Mary Martin v. Infinity Insurance Company

Insurance - Fraud - Conversion - Plaintiff Mary Martin brought suit against
defendant Infinity Insurance Company seeking damages and
OCGA § 13-6-11 expenses of litigation and attorney fees arising
out of alleged fraud in the sale and cancellation of her
automobile liability insurance policy. The record reflects that
Ms. Martin applied for the Infinity insurance policy of which she
complains through the Ragan Insurance Agency, Inc. ("Ragan") in
Columbus, Georgia. Ms. Martin made application for automobile
liability insurance coverage for the period 9:00 a.m., February
17, 1997 through 12:01 a.m., August 17, 1997. In doing so, she
paid $246.00 and placed her signature under language which
authorized Infinity to "order consumer reports or personal or
privileged information concerning character, general reputation,
personal characteristics, driving record, loss history, and mode
of living." Such language also authorized Infinity to "charge the
correct rates" and to cancel the policy for "non-payment of
premium based on the correct premium developed." After receiving
Ms. Martin's application, Infinity adjusted her insurance premium
upward on two occasions. In the first of these, Infinity charged
Ms. Martin an additional $84.00 upon its discovery that she did
not have a major credit card and, in the second, another $87.00
for failure to provide proof of six months prior insurance.

Ms. Martin paid the first premium increase not knowing that
it included a $6.00 installment fee in that Infinity had not
advised her by declaration or otherwise that this fee was included
in the total. Further, neither Infinity's application for
insurance nor its first revised declaration of insurance notified
Ms. Martin that her payment was to be made not later than a date
certain. When the payment was untimely made, Infinity assessed a
$5.00 late fee against Ms. Martin. She did not pay the second
premium increase for failure to provide the required proof of
prior insurance, maintaining that she had not received notice of
it. In this regard, however, the evidence establishes that Ms.
Martin did provide Ragan a declaration page from her prior
insurance and that Ragan accepted it without telling her that it
was inadequate.

On July 7, 1997, Infinity canceled Ms. Martin's insurance for
nonpayment of its second increase of her premium. On August 25,
1997, eight days after her insurance would have expired in the
regular course of events, she was ticketed for failing to have
proof of insurance, an offense for which she paid a fine of
$288.25.

The trial court entered judgment on the jury's verdict for Ms. Martin and against Infinity, awarding her damages of $2,500.00 for fraud, $72.98 for conversion, and $9,000.00 for attorney fees and expenses of litigation.

Unknown

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Affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Georgia. See: ___ Ga. App. ___ (1999), ___ S.E.2d ___. Note: The above date reflects the appellate court decision date, not the original trial date. Reported by kkm.