Opinion
No. 07-348.
Filed February 5, 2008.
Beaufort County No. 02 CVS 561.
Appeal by plaintiffs from an order entered 29 January 2007 by Judge Clifton W. Everett, Jr. in Beaufort County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 29 October 2007.
Brantley, Jenkins, Riddle, Hardee Hardee, by Charles R. Hardee, for plaintiff-appellant. McCotter, Ashton Smith, P.A., by Rudolph A. Ashton, III, for defendant-appellee.
On 1 November 2001, Christopher Randell ("Christopher"), Vicki Lynn Stephenson ("Vicki"), and Victoria Stephenson ("Victoria") were riding as passengers in a car driven by Crystal Gale Beacham ("Beacham"). Beacham failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with a car driven by Katrina Lynne Burbage ("Burbage"). Vicki and Victoria were killed on impact, and Christopher was seriously injured. Vicki was the mother of Victoria and Christopher and, at the time of the accident, Victoria and Christopher were minors.
Gloria Forrest ("Forrest"), Christopher and Victoria's grandmother and Vicki's mother, was appointed Christopher's Guardian ad Litem. Forrest is also the administratrix of the estates of Vicki and Victoria. Christopher and Forrest ("plaintiffs") filed a personal injury and wrongful death suit against Beacham and Burbage, alleging that their negligence caused Christopher's injuries and the deaths of Vicki and Victoria. Forrest's insurance carrier, GEICO, moved to intervene as an alleged underinsured motorist carrier, seeking a declaratory judgment that Forrest's policy did not provide coverage for Vicki, Victoria, and Christopher. The motion to intervene was allowed.
On 22 September 2003 the trial court issued an Order Approving Partial Settlement for a settlement between plaintiffs and Beacham's insurance carrier, GMAC. In this settlement, GMAC agreed to pay $40,000 to Christopher, $45,000 to Vicki's estate, and $10,000 to Victoria's estate. This settlement exhausted the liability coverage on Beacham's vehicle. On 6 September 2005 the trial court issued an Order Approving Partial Settlement for a settlement between plaintiffs and Burbage's insurance carrier, Allstate. In this settlement, Allstate agreed to pay $20,000 to Christopher, $25,000 to Vicki's estate, and $5,000 to Victoria's estate. This settlement exhausted the liability coverage on Burbage's vehicle. Forrest's insurance policy with GEICO provided underinsured motorist coverage with limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. The parties stipulated that the damages were at least as great as $500,000 for Randell, $500,000 for Vicki's estate, and $250,000 for Victoria's estate. Plaintiffs and GEICO both moved for summary judgment. The trial court denied plaintiffs' motion but granted GEICO's motion, concluding that there was "no applicable underinsured motorist coverage with GEICO."
Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for GEICO on the issue of whether Vicki, Victoria, and Christopher were beneficiaries of Forrest's underinsured motorist coverage policy. "[S]ummary judgment would be appropriate only where, on undisputed aspects of the . . . evidentiary forecast, there were no genuine issues of fact and [a party] was entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Great American Ins. Co. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 78 N.C. App. 653, 657, 338 S.E.2d 145, 147-48, disc. review denied, 316 N.C. 552, 344 S.E.2d 7 (1986). Forrest's policy with GEICO describes the parties "insured" by the policy as "you or any family member." The policy defines "family member" as "a person related to you by blood, marriage or adoption who is a resident of your household." It is undisputed that Vicki, Victoria, and Christopher were blood relatives of Forrest. Thus, the pivotal issue is whether they were residents of Forrest's household. Plaintiffs contend that the evidence in the present case created a genuine issue of fact as to this issue. For the reasons stated below, we agree.
The GEICO policy does not define the terms "resident" or "household." "When an insurance policy fails to define a nontechnical term, the term is given its ordinary meaning." United Services Automobile Assn. v. Gambino, 114 N.C. App. 701, 705, 443 S.E.2d 368, 371, disc. review denied, 337 N.C. 698, 448 S.E.2d 539, 539-40 (1994). The word "resident" is "flexible, elastic, slippery and somewhat ambiguous," meaning anything from "a place of abode for more than a temporary period of time" to "a permanent and established home." Great American Ins. Co., 78 N.C. App. at 656, 338 S.E.2d at 147 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Further, "where members of an insured's household are provided coverage under the policy, `household' has been broadly interpreted, and members of a family need not actually reside under a common roof to be deemed part of the same household." Davis v. Maryland Casualty Co., 76 N.C. App. 102, 105, 331 S.E.2d 744, 746 (1985).
