Krech v. Hanson

In Krech v. Hanson, 164 Wis. 2d 170, 173, 473 N.W.2d 600 (Ct. App. 1991), Krech was injured in a vehicle driven by Hanson and insured with liability limits of $ 100,000 per person. See id. at 172. Krech was covered by a policy that insured two vehicles and included UIM coverage limits of $ 100,000 per person. See id. The policy in Krech defined "underinsured motorist vehicle" as "a motor vehicle for which there is a bodily injury policy or liability bond available at the time of the car accident which provides bodily injury liability limits less than the limit of liability for this coverage." Id. at 172. Krech requested that this court stack the $ 100,000 UIM coverage for each vehicle on his policy so that Hanson's vehicle would qualify as an underinsured motor vehicle. See id. The Court rejected this approach because, before stacking could occur, we had to determine if Hanson's vehicle qualified as an underinsured vehicle. See id. at 173. In making this determination, the Court first noted that although the two insured vehicles were listed on the same document, there were two separate policies because separate premiums were charged for each vehicle. See id. Since neither policy separately provided indemnification against the "same loss," we determined that the benefits could not be stacked. See id. The Court then compared the policy's $ 100,000 UIM coverage for each vehicle with Hanson's $ 100,000 liability coverage and concluded that because the coverages were the same, Hanson's vehicle was not an underinsured vehicle. See id. at 176.