Faith A. Boudoin Versus Safeco Insurance Company of Oregon, Amex Assurance Company, Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Teresa Fuhrman, and Trent R. Fuhrman

FAITH A. BOUDOIN NO. 23-CA-123

VERSUS FIFTH CIRCUIT

SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF COURT OF APPEAL
OREGON, ET AL
STATE OF LOUISIANA

ON APPEAL FROM THE TWENTY-FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
PARISH OF JEFFERSON, STATE OF LOUISIANA
NO. 759-719, DIVISION "M"
HONORABLE SHAYNA BEEVERS MORVANT, JUDGE PRESIDING

October 25, 2023

SCOTT U. SCHLEGEL
JUDGE

Panel composed of Judges Fredericka Homberg Wicker,
Stephen J. Windhorst, and Scott U. Schlegel

REVERSED; SUMMARY JUDGMENT GRANTED;
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS AGAINST CONTINENTAL
CASUALTY COMPANY DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE
SUS
FHW
SJW

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF/APPELLEE,
FAITH A. BOUDOIN
Paul E. Mayeaux

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLANT,
CONTINENTAL CASUALTY COMPANY
Catherine N. Thigpen
Ashley E. Gilbert

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE,
RLI INSURANCE COMPANY
Matthew D. Moghis
William Peter Connick
Michael S. Futrell
Tucker H. Wimberly
Thomas P. Owen, Jr.

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT/APPELLEE,
RURAL TRUST INSURANCE COMPANY
Jason P. Foote
Devin Caboni-Quinn
Kaleigh K. Rooney

SCHLEGEL, J.

Defendant, Continental Casualty Company (Continental), appeals the trial

court’s September 7, 2022 Judgment, which found that Louisiana’s anti-stacking

provision, La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(c), did not apply to the uninsured/underinsured

motorist (UM) insurance policies at issue in this matter. Consequently, the trial

court denied Continental’s summary judgment motion and granted summary

judgment, in part, in favor of plaintiff, Faith Boudoin, and defendant, Rural Trust

Insurance Company (Rural), as to the ranking or order of exhaustion of the UM

policies at issue. Continental also contends that the trial court erred to the extent it

allowed Ms. Boudoin to recover under its excess coverage policy issued to Eatel,

in addition to Ms. Boudoin’s personal UM policies.1

For reasons explained more fully in our decision in companion appeal, Case

No. 23-CA-65, we reverse the trial court’s September 7, 2022 Judgment granting

summary judgment, in part, in favor of Ms. Boudoin and Rural on the issue of

ranking, and grant summary judgment in favor of Continental based on our

findings that 1) the anti-stacking law set forth in La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(c) applies to

this matter, and 2) La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(e) prevents Ms. Boudoin from recovering

against her employer’s policy issued by Continental. We further dismiss Ms.

Boudoin’s claims against Continental with prejudice.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 13, 2015, Ms. Boudoin was driving her own personal vehicle, a

2009 Mercury Mariner, in the course and scope of her employment with Eatel,

when she was rear-ended by a 2014 Hyundai Accent driven by defendant, Teresa

Fuhrman. Ms. Fuhrman’s vehicle was covered by an automobile liability policy

1
Co-defendant, RLI Insurance Company (RLI), filed an appeal in companion appeal, Case No. 23-CA-
65, also contesting the trial court’s judgment with respect to the application of the anti-stacking law. In
addition, RLI argues on appeal that if the anti-stacking law applies, Ms. Boudoin must choose whether to
recover from 1) her personal line of UM coverage issued by RLI, or 2) a line of UM coverage issued to
her employer, Eatel, by Rural and Continental.

23-CA-123 1

issued by Safeco Insurance Company of Oregon with a limit of $50,000.00, and

she was also personally covered by a policy with Progressive Casualty Insurance

Company with $15,000.00 limits. At the time of the accident, Ms. Boudoin

personally maintained a policy with Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance

Company (Allstate) that provided $250,000.00 in UM coverage, and a

$1,000,000.00 personal umbrella policy with RLI. Eatel also maintained a

commercial automobile policy through The Phoenix Insurance Company, a

Travelers’ company (Travelers) with $1,000,000.00 in UM coverage, an excess

third-party liability policy with Continental with limits of $25,000,000.00, and a

commercial excess/umbrella policy with Rural providing $10,000,000.00 in

coverage.

Allstate tendered its policy limits of $250,000.00 to Ms. Boudoin, and on

August 31, 2020, the trial court entered an order dismissing her claims against

Allstate with prejudice. Ms. Boudoin also entered into a settlement agreement

with Travelers on September 27, 2021 for $865,000.00 of its $1,000,000.00 UM

policy limits, and on October 21, 2021, the trial court entered an order dismissing

Travelers with prejudice. Following the settlement with Travelers, Ms. Boudoin,

as well as several of the insurance companies, filed motions for summary judgment

seeking rulings on coverage and ranking issues that are the subject of the present

appeal.

Ms. Boudoin filed a summary judgment motion arguing that at the time of

the accident she was covered by her personal UM policies and her employer’s UM

policies and that she is entitled to recover from all of them ‒ her personal UM

policy with RLI, as well as Eatel’s UM policies with Continental and Rural. She

further asked the trial court to rank the order of payment for the UM policies as

follows: 1) Allstate; 2) RLI; 3) Travelers; 4) Continental; and 5) Rural. Rural filed

23-CA-123 2

a similar summary judgment motion, but asked that the trial court rank its policy

last in the order of payment arguing that its policy was a true excess policy.

