Marie DeMeo v. State Farm Mutual etc., No. 10-2271 (8th Cir. 2011)
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Plaintiff filed a petition for equitable garnishment against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm") after she was injured at a crosswalk from a truck driver, the insured under State Farm's policies, who negligently struck and injured her. At issue was whether plaintiff could recover additional amounts from State Farm where State Farm's policy contained an "anti-stacking" clause and an "excess coverage" clause. The court reversed the district court's ruling that plaintiff could stack State Farm's liability limits in each of its four policies where Paragraph 3 of the policy did not create an ambiguity that permitted a court to ignore the unambiguous anti-stacking clause in Paragraph I. The court also remanded to the district court to decide whether a single insurer, having issued four policies to the owner of four vehicles who then negligently caused an accident while driving a non-owned vehicle, may enforce its anti-stacking clause after it satisfied the minimum Missouri's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law's, State. 303.010 et seq., coverage requirement.
Court Description: Civil case - Insurance. District court erred in finding the anti-stacking provision in the policy in question was ambiguous, and the court erred in stacking the liability limits in the four policies held by the insured; district court should decide, in the first instance, the question of whether a single insurer, having issued four policies to the owner of four vehicle who then negligently causes an accident while driving a non-owned vehicle, may enforce its anti-stacking clause after it satisfies the Missouri Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law.
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