Forrest has lived at 3400 Highway 43 in Vanceboro, North Carolina, since 1991. At the time of the accident, Vicki was renting a mobile home at 171 Biggs Lane in Pine Town, Beaufort County, North Carolina, and Christopher and Victoria lived there with her. Prior to living at Biggs Lane, she rented homes at Old Highway 118 in Vanceboro, on King Street in Bath, and then on Main Street in Pine Town. Forrest testified that Vicki went "back and forth" from her various rental residences to Forrest's home, and that Vicki primarily went back to her home in Pine Town to see a man from the church there whom she was dating. Vicki had a key to Forrest's home and had her own furnished bedroom there, and she also kept toiletries, personal effects, and clothes there. Linda Hill, a friend of Vicki's, testified that Vicki bought groceries for Forrest's home, cleaned the home, washed clothes there, and worked in the yard. Hill and Forrest both testified that Vicki's dog lived at Forrest's home a majority of the time. Both Forrest and Letha Seymour, a friend and coworker of Vicki's, testified that Vicki spent at least two to three days per week and at least two to three weekends per month at Forrest's home. Vicki received all her mail at the Biggs Lane address, and a phone book issued in March 2001 listed her address as 109 North King Street, Bath, North Carolina. She worked at the Sunbeam bakery in Washington, Beaufort County, North Carolina, and attended church in Washington.
At the time of the accident Victoria and Christopher attended Bath Elementary School in Beaufort County, and the school listed their address as 171 Biggs Lane. Forrest testified that Victoria and Christopher stayed at her home at least fifty percent of the time. She further testified that Victoria and Christopher each had their own furnished bedrooms there, that they kept clothes, toys, and other personal effects there, and Christopher received hunting and computer magazines there. Seymour also testified that Victoria and Christopher spent at least fifty percent of their time at Forrest's home during the school year, and that they spent approximately seventy-five percent of their time at Forrest's home during the summer because Vicki was a single mother working two jobs and needed assistance raising her children. Seymour and Forrest also both testified that Vicki, Victoria, and Christopher did not bring overnight bags or extra clothes when they stayed with Forrest because they kept all necessary items at Forrest's home.
In State Auto Property Casualty Insurance Co. v. Southard, 144 N.C. App. 438, 548 S.E.2d 546, disc. review denied, 354 N.C. 370, 557 S.E.2d 535, 535-36 (2001), we upheld a grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurance company on the issue of whether a grandson was a resident of his grandmother's home and was thus covered under her insurance policy, which contained identical language to the policy in the present case. Id. at 438-39, 557 S.E.2d at 547. Depositions and affidavits showed that the grandson slept on the couch or on a mattress on the floor when he stayed at his grandmother's home, carrying his clothing and toiletries with him. Id. at 439-40, 557 S.E.2d at 547-48. He did not have a bedroom of his own there or a key to the residence, and he did not share in any household expenses. Id. at 440, 557 S.E.2d at 548. The grandmother also testified that her grandson was a "`wanderer' and usually spent the night wherever he happened to be when he became sleepy." Id.
In the present case, however, Vicki and the children regularly spent two to five evenings per week at Forrest's home and had their own bedrooms there. Vicki had a key to her mother's home and regularly bought groceries for the household. In addition, Vicki, Victoria, and Christopher all kept toiletries and sets of clothes at Forrest's home, and several witnesses testified that the three of them lived there at least half of the time.
We also note that although Vicki, Christopher, and Victoria were residents of the home at Biggs Lane, "a person may be a resident of more than one household for insurance purposes," and that a person may be a resident of a family member's household where a "continuing and substantially integrated family relationship" exists between them. Davis, 76 N.C. App. at 106, 331 S.E.2d at 746-47. The pleadings and deposition testimony show that there is a genuine issue of fact as to whether Vicki, Christopher and Victoria stayed at Forrest's home for more than a temporary period of time in a continuing, integrated family relationship, and were thus residents of Forrest's household. Because there is a genuine issue of material fact, summary judgment was inappropriate. Therefore, we reverse the entry of summary judgment in this case and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
Judges McCULLOUGH and ELMORE concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).