State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Brekke

I. Introduction

In these cases, both the terms of the insurance contract at issue and the applicable court rules would have allowed State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (“State Farm”) to demand and receive a jury trial on the issue of damages. The majority overturns both the contracts and the rules on the grounds that a term within the insurance contract that limits uninsured motorist coverage to judgments resulting from “actual trials” is repugnant to public policy. In reaching that conclusion, the majority rejects the notion that an insurer, sued simultaneously with an uninsured…