Minnesota Session Laws - 1989, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1989 

                        CHAPTER 213-H.F.No. 956 
           An act relating to insurance; clarifying the 
          calculation of underinsured motorist benefits; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 65B.49, 
          subdivisions 3a and 4a. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 65B.49, 
subdivision 3a, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3a.  [UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGES.] 
(1) No plan of reparation security may be renewed, delivered or 
issued for delivery, or executed in this state with respect to 
any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this 
state unless separate uninsured and underinsured motorist 
coverages are provided therein.  The coverages combined Each 
coverage, at a minimum, must provide limits of $25,000 because 
of injury to or the death of one person in any accident and 
$50,000 because of injury to or the death of two or more persons 
in any accident.  In the case of injury to, or the death of, two 
or more persons in any accident, the amount available to any one 
person must not exceed the coverage limit provided for injury 
to, or the death of, one person in any accident.  For purposes 
of this subdivision, uninsured motorist coverage and 
underinsured motorist coverage shall be a single coverage. 
    (2) Every owner of a motor vehicle registered or 
principally garaged in this state shall maintain uninsured and 
underinsured motorist coverages as provided in this subdivision. 
    (3) No reparation obligor is required to provide limits of 
uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages in excess of the 
bodily injury liability limit provided by the applicable plan of 
reparation security. 
    (4) No recovery shall be permitted under the uninsured and 
underinsured motorist coverages of this section for basic 
economic loss benefits paid or payable, or which would be 
payable but for any applicable deductible.  
     (5) If at the time of the accident the injured person is 
occupying a motor vehicle, the limit of liability for uninsured 
and underinsured motorist coverages available to the injured 
person is the limit specified for that motor vehicle.  However, 
if the injured person is occupying a motor vehicle of which the 
injured person is not an insured, the injured person may be 
entitled to excess insurance protection afforded by a policy in 
which the injured party is otherwise insured.  The excess 
insurance protection is limited to the extent of covered damages 
sustained, and further is available only to the extent by which 
the limit of liability for like coverage applicable to any one 
motor vehicle listed on the automobile insurance policy of which 
the injured person is an insured exceeds the limit of liability 
of the coverage available to the injured person from the 
occupied motor vehicle. 
     If at the time of the accident the injured person is not 
occupying a motor vehicle, the injured person is entitled to 
select any one limit of liability for any one vehicle afforded 
by a policy under which the injured person is insured. 
     (6) Regardless of the number of policies involved, vehicles 
involved, persons covered, claims made, vehicles or premiums 
shown on the policy, or premiums paid, in no event shall the 
limit of liability for uninsured and underinsured motorist 
coverages for two or more motor vehicles be added together to 
determine the limit of insurance coverage available to an 
injured person for any one accident. 
     (7) The uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages 
required by this subdivision do not apply to bodily injury of 
the insured while occupying a motor vehicle owned by the 
insured, unless the occupied vehicle is an insured motor vehicle.
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 65B.49, 
subdivision 4a, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4a.  [LIABILITY ON UNDERINSURED MOTOR VEHICLES.] With 
respect to underinsured motor vehicles coverage, the maximum 
liability of an insurer is the lesser of the difference between 
the limit of underinsured motorist coverage and the amount paid 
to the insured by or for any person or organization who may be 
held legally liable for the bodily injury; or the amount of 
damages sustained but not recovered. from the insurance policy 
of the driver or owner of any underinsured at fault vehicle.  If 
a person is injured by two or more vehicles, underinsured 
motorist coverage is payable whenever any one of those vehicles 
meets the definition of underinsured motorist vehicle in 
Minnesota Statutes, section 65B.43, subdivision 17.  However, in 
no event shall the underinsured motorist carrier have to pay 
more than the amount of its underinsured motorist limits. 
    Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 1 and 2 are effective for all contracts issued or 
renewed on or after August 1, 1989, or for all injuries 
occurring on or after August 1, 1989, or for deaths occurring as 
the result of injuries sustained on or after August 1, 1989. 
    Presented to the governor May 19, 1989 
    Signed by the governor May 19, 1989, 12:21 p.m.