Johnson v. Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company, No. 23-6061 (10th Cir. 2024)
Annotate this Case
The case involves Bryar Johnson, who was seriously injured in a traffic accident while riding his motorcycle. After the other drivers' insurance policies paid out their liability limits, Johnson sought additional uninsured motorist (UM) coverage from his parents' automobile policy with Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company (MetLife). MetLife denied Johnson's claim under an exclusion in his parents' policy that denies coverage to resident-relative insureds injured while operating their own motor vehicle that is not insured by a motor vehicle insurance policy. Johnson had liability insurance on his motorcycle but had declined to purchase the offered UM coverage.
The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ruled in favor of MetLife. The court found that although Johnson was a resident relative and insured under his parents' policy, he had the opportunity to purchase his own UM coverage but declined it. The court interpreted Oklahoma law as requiring Johnson to either obtain liability insurance and UM coverage on his motorcycle policy or forego UM coverage under his parents' policy.
On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the lower court's decision. The court concluded that MetLife's exclusion does not defeat UM coverage for Johnson. Because Johnson carried liability insurance on his motorcycle, the court held that his motorcycle was "insured by a motor vehicle insurance policy." The court found that MetLife's exclusion did not require that resident-relative insureds carry UM coverage on their own motor vehicles to be eligible for UM benefits on other applicable policies. Therefore, MetLife owes Johnson UM coverage from his parents' policy. The case was remanded for further proceedings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.