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Pender v. Doe

The plaintiff could not maintain a claim for uninsured motorist benefits, since he waited almost one month to report the hit-and-run accident to police.

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Patrick Pender was injured in a collision with a pickup truck while driving his motorcycle. The driver of the truck left the scene and was never identified. Pender sought to recover uninsured motorist benefits from his insurer, United Services Automobile Association “USAA”. USAA moved for summary judgment, asserting that Pender cannot recover because he failed to report the collision to police immediately, as required by Georgia law. The trial court granted USAA’s motion, and Pender appeals. For reasons that follow, we affirm. Summary judgment should be granted when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1 On appeal from a grant of summary judgment, we apply a de novo standard of review.2 Here, no material facts are disputed. On August 22, 1999, Pender was injured in a collision with an unidentified driver and went to the hospital. He had surgery on his knee and was hospitalized for several days. Pender did not report the collision to police until September 20, 1999.

To recover uninsured motorist benefits from his own insurer, the insured or someone acting on his behalf must report the collision as required in OCGA § 40-6-273.3 That code section provides that “the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury . . . shall immediately, by the quickest means of communication, give notice of such accident to the local police department.”4 In Navarro v. Atlanta Cas. Co., 5 we held that the requirement of immediate notice to the police by the quickest means “cannot be stretched to include four or five days later.” We further held that the notice requirement “is not a matter of abatement, but a condition precedent to recovery under uninsured motorist coverage.”6

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