Illinois Court Upholds Uninsured Motorist Claim Time Limit

A contractual time limitation to report an uninsured motorist claim as required in an auto insurance policy does not violate public policy, according to a decision rendered by the Illinois Supreme Court.

The case involved an Illinois insured, Terry J. Whitehead, who was involved in a July 27, 2007 accident in Delavan, Wis., with an uninsured motorist. Wisconsin has a three year statute of limitations on bodily injury claims.

Whitehead reportedly filed a claim for uninsured motorist coverage with her insurer, Country Preferred Insurance Co., sometime in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009 the insurer claimed efforts were made to obtain information in order to settle the claim. In October 2009, Whitehead’s attorney sent a demand to the insurer. According to the insurer, the demand did not contain a request for arbitration.

Because there was a dispute between Whitehead and her insurer as to when the claim was filed based on the supporting documentation required by the policy, Country Preferred filed a declaratory action in October 2009 requesting the court’s opinion on coverage applicability.

Despite Whitehead’s argument that Wisconsin’s three year statute of limitations should apply to her uninsured motorists claim, the court noted that she failed to explain why she was not able to initiate dispute resolution procedures within the contractual limitation period of two years.

“Nothing of record indicates that Whitehead lacked information necessary to pursue her claim against Country Preferred in a timely manner or that she was legally incompetent to do so,” the Illinois Supreme Court stated in its opinion.

Illinois’ high court ruled that public policy doesn’t dictate that policy limitations must match a particular state’s statute of limitations, if different.

Country Preferred Insurance Company v. Terry J. Whitehead, 2012 IL 113365 Supreme Court of Illinois