DeMeo v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., No. 11-2695 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePatrick McGinness, driving a vehicle owned by his adult daughter, negligently struck and injured Marie DeMeo. DeMeo obtained a $350,000 state-court judgment against McGinness. McGinness's daughter's insurer, American Family Insurance Company, paid its $100,000 policy limit under an owner's liability policy that covered McGinness as a permitted driver. State Farm insured McGinness under four liability policies issued for the cars he owed. Each policy provided coverage to McGinness when operating a non-owned vehicle such as his daughter's. Invoking the policies' "anti-stacking" provisions, State Farm paid the per-person limit of one policy, $50,000. De Meo filed this action to recover an additional $150,000, the combined limits of the other three policies. The district court held that the anti-stacking provisions did not conflict with Missouri's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Act (MVFRL) requirements, which mandate that motor vehicle owners and operates maintain minimum levels of financial responsibility for damages arising out of their ownership or use of a motor vehicle, and granted summary judgment in State Farm's favor. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that there was no basis to conclude that the MVFRL demands stacking when there are multiple policies.
Court Description: Civil case - Insurance. For the court's prior opinion in the matter see DeMeo v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 639 F.3d 413 (8th Cir. 2011). The district court did not err in concluding that the policies' anti-stacking provisions do not conflict with Missouri's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law.
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