{
  "id": 11654175,
  "name": "CLARENCE RAYMOND WILLIAMS, Plaintiff v. ANGELA DENISE BOWDEN and LUANN MICHELLE PASCAL, Defendants",
  "name_abbreviation": "Williams v. Bowden",
  "decision_date": "1998-01-06",
  "docket_number": "No. COA97-430",
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges WALKER and TIMMONS-GOODSON concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "CLARENCE RAYMOND WILLIAMS, Plaintiff v. ANGELA DENISE BOWDEN and LUANN MICHELLE PASCAL, Defendants"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "LEWIS, Judge.\nPlaintiff appeals the trial court\u2019s entry of summary judgment for defendants. We affirm.\nOn 21 April 1991, plaintiff was injured when the automobile he was driving collided with a vehicle driven and owned by defendant Angela Denise Bowden in Wilmington, North Carolina. Defendant Bowden had automobile liability insurance with New South Insurance Company (\u201cNew South\u201d) and carried a policy providing $25,000 per single bodily injury. Plaintiff had underinsured motorist coverage with The Travelers Indemnity Company (\u201cTravelers\u201d) with single bodily injury limits of $100,000.\nOn 11 June 1992, plaintiffs attorney advised a Travelers claim adjuster that a proposed settlement offer in the sum of $25,000 had been made by New South. The proposed offer was the maximum single per-person limit under the New South policy. During the telephone conversation, plaintiffs attorney advised the adjuster that he would be making an underinsured motorist claim against Travelers on behalf of plaintiff. On 14 October 1992, plaintiffs attorney had another conversation with the Travelers claims adjuster handling plaintiffs potential underinsured motorist claim. During that conversation, the adjuster indicated that the proposed settlement exceeded his valuation of the claim and that Travelers would not advance any sum to plaintiff.\nNo written notice of the potential underinsured motorist claim was sent to Travelers prior to plaintiffs acceptance of the proposed offer from New South. In consideration of the sum of $25,000 paid by New South on behalf of its insured, defendant Bowden, plaintiff gave a \u201cCovenant Not to Enforce Judgment\u201d against defendants on 11 November 1992.\nPlaintiff filed a complaint for negligence against defendants on 25 October 1993. Travelers, as the stated underinsured motorist carrier, filed an answer to the complaint. On 23 August 1995, Travelers filed a motion for summary judgment based on the affirmative defenses of failure to provide written notice of settlement as required by statute, and failure to provide written notice as required by the underlying insurance policy. Plaintiff filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment. Summary judgment was entered in favor of Travelers by Judge W. Allen Cobb, Jr. on 18 October 1995.\nPlaintiff filed a notice of appeal of the order, Docket No. COA95-1298, which this Court dismissed as interlocutory on 1 October 1996. On 25 February 1997, a New Hanover County jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff and against defendant Bowden in the amount of $40,000. As a result of the previous payment to plaintiff of the underlying liability policy limit in the sum of $25,000, a judgment for plaintiff in the amount of $15,000 was entered. On 20 March 1997, plaintiff appealed the summary judgment order.\nOn appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred by granting Travelers\u2019 motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff contends that his oral notice of settlement satisfied the written notice requirement under N.C. Gen. Stat. section 20-279.21(b)(4) (1993). We disagree.\nGeneral Statute section 20.279.21(b)(4) governs the relationship between plaintiffs, underinsured drivers, and their insurers. It provides:\nNo insurer shall exercise any right of subrogation or any right to approve settlement with the original owner, operator, or maintainer of the underinsured highway vehicle under a police providing coverage against underinsured motorists where the insurer has been provided with underlying written notice before a settlement between its insured and the underinsured motorist and the insurer fails to advance a payment to the insured in an amount equal to the tentative settlement within thirty days following receipt of that notice. Further, the insurer shall have the right, in its election, to pursue its claim by assignment or subrogation in the name of the claimant, and the insurer shall not be nominated as a party in its own name except upon its own election.\nG.S. \u00a7 20-279.21(b)(4) (emphasis added).\nPlaintiff contends that we should look at the intent of the statute and declare that his oral notice satisfies the objective of the written notice requirement. We disagree.\nWhere the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, the courts must give it its plain meaning. State ex rel. Utilities Commission v. Edmisten, 291 N.C. 451, 465, 232 S.E.2d 184, 192 (1977). The written notice requirement of G.S. \u00a7 20-279.21(b)(4) is plain and clear. An underinsured motorist carrier may only be said to have waived its rights if, after receiving written notice of a proposed settlement, it fails to advance an amount equal to the proposed settlement within thirty days of the notice. Travelers did not receive the statutorily required written notice; therefore, it did not waive its rights. The trial court\u2019s order is\nAffirmed.\nJudges WALKER and TIMMONS-GOODSON concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "LEWIS, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Jackson, Rivenbark & Slaughter, by Bruce H. Jackson, Jr., for plaintiff-appellant.",
      "Johnson & Lambeth, by Maynard M. Brown, for Travelers Indemnity Company, unnamed defendant-appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "CLARENCE RAYMOND WILLIAMS, Plaintiff v. ANGELA DENISE BOWDEN and LUANN MICHELLE PASCAL, Defendants\nNo. COA97-430\n(Filed 6 January 1998)\nInsurance \u00a7 534 (NCI4th)\u2014 underinsured motorist coverage\u2014 settlement by insured \u2014 oral notice \u2014 not sufficient\nThe trial court properly entered summary judgment for Travelers, plaintiffs underinsured motorist carrier, where plaintiff\u2019s attorney had provided only an oral notice of a settlement between plaintiff and defendant. The written notice requirement of N.C.G.S. \u00a7 20-279.21(b)(4) is plain and clear.\nAppeal by plaintiff from order entered 18 October 1995 by Judge W. Allen Cobb, Jr. in New Hanover County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 3 December 1997.\nJackson, Rivenbark & Slaughter, by Bruce H. Jackson, Jr., for plaintiff-appellant.\nJohnson & Lambeth, by Maynard M. Brown, for Travelers Indemnity Company, unnamed defendant-appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0318-01",
  "first_page_order": 354,
  "last_page_order": 356
}