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H. B. No. 432 As IntroducedAs Introduced
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Cosponsors:
Representatives Murray, Foley, Okey, Weddington, Letson, O'Brien
A BILL
To amend section 3937.18 of the Revised Code to
prohibit automobile insurance policies that
include uninsured and underinsured coverage from
excluding coverage for family members solely on
the basis of that relationship and from limiting
or contradicting coverage requirements specified
in law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 3937.18 of the Revised Code be
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3937.18. (A) Any policy of insurance delivered or
issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor
vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state that
insures against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for
bodily injury or death suffered by any person arising out of the
ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle, may, but is not
required to, include uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured
motorist coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured motorist
coverages.
Unless otherwise defined in the policy or any endorsement to
the policy, "motor vehicle," for purposes of the uninsured
motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages, means a
self-propelled vehicle designed for use and principally used on
public roads, including an automobile, truck, semi-tractor,
motorcycle, and bus. "Motor vehicle" also includes a motor home,
provided the motor home is not stationary and is not being used as
a temporary or permanent residence or office. "Motor vehicle" does
not include a trolley, streetcar, trailer, railroad engine,
railroad car, motorized bicycle, golf cart, off-road recreational
vehicle, snowmobile, fork lift, aircraft, watercraft, construction
equipment, farm tractor or other vehicle designed and principally
used for agricultural purposes, mobile home, vehicle traveling on
treads or rails, or any similar vehicle.
(B) For purposes of any uninsured motorist coverage included
in a policy of insurance, an "uninsured motorist" is the owner or
operator of a motor vehicle if any of the following conditions
applies:
(1) There exists no bodily injury liability bond or insurance
policy covering the owner's or operator's liability to the
insured.
(2) The liability insurer denies coverage to the owner or
operator, or is or becomes the subject of insolvency proceedings
in any state.
(3) The identity of the owner or operator cannot be
determined, but independent corroborative evidence exists to prove
that the bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death of the insured
was proximately caused by the negligence or intentional actions of
the unidentified operator of the motor vehicle. For purposes of
division (B)(3) of this section, the testimony of any insured
seeking recovery from the insurer shall not constitute independent
corroborative evidence, unless the testimony is supported by
additional evidence.
(4) The owner or operator has diplomatic immunity.
(5) The owner or operator has immunity under Chapter 2744. of
the Revised Code.
An "uninsured motorist" does not include the owner or
operator of a motor vehicle that is self-insured within the
meaning of the financial responsibility law of the state in which
the motor vehicle is registered.
(C) If underinsured motorist coverage is included in a policy
of insurance, the underinsured motorist coverage shall provide
protection for insureds thereunder for bodily injury, sickness, or
disease, including death, suffered by any insured under the
policy, where the limits of coverage available for payment to the
insured under all bodily injury liability bonds and insurance
policies covering persons liable to the insured are less than the
limits for the underinsured motorist coverage. Underinsured
motorist coverage in this state is not and shall not be excess
coverage to other applicable liability coverages, and shall only
provide the insured an amount of protection not greater than that
which would be available under the insured's uninsured motorist
coverage if the person or persons liable to the insured were
uninsured at the time of the accident. The policy limits of the
underinsured motorist coverage shall be reduced by those amounts
available for payment under all applicable bodily injury liability
bonds and insurance policies covering persons liable to the
insured.
For purposes of underinsured motorist coverage, an
"underinsured motorist" does not include the owner or operator of
a motor vehicle that has applicable liability coverage in the
policy under which the underinsured motorist coverage is provided.
(D) With respect to the uninsured motorist coverage,
underinsured motorist coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured
motorist coverages included in a policy of insurance, an insured
shall be required to prove all elements of the insured's claim
that are necessary to recover from the owner or operator of the
uninsured or underinsured motor vehicle.
(E) The uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist
coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages
included in a policy of insurance shall not be subject to an
exclusion or reduction in amount because of any workers'
compensation benefits payable as a result of the same injury or
death.
(F) No policy of insurance that includes uninsured motorist
coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both uninsured and
underinsured motorist coverages shall exclude coverage for any
individual solely on the basis that the individual is a family
member of the owner or operator of the motor vehicle.
(G) Any policy of insurance that includes uninsured motorist
coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both uninsured and
underinsured motorist coverages may, without regard to any
premiums involved, include terms and conditions that preclude any
and all stacking of such coverages, including but not limited to:
(1) Interfamily stacking, which is the aggregating of the
limits of such coverages by the same person or two or more
persons, whether family members or not, who are not members of the
same household;
(2) Intrafamily stacking, which is the aggregating of the
limits of such coverages purchased by the same person or two or
more family members of the same household.
