Bucher v. Pace

Michael Becker (Atlanta, GA) (UM/UIM) obtained a Dismissal for MGA Insurance Company, a purported underinsured motorist carrier. Plaintiff Danielle Bucher, a Tennessee resident, was involved in a collision in Georgia with a Georgia driver. She obtained the $25,000 liability policy limits from the Georgia driver. She then attempted to obtain $25,000 in underinsured motorist benefits from MGA by filing suit against the driver in Georgia. Counsel filed a Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Counsel argued that because Tennessee law, not Georgia law, governs the insurance policy, there was no additional underinsured motorist coverage. Georgia follows the doctrine of lex loci contractus, which means that although the crash occurred in Georgia, interpretation of an uninsured/underinsured motorist policy is governed by the law of the state in which it was written and delivered, in this case Tennessee. Under Tennessee law, (unlike Georgia law) there is no “add-on” underinsured motorist coverage, and the UM/UIM carrier is entitled to offset any liability coverages/payments against the UM/UIM coverage. Therefore, counsel argued, MGA provided no further UM/UIM coverage over the $25,000 plaintiff had already received from the liability carrier. Plaintiff failed to respond to the motion and the court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.