Continental, on the other hand, argued in its summary judgment motion that

the anti-stacking provision contained in the UM statute, La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(c),

prohibited Ms. Boudoin from recovering against multiple UM policies because Ms.

Boudoin owned the vehicle she occupied at the time of the accident. Continental

also argued that, irrespective of whether coverage existed, La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(e)

barred her from recovering under its policy because she was occupying a vehicle

she owned at the time of the accident, which was not specifically listed in the

Travelers or Continental policies. Therefore, Continental argued that Ms. Boudoin

could only recover from her personal line of UM policies issued by Allstate and

RLI.

RLI agreed that the anti-stacking provision applies in this matter, but filed its

own motion for summary judgment arguing that Ms. Boudoin should be allowed to

choose whether to pursue coverage under her personal line of UM policies with

Allstate and RLI totaling $1,250,000.00 in limits, or Eatel’s line of policies issued

by Travelers, Continental, and Rural with total limits of $36,000,000.00. RLI

further argued that if Ms. Boudoin chooses to recover under her personal line, then

she could not recover any additional proceeds from RLI because she previously

settled with Allstate and Travelers, which had combined UM policy limits of

$1,250,000.00. RLI argued that allowing Ms. Boudoin to recover any further

proceeds from RLI would violate the prohibition in La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(c) against

increasing the limits provided under more than one policy. Finally, RLI argued

that if the trial court reached the issue of ranking, its excess umbrella policy should

be ranked after Travelers’ primary UM policy.

Following oral argument on August 22, 2022, the trial court took the matter

under submission. On September 7, 2022, the trial court issued a written judgment

23-CA-123 3

with reasons granting Ms. Boudoin’s and Rural’s motions for summary judgment,

in part, as to ranking, and denied Continental and RLI’s summary judgment

motions. On October 3, 2022, the trial court also entered an order designating this

judgment as final pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 1915(B).

DISCUSSION AND DECREE

For the reasons stated more fully in our decision in companion appeal,

Boudoin v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Oregon, et.al, Case No. 23-CA-65 (La. App. 5 Cir.

10/25/23), we reverse the trial court’s September 7, 2022 Judgment granting Ms.

Boudoin’s and Rural’s summary judgment motions, in part, on the issue of ranking

and deny those summary judgment motions in their entirety. We grant

Continental’s summary judgment motion based on our findings that La. R.S.

22:1295(c) and (e) limit Ms. Boudoin to recovery against one line of UM insurance

coverage, in this case her personal line, and dismiss Ms. Boudoin’s claims against

Continental with prejudice.

REVERSED; SUMMARY JUDGMENT
GRANTED; PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS
AGAINST CONTINENTAL CASUALTY
COMPANY DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE

23-CA-123 4

SUSAN M. CHEHARDY CURTIS B. PURSELL

CHIEF JUDGE CLERK OF COURT

SUSAN S. BUCHHOLZ
FREDERICKA H. WICKER
CHIEF DEPUTY CLERK
JUDE G. GRAVOIS
MARC E. JOHNSON
ROBERT A. CHAISSON LINDA M. WISEMAN
STEPHEN J. WINDHORST
FIRST DEPUTY CLERK
JOHN J. MOLAISON, JR.
SCOTT U. SCHLEGEL FIFTH CIRCUIT
MELISSA C. LEDET
JUDGES 101 DERBIGNY STREET (70053)
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL STAFF
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GRETNA, LOUISIANA 70054 (504) 376-1400

(504) 376-1498 FAX
www.fifthcircuit.org

NOTICE OF JUDGMENT AND CERTIFICATE OF DELIVERY
I CERTIFY THAT A COPY OF THE OPINION IN THE BELOW-NUMBERED MATTER HAS BEEN DELIVERED
IN ACCORDANCE WITH UNIFORM RULES - COURT OF APPEAL, RULE 2-16.4 AND 2-16.5 THIS DAY
OCTOBER 25, 2023 TO THE TRIAL JUDGE, CLERK OF COURT, COUNSEL OF RECORD AND ALL PARTIES
NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL, AS LISTED BELOW:

23-CA-123
E-NOTIFIED
24TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT (CLERK)
HONORABLE SHAYNA BEEVERS MORVANT (DISTRICT JUDGE)
PAUL E. MAYEAUX (APPELLEE) CATHERINE N. THIGPEN (APPELLANT) MATTHEW D. MOGHIS (APPELLEE)
MICHAEL S. FUTRELL (APPELLEE) THOMAS P. OWEN, JR. (APPELLEE) WILLIAM PETER CONNICK (APPELLEE)
JASON P. FOOTE (APPELLEE)

MAILED
JOHN J. ERNY, III (APPELLEE) DEVIN CABONI-QUINN (APPELLEE) TUCKER H. WIMBERLY (APPELLEE)
ATTORNEY AT LAW KALEIGH K. ROONEY (APPELLEE) ATTORNEY AT LAW
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METAIRIE, LA 70002
PAUL MICHAEL ELVIR, JR. (APPELLEE) ASHLEY E. GILBERT (APPELLANT)
ATTORNEY AT LAW DONALD R. KLOTZ, JR. (APPELLEE) ATTORNEY AT LAW
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