Green v. Johnson
Annotate this CaseIn 2007, Dave Peterson, while riding a motorcycle that he co-owned with Benjamin Gibson, was involved in an accident with a sport utility vehicle driven by Michael Johnson. Peterson died from the injuries he received in the accident. At the time of his death, Peterson lived with his girlfriend, Ashanti Green, and their two minor children. Green filed a wrongful death action in 2008, as tutrix for the minor children, and naming as defendants: Michael Johnson and his insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance; Allstate Insurance Company, as the UM insurer of the plaintiff, who contended that coverage extended to Peterson under her policy provisions; and American Southern Home Insurance Company as the alleged insurer of the motorcycle. By a supplemental petition, Allstate was also named as a defendant in its capacity as Gibson's automobile insurer on grounds that UM coverage was provided to Peterson under that policy. The question this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on whether a motorcycle accident victim, ostensibly insured under the provisions of the motorcycle co-owner’s uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) automobile insurance policy, was entitled to UM coverage under the policy even though there was no coverage for the accident under the policy’s liability provisions. Finding the insurer failed to demonstrate a lack of UM coverage, the Supreme Court concluded the district court erred in granting summary judgment dismissing the UM insurer, and the appellate court erred in affirming the ruling. Therefore, the Court reversed and remanded this case for further proceedings.
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