Justia Federal District Court Opinions

McCrory filed a claim with his insurer, Government Employees Insurance Company, to invoke the uninsured motorist provision in his policy after he was injured in an automobile accident with Hall which occurred on the Fort Benning Military Reservation in Georgia. Government Employees Insurance Company intervened in McCrory's suit against Hall, as provided for by Georgia law,¹ alleging that Hall was not an uninsured motorist at the time of the collision, and that, therefore, McCrory's uninsured motorist coverage was not activated. Government Employees Insurance Company was granted summary judgment, from which McCrory appeals.² The sole issue presented for review is whether the Georgia uninsured motorist statute requires that an automobile be insured by at least one liability policy in the face amount of no less than $10,000 to prevent its designation as an uninsured motor vehicle.

The question presented has not been interpreted before by the Georgia courts. We are asked to determine whether the Georgia uninsured motorist statute requires that a motorist involved in a collision in Georgia have an automobile liability policy in the face amount of at least $10,000, or whether it requires that we have an aggregate of $10,000 automobile liability insurance available, to preclude his being deemed an uninsured motorist. The question is precipitated by the fact that defendant Hall, a citizen of Louisiana, carried two automobile liability policies, issued in Louisiana, on his automobile, each in the face amount of $5,000. McCrory urges that the Georgia uninsured motorist statute requires a single policy for at least $10,000. Government Employees Insurance Company contends that the aggregate amount of $10,000 of automobile liability insurance satisfies the statute. Under McCrory's interpretation, Hall's automobile would be uninsured in the amount of $5,000 on each policy, and McCrory could recover a total of $10,000 from his own policy with Government Employees Insurance Company under the uninsured motorist provision. Under the insurance company's interpretation, Hall's automobile would not be an uninsured motor vehicle and McCrory's uninsured motorist coverage would not be activated.

Two sections of the Georgia uninsured motorist statute are pertinent. The first, Ga.Code Sec. 56-407.1(a), sets forth the requirements for uninsured motorist coverage. The second, Ga.Code Sec. 56-407.1(b), defines an uninsured motor vehicle. The pertinent statutory provisions are as follows:

Sec. 56-407.1(a). No automobile liability policy or motor vehicle liability policy shall be issued or delivered in this State to the owner of such vehicle, or shall be issued or delivered by any insurer licensed in this State, upon any motor vehicle then principally garaged or principally used in this State, unless it contains an indorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits exclusive of interests and costs which shall . . . be no less than (i) $10,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, . . . .