The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, affirming a district court's decision, has ruled that two people injured in an accident while driving in a personal vehicle after participating in a philanthropic fraternal organization's event were not entitled to recover uninsured motorist ("UM") benefits under the organization's insurance policy – even if the policy provided liability coverage to them in that situation.
The Case
Horace Collins and Preston Donnie Penney were in an accident while driving back to a local Shrine club in Mr. Collins' personal vehicle after participating in a parade as members of the Yaarab Temple, a philanthropic fraternal organization.
Praetorian Insurance Company, which insured the Yaarab Temple and its affiliated activities, asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to determine whether it owed UM benefits to Messrs. Collins and Penney.
The district court ruled in favor of Praetorian, and Messrs. Collins and Penney appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.
The appellants conceded that the district court was correct in finding that the unambiguous language of the policy did not include UM coverage for them. They maintained, however, that although Praetorian did not intend to include UM coverage for either of them, Georgia law required that this coverage be grafted into the policy because Praetorian had agreed to provide liability insurance for Yaarab that extended to Messrs. Preston and Collins in certain situations.
Specifically, they argued that because they were insureds under the policy's liability provision, they also had to be insureds under its UM provision.
The Eleventh Circuit's Decision
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed.
In its decision, the circuit court explained that the liability policy was not taken out on Mr. Collins' car, but only covered Messrs. Preston and Collins while they were driving in the Yaarab Temple's events.
The circuit court then rejected the contention that an insured for UM coverage was defined by who was an insured under the policy's liability provisions.
Instead, the circuit court explained, it had to look only to the UM provision of the Praetorian policy.
Because that section did not afford UM coverage to Messrs. Preston and Collins, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision in favor of Praetorian.
The case is Praetorian Ins. Co. v. Yaarab Temple A.A.O.N.M.S., No. 18-12390 (11th Cir. Oct. 3, 2019).
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].