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Public Act 093-0762 |
SB2238 Enrolled |
LRB093 15870 RCE 41487 b |
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AN ACT in relation to insurance.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Illinois Insurance Code is amended by |
changing Section 143a-2 as follows:
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(215 ILCS 5/143a-2) (from Ch. 73, par. 755a-2)
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Sec. 143a-2. (1) Additional uninsured motor vehicle
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coverage. No policy insuring against loss resulting from |
liability imposed
by law for bodily injury or death suffered by |
any person arising out of the
ownership, maintenance or use of |
a motor vehicle shall be renewed or
delivered or issued for |
delivery in this State with respect to any motor
vehicle |
designed for use on public highways and required to be |
registered
in this State unless uninsured motorist coverage as |
required in Section
143a of this Code is included in an amount |
equal to the insured's bodily
injury liability limits unless |
specifically rejected by the insured as provided in paragraph |
(2) of this Section . Each
insurance company providing the |
coverage must provide applicants with a
brief description of |
the coverage and advise them of their right to reject
the |
coverage in excess of the limits set forth in Section 7-203 of |
The
Illinois Vehicle Code. The provisions of this amendatory |
Act of 1990 apply
to policies of insurance applied for after |
June 30, 1991.
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(2) Right of rejection of additional uninsured motorist
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coverage. Any named insured or applicant
After June 30, 1991, |
every application for motor vehicle
coverage must contain a |
space for indicating the rejection of additional
uninsured |
motorist coverage. No rejection of that coverage may be
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effective unless the applicant signs or initials the indication |
of
rejection. The applicant may reject additional uninsured
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motorist coverage in excess of the limits set forth in Section |
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7-203
of the Illinois Vehicle Code by making a written request |
for limits of uninsured motorist coverage which are less than |
bodily injury liability limits or a written rejection of limits |
in excess of those required by law. This election or rejection |
shall be binding on all persons insured under the policy . In |
those cases , including policies first
issued before July 1, |
1991, where the insured has elected
to purchase limits of |
uninsured motorist coverage which are less than
bodily injury |
liability limits or to reject limits in excess of those
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required by law, the insurer need not provide in any renewal,
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reinstatement, reissuance, substitute, amended, replacement or
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supplementary policy, coverage in excess of that elected by the |
insured in
connection with a policy previously issued to such |
insured by the same
insurer unless the insured subsequently |
makes a written request for
such coverage.
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(3) The original document
application indicating the |
applicant's selection of
uninsured motorist coverage limits |
shall constitute sufficient evidence of
the applicant's |
selection of uninsured motorist coverage limits and shall
be |
binding on all persons insured under the policy . For purposes |
of this
Section any reproduction of the document
application by |
means of photograph,
photostat, microfiche, computerized |
optical imaging process, or other
similar process or means of |
reproduction shall be deemed the equivalent of
the original |
document
application .
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(4) For the purpose of this Code the term "underinsured |
motor vehicle"
means a motor vehicle whose ownership, |
maintenance or use has resulted in
bodily injury or death of |
the insured, as defined in the policy, and for
which the sum of |
the limits of liability under all bodily injury liability
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insurance policies or under bonds or other security required to |
be
maintained under Illinois law applicable to the driver or to |
the person or
organization legally responsible for such vehicle |
and applicable to the
vehicle, is less than the limits for |
underinsured coverage provided the
insured as defined in the |
policy at the time of the accident. The limits
of liability for |
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an insurer providing underinsured motorist coverage shall
be |
the limits of such coverage, less those amounts actually |
recovered under
the applicable bodily injury insurance |
policies, bonds or other security
maintained on the |
underinsured motor vehicle.
However, the maximum amount |
payable by the underinsured motorist coverage
carrier shall not |
exceed the amount by which the limits of the underinsured
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motorist coverage exceeds the limits of the bodily injury |
liability insurance
of the owner or operator of the |
underinsured motor vehicle.
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On or after July 1, 1983, no policy insuring against loss |
resulting
from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or |
death suffered by any
person arising out of the ownership, |
maintenance or use of a motor vehicle
shall be renewed or |
delivered or issued for delivery in this State with respect
to |
any motor vehicle designed for use on public highways and |
required to be
registered in this State unless underinsured |
motorist coverage is included
in such policy in an amount equal |
to the total amount of uninsured motorist
coverage provided in |
that policy where such uninsured motorist coverage
exceeds the |
limits set forth in Section 7-203 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
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The changes made to this subsection (4) by this amendatory |
Act of the 93rd General Assembly apply to policies issued or |
renewed on or after December 1, 2004.
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(5) Scope. Nothing herein shall prohibit an insurer from |
setting forth
policy terms and conditions which provide that if |
the insured has coverage
available under this Section under |
more than one policy or provision of
coverage, any recovery or |
benefits may be equal to, but may not exceed,
the higher of the |
applicable limits of the respective coverage, and the
limits of |
liability under this Section shall not be increased because
of |
multiple motor vehicles covered under the same policy of |
insurance.
Insurers providing liability coverage on an excess |
or umbrella basis are
neither required to provide, nor are they |
prohibited from offering or
making available coverages |
conforming to this Section on a supplemental
basis. |
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Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, an insurer |
shall
not be prohibited from solely providing a combination of |
uninsured and
underinsured motorist coverages where the limits |
of liability under each
coverage is in the same amount.
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(6) Subrogation against underinsured motorists. No insurer |
shall exercise
any right of subrogation under a policy |
providing additional uninsured motorist
coverage against an |
underinsured motorist where the insurer has been provided
with |
written notice in advance of 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 30 days
following receipt of such notice.
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(7) A policy which provides underinsured motor vehicle |
coverage may
include a clause which denies payment until the |
limits of liability or
portion thereof under
all bodily injury |
liability insurance policies applicable to the
underinsured |
motor vehicle and its operators have been partially or fully
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exhausted
by payment
of judgment or settlement. A judgment or |
settlement of the bodily injury
claim in an amount less than |
the limits of liability of the bodily injury
coverages |
applicable to the claim shall not preclude the claimant from |
making
an underinsured motorist claim against the underinsured |
motorist coverage.
Any such provision in a policy of insurance
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shall be inapplicable if the insured, or the legal |
representative of the
insured, and the insurer providing |
underinsured motor vehicle coverage
agree that the insured has |
suffered bodily injury or death as the result of
the negligent |
operation, maintenance, or use of an underinsured motor
vehicle |
and, without arbitration, agree also on the amount of damages |
that
the insured is legally entitled to collect. The maximum |
amount payable
pursuant to such an underinsured motor vehicle |
insurance settlement
agreement shall not exceed the amount by |
which the limits of the
underinsured motorist coverage exceed |
the limits of the bodily injury
liability insurance of the |
owner or operator of the underinsured motor
vehicle. Any such |
agreement shall be final as to the amount due and shall
be |
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binding upon both the insured and the underinsured motorist |
insurer
regardless of the amount of any judgment, or any |
settlement reached between
any insured and the person or |
persons responsible for the accident. No
such settlement |
agreement shall be concluded unless: (i) the insured has
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complied with all other applicable policy terms and conditions; |
and (ii)
before the conclusion of the settlement agreement, the |
insured has filed
suit against the underinsured motor vehicle |
owner or operator and has not
abandoned the suit, or settled |
the suit without preserving the rights of
the insurer providing |
underinsured motor vehicle coverage in the manner
described in |
paragraph (6) of this Section.
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(Source: P.A. 89-658, eff. 1-1-97.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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