LEMMON, Justice.
The principal issue in this case is whether the named insured's signing of an application for automobile liability insurance, on which the insurance agent had filled in numerous answer boxes including one which rejected uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, constituted a valid rejection in writing by the insured as required by La. Rev.Stat. 22:1406 D(1)(a) at the time of the application. We conclude that the evidence of the insured's merely signing such an application form, without his marking the rejection section himself or initialing the mark made by the agent, was insufficient to establish an affirmative rejection of UM coverage.
In March of 1982 plaintiff's father, William Henson, purchased a pick-up truck. Because Henson's lender required Henson to have insurance on the truck before it was taken off the lot, Henson telephoned his bookkeeper, requesting him to obtain full coverage on the truck. Henson's insurance agent called back and confirmed coverage.
Henson's insurance agent thereafter brought an application for personal automobile liability insurance on the truck to Henson's office. The agent had completed the application form except for Henson's wife's driver's license number, and Henson signed the application and wrote the license number. The application, as signed by Henson and introduced at trial, appears as follows:
Fifteen months later plaintiff (Henson's son) was involved as a passenger in a one-car accident in Virginia. The driver of the car was uninsured under Louisiana law because his liability insurance policy did not afford coverage to passengers.
In a bifurcated trial on the issue of coverage only, the trial court ruled that the policy did not provide UM coverage. The court reasoned that the signing of the application by a businessman knowledgeable about insurance matters was "a rejection in writing as required by the law."
The court of appeal affirmed. 569 So.2d 191. The court stated that the completed application form signed by Henson met the requirements of Roger v. Estate of Moulton, 513 So.2d 1126 (La.1987) for a valid rejection of UM coverage, since the document established that the insured had expressly rejected coverage in a single document as of a specific date and as to a particular policy. The court further observed that the fact Henson merely glanced at the document before signing it did not render the rejection invalid.
This court granted plaintiff's application for certiorari in order to review the UM coverage rejection issue. 572 So.2d 81.
The object of UM insurance is to provide full recovery for automobile accident victims who suffer damages caused by a tortfeasor who is not covered by adequate liability insurance. Johnson v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 425 So.2d 224 (La.1982); Bond v. Commercial Union Assurance Co., 407 So.2d 401 (La.1981). Inasmuch as the statutory requirement of UM insurance represents a strong public policy, statutory coverage will be read into any automobile liability policy as if it were written in the policy itself. Block v. Reliance Insurance Co., 433 So.2d 1040 (La. 1983). Nevertheless, such coverage may be specifically rejected pursuant to the statutory guidelines. However, policies are to be liberally construed in favor of UM coverage, and any exception to the mandatory UM coverage is to be strictly construed. Bosch v. Cummings, 520 So.2d 721 (La.1988); Giroir v. Theriot, 513 So.2d 1166 (La.1987); Roger v. Estate of Moulton, 513 So.2d 1126 (La.1987); American International Insurance Co. v. Roberts, 404 So.2d 948 (La.1981).
The right to reject UM coverage and the method of rejection have been addressed several times by the Louisiana Legislature. The original UM statute, adopted by La. Acts 1962, No. 187, required UM coverage in every automobile liability insurance policy issued in Louisiana, in an amount not less than the limits mandated for bodily injury damages by the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law. The initial statute also gave the named insured the right to reject UM coverage.
When the mandatory limits for UM coverage were increased in 1972, the insured was also given the option of selecting lower limits. La.Acts 1972, No. 137.
La.Acts 1974, No. 154, amended the statute to require that the insurer provide UM coverage "in not less than the limits of bodily injury liability provided in the policy," unless the insured rejected the coverage or selected lower limits. Although this statute did not require a rejection in writing, the courts interpreted the statute, by looking to general insurance laws, as requiring a written rejection. See American International Insurance Co. v. Roberts, 404 So.2d 948 (La.1981); LeBoyd v. Louisiana Transit Co., 375 So.2d 749 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1979).
La.Acts 1977, No. 438, specifically required that the rejection of UM coverage be in writing, adopting the statutory language at issue in the present case.
D. The following provisions shall govern the issuance of uninsured motorist coverage in this state.
La.Rev.Stat. 22:1406D(1)(a) (emphasis added).
