Globe American Casualty Co. v. Boo Hyun Chung

PER CURIAM: On July 13, 1983, at 11:30 p.m., Bo Hyun Chung was operating his service station with his wife, Kum Ja Chung. Barbara Ann Orejuela drove into the service station, filled her tank with gasoline, and revealed to Mrs. Chung that she had no money to pay for the gasoline. Mrs. Chung referred Orejuela to Mr. Chung, who began discussions with Orejuela. The discussions continued as Orejuela got back into her car.

Orejuela drove away from the service station while Mr. Chung was still leaning into the driver’s side of the car. Mr. Chung died from the injuries he received from being dragged by Orejuela’s car. ⁷¹⁵ Mrs. Chung brought a wrongful death action on behalf of herself and the Chung’s only minor child against Barbara Ann Orejuela. 1 A judgment was obtained against Ms. Orejuela. Ms. Orejuela was uninsured, however, and she did not personally satisfy the judgment. Mrs. Chung then made a claim against her husband’s uninsured motorist carrier, Globe American, requesting the insurer to pay the wrongful death claim.

On April 9, 1984, Globe American forwarded a $20,000 check to Mrs. Chung, representing the per person limit of the uninsured motorist coverage in its policy with Bo Hyun Chung. Subsequently, on September 13, 1984, the personal representative of the estate of Bo Hyun Chung made a claim under the uninsured motorist endorsement to the Globe American policy on behalf of the decedent’s estate. The claim was denied, and the personal representative instituted the present action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, seeking an additional $20,000 under the uninsured motorist provision of the decedent’s insurance policy. The estate asserted that the insurer was liable up to the per occurrence limit of the policy.

On July 13, 1987, the circuit court heard arguments on each side’s motion for summary judgment. Globe American’s motion was denied. The motion in favor of Chung’s estate was granted in part and denied in part, and the case was scheduled for further hearing on October 21, 1987. Therefter, on October 19, 1987, the parties entered into a consent judgment in the amount of $20,000 in favor of the estate of Bo Hyun Chung.

On November 2, 1987, the circuit court approved the consent judgment and entered an order of consent judgment. The consent judgment became final on November 20, 1987, when Globe American’s third party complaint against the tortfeasor was dismissed. See Maryland Rule 2-602(a). Globe American appealed to the ⁷¹⁶ Court of Special Appeals which affirmed the judgment, Globe American Casualty v. Chung, 76 Md.App. 524 , 547 A.2d 654 (1988).

The intermediate appellate court held that under the language of Maryland Code (1957, 1991 Repl. Vol.), Art. 48A, § 541, mandating that all liability insurance policies contain uninsured motorist coverage, only a survival action was required to be covered. Thus, according to the Court of Special Appeals, the payment for the wrongful death claim to the insured’s widow had been gratuitous and did not absolve Globe American from liability for the survival claim. This Court granted Globe American’s petition for a writ of certiorari and limited review to the following question: “Did the payment by the petitioner