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Laine v. Farmers Insurance Exchange

In this case, the public policy against an insurance recovery for punitive damages assessed against an uninsured motorist applies to an umbrella policy, which defines its scope of coverage to be the same as the underlying uninsured motorist coverage. Houston's 1st Court of Appeals, No. 01-08-01010-CV, 02-04-2010

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OPINION

In this case, we determine whether the public policy against an insurance recovery for punitive damages assessed against an uninsured motorist applies to an umbrella policy, which defines its scope of coverage to be the same as the underlying uninsured motorist coverage. We conclude that it does.

Sandra Gervais Laine was driving her mother home one evening when an uninsured drunk driver struck Laine’s car. The accident resulted in her mother’s death, and Laine made a claim under her Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers) policies. Farmers paid the policy limit under the uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM) provision of Laine’s auto policy, but when Farmers did not respond to Laine’s request for payment under the umbrella policy augmenting her coverage, Laine sued Farmers for breach of the policy and its statutory obligation to provide prompt payment, as well as the drunk driver responsible for her mother’s wrongful death.

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