(G)(H) Any policy of insurance that includes uninsured
motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages and that provides a
limit of coverage for payment of damages for bodily injury,
including death, sustained by any one person in any one automobile
accident, may, notwithstanding Chapter 2125. of the Revised Code,
include terms and conditions to the effect that all claims
resulting from or arising out of any one person's bodily injury,
including death, shall collectively be subject to the limit of the
policy applicable to bodily injury, including death, sustained by
one person, and, for the purpose of such policy limit shall
constitute a single claim. Any such policy limit shall be
enforceable regardless of the number of insureds, claims made,
vehicles or premiums shown in the declarations or policy, or
vehicles involved in the accident.
(H)(I) Any policy of insurance that includes uninsured
motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages may include terms
and conditions requiring that, so long as the insured has not
prejudiced the insurer's subrogation rights, each claim or suit
for uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage,
or both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages be made or
brought within three years after the date of the accident causing
the bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death, or within one year
after the liability insurer for the owner or operator of the motor
vehicle liable to the insured has become the subject of insolvency
proceedings in any state, whichever is later.
(I) Any (J) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any
policy of insurance that includes uninsured motorist coverage,
underinsured motorist coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured
motorist coverages may include terms and conditions that preclude
coverage for bodily injury or death suffered by an insured under
specified circumstances, including but not limited to any of the
following circumstances:
(1) While the insured is operating or occupying a motor
vehicle owned by, furnished to, or available for the regular use
of a named insured, a spouse, or a resident relative of a named
insured, if the motor vehicle is not specifically identified in
the policy under which a claim is made, or is not a newly acquired
or replacement motor vehicle covered under the terms of the policy
under which the uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist
coverage, or both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages
are provided;
(2) While the insured is operating or occupying a motor
vehicle without a reasonable belief that the insured is entitled
to do so, provided that under no circumstances will an insured
whose license has been suspended, revoked, or never issued, be
held to have a reasonable belief that the insured is entitled to
operate a motor vehicle;
(3) When the bodily injury or death is caused by a motor
vehicle operated by any person who is specifically excluded from
coverage for bodily injury liability in the policy under which the
uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or
both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages are provided;
(4) While any employee, officer, director, partner, trustee,
member, executor, administrator, or beneficiary of the named
insured, or any relative of any such person, is operating or
occupying a motor vehicle, unless the employee, officer, director,
partner, trustee, member, executor, administrator, beneficiary, or
relative is operating or occupying a motor vehicle for which
uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or
both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages are provided in
the policy;
(5) When the person actually suffering the bodily injury,
sickness, disease, or death is not an insured under the policy.
(J) In (K) No policy of insurance that includes uninsured
motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages shall include terms
and conditions that contradict or limit the provisions of this
section.
(L) In the event of payment to any person under the uninsured
motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, or both
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages, and subject to the
terms and conditions of that coverage, the insurer making such
payment is entitled, to the extent of the payment, to the proceeds
of any settlement or judgment resulting from the exercise of any
rights of recovery of that person against any person or
organization legally responsible for the bodily injury or death
for which the payment is made, including any amount recoverable
from an insurer that is or becomes the subject of insolvency
proceedings, through such proceedings or in any other lawful
manner. No insurer shall attempt to recover any amount against the
insured of an insurer that is or becomes the subject of insolvency
proceedings, to the extent of those rights against the insurer
that the insured assigns to the paying insurer.
(K)(M) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the inclusion
of underinsured motorist coverage in any uninsured motorist
coverage included in a policy of insurance.
(L)(N) The superintendent of insurance shall study the market
availability of, and competition for, uninsured and underinsured
motorist coverages in this state and shall, from time to time,
prepare status reports containing the superintendent's findings
and any recommendations. The first status report shall be prepared
not later than two years after the effective date of this
amendment October 31, 2001. To assist in preparing these status
reports, the superintendent may require insurers and rating
organizations operating in this state to collect pertinent data
and to submit that data to the superintendent.
The superintendent shall submit a copy of each status report
to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, the
president of the senate, and the chairpersons of the committees of
the general assembly having primary jurisdiction over issues
relating to automobile insurance.
Section 2. That existing section 3937.18 of the Revised Code
is hereby repealed.
Section 3. It is the intent of the General Assembly in
amending divisions (J) and (K) of section 3937.18 of the Revised
Code as those divisions appear in this act to supersede the effect
of the holding of the Ohio Supreme Court in Snyder v. American
Family Insurance Company (2007), 114 Ohio St. 3d 239, 2007 Ohio
4004. The General Assembly further declares its intent that
division (I) of section 3937.18 of the Revised Code, relettered
division (J) in this act, does not make the other provisions of
section 3937.18 of the Revised Code merely advisory, but rather
that division permits terms and conditions that do not limit or
contradict the other provisions of the section.
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