4 October 2019
Joe Fulton
Recently, I wrote about the North Carolina Court of Appeals’ decision in N.C. Farm Bureau v. Dana. You can find that article here. Dana held, in essence, that where you have an underlying liability policy exhausted on a per accident basis, UIM coverage must also be determined on a per accident basis even where the result is that the per-person limits are ignored. In my view, Dana was wrongly decided and the result was a windfall in favor of the claimants that is contrary to the propose of UIM coverage.
However, hope springs eternal. N.C. Farm Bureau has now filed its petition for discretionary review to the North Carolina Supreme Court. A copy of their petition can be found here. As pointed out by N.C. Farm Bureau, claimants will also likely argue that Dana changes how the limits of liability are determined under liability coverage where there are multiple claimants. Viewed this way, Dana’s impact is potentially much larger than just its impact on UIM claims. It will probably be many months before we know whether the Supreme Court will take up the issue and, if they do, it will be many months after that before the court issues an opinion. This is definitely one that we will be paying attention to.
About the Author: Joe Fulton is a partner with Martineau King PLLC and focuses the majority of his practice on representing insurance companies in coverage disputes. Comments and feedback are welcome. Joe can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Important Disclaimer: The above is not legal advice and is made available for educational purposes only. You should not act upon this information without seeking advice from a lawyer licensed in your own state or jurisdiction. This article should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state or jurisdiction. The presentation of this information does not form a lawyer/client relationship.
