Elliott v. Elliott

Summary

The Louisiana appellate court affirmed summary judgment for Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company in a dispute over uninsured motorist coverage. The court held that the policy’s owned-but-not-insured exclusion barred coverage because the vehicle involved in the accident was owned in part by the insured’s resident spouse and was not listed under the policy. The court declined to decide whether the relevant Louisiana statute independently precluded coverage.

Holdings

1. The policy excluded uninsured-motorist coverage because the truck was owned in part by David Elliott, who was a resident relative of Gwendolyn Elliott, and the truck was not insured under the policy's uninsured-motorist coverage.
2. The exclusion was not shown to violate public policy, and the court found no jurisprudential support for invalidating it on that basis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a Prudential automobile policy covering the wife's separately owned Chevrolet provided uninsured-motorist coverage for injuries sustained while she and her children were occupants of her husband's separately owned truck.
2. Whether the policy's exclusion for a car owned by the insured or a resident relative violated public policy because the spouses maintained separate property.

Disposition

affirmed