Louisiana Court Of Appeal Finds Owner’s Verbal Authorization To Affix His Signature On A UM Waiver Form Insufficient To Waive Uninsured Motorist Coverage

A Louisiana Court of Appeal reversed summary judgment in favor of an insurer that the insured had waived UM coverage, because the insured’s owner’s secretary who signed the UM waiver was not authorized in writing to affix the owner’s signature to the waiver form. Havard v. Jeanlouis, 20-404 ( La. App. 3 Cir. 05/12/21).

An employee of a tow truck company sued his employer’s auto insurer for UM benefits for injuries sustained in a car accident. The insurer moved for summary judgment contending that the stamped signature affixed by the secretary of the tow truck company’s owner on the UM waiver form satisfied the statutory waiver requirements. The trial court granted summary judgment in the insurer’s favor, and the employee appealed.

On appeal, the employee argued that his employer’s UM waiver form was not “signed by the named insured or his legal representative” as required by statute because a rubber stamp is insufficient to satisfy the statute’s signature requirement and the secretary did not sign in the capacity of a legal representative of the company, nor was there any indication she was a legal representative. The court found that the owner’s verbal authorization to his secretary to sign the waiver form on his behalf was insufficient and that a written authorization was necessary because the UM waiver form was required to be completed in writing and Louisiana Civil Code Article 2993 states: “When a law prescribes a certain form for an act, a mandate authorizing the act must be in that form.”  The court reversed and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.