This court has interpreted the statutory language at issue in the present case to require that any exception to UM coverage must be expressed clearly, unambiguously and unmistakably, and that a waiver of UM coverage must be in writing and signed by the named insured or his authorized representative. Giroir v. Theriot, 513 So.2d 1166 (La. 1987); Roger v. Estate of Moulton, 513 So.2d 1126 (La.1987); see W. McKenzie & H. Johnson, 15 Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, Insurance Law and Practice, § 105 (1991 Supp.). The insurer has the burden to prove that a rejection of coverage or a selection of lower limits has been legally perfected. Roger v. Estate of Moulton, 513 So.2d 1126 (La.1987).
In the Roger case the insured wrote a letter to the insurer which specifically rejected UM coverage in Pennsylvania and instructed the insurer to reject coverage on the earliest possible effective date in the event any other state changes its law to allow rejection of such coverage. Holding that the letter was not a sufficient rejection of UM coverage under La.Rev.Stat. 22:1406 D, this court noted that Louisiana allowed rejection of UM coverage by the insured at the time the letter was written and the letter therefore could not have pertained to Louisiana. This court additionally noted that "such imprecise and prospective language falls far short of meeting the strict requirements of our law. Public policy, legislative intent, and strict statutory interpretation of exceptions to coverage, all require clear, unmistakable rejection." Id. at 1131. Addressing UM coverage generally, this court further stated:
Id. at 1131-32 (citations omitted).
In the present case the insurer contends that Henson's signing of the application form constituted a valid rejection of UM coverage. The insurer argues that if Henson had desired UM coverage with limits equal to that provided by bodily injury coverage,
The insurer's analysis is faulty because insurers in Louisiana are required to include UM coverage unless specifically rejected by the insured. It is the rejection of UM coverage, and not the acceptance, that must be the affirmative act of the insured. Here, the insurer, by presenting a completed application form to Henson, attempted to set up an automatic rejection of UM coverage and thus require Henson to affirmatively change the form in order to obtain UM coverage. See Duhe v. Maryland Casualty Co., 434 So.2d 1193 (La. App. 1st Cir.1983) (there was no selection of lower limits by the insured when the insurer attempted unilaterally to provide lower limits). Insofar as this record shows, Henson's only affirmative act was to sign an application for insurance presented to him in response to his request for complete coverage.
Further, the insurer must place the insured in a position to make an informed rejection of UM coverage. See 2 A. Widiss, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance, § 32.5 (2d ed. 1985). The rejection language in the present case was not conspicuous on the application. Cf. Oncale v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 417 So.2d 471 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1982) (the rejection form completely and thoroughly detailed the options available for UM coverage, contained a bold-print heading which read "An Important Message About Your Uninsured Motorists Coverage," and the information contained on the form was in ordinary sized print and in layman's terms). There was no separate signature line for the insured to sign or initial and thereby indicate a specific intent to reject UM coverage, and Henson's merely signing the general application for insurance unambiguously signified only the intent to obtain an insurance policy. Cf. Guilbeau v. Gabriel, 553 So.2d 1078 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 559 So.2d 138 (the insured's signing a separate rejection clause constituted a valid rejection of UM insurance, even though the insured did not recall being offered UM coverage). Moreover, Henson did not himself place the "X" in the rejection box or even initial the "X" already placed there by the insurer's agent. Cf. Bertrand v. Shelter General Insurance Co., 571 So.2d 861 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1990) (the insured validly rejected UM insurance by signing the application and writing the word "no" next to the language "Do you want Uninsured Motorist coverage?" and "Do you want Uninsured Motorists limits equal to Bodily Injury Limits?"); McCall v. Nguyen, 509 So.2d 651 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1987) (the insured validly selected lower limits by signing an application which contained a handwritten notation indicating lower UM limits); Moore v. Young, 490 So.2d 519 (La.App. 4th Cir.1986) (the insured validly selected lower limits by checking the box for "Uninsured Motorists" and writing "5/10" beneath the box). Henson merely signed the completed application form and did not affirmatively make any specific indications regarding the rejection of UM coverage.
Accordingly, there was no express, affirmative act on the part of the insured which clearly, unmistakably and unambiguously rejected UM coverage as required by La.Rev.Stat. 22:1406 D(1)(a). We therefore conclude that the insurer's proof of Henson's signing a general application for insurance, without either marking the inconspicuous rejection box himself or signing
The judgments of the lower courts are reversed, and the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
COLE, J., respectfully dissents.
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