM-UI LIMITS FOR THE UNDERLYING POLICY MUST EQUAL THE BI AND PD LIMITS OF THE UNDERLYING AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY POLICY. SYMBOL 168 “Wingdings” 10 NO. IF NO, THE UNDERSIGNED CERTIFY THAT IN CONSIDERATION OF PREMIUM CHARGED, I DO NOT DESIRE THE UMBRELLA LIABILITY POLICY TO APPLY TO UNINSURED/UNDER INSURED MOTORISTS COVERAGE. Ricky North checked the “NO” box.
