Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held in the offices of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Mississippi, 10th Floor, Woolfolk State Office Building, 501 North West Street, Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi on Wednesday, May 8, 2002, at 1:30 p.m., to consider the adoption of a proposed Mississippi Department of Insurance Regulation Number 2002-, entitled "Single-limit, Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist Insurance Coverage". Any and all persons wishing to testify at said hearing must register with the Insurance Department's Legal Division by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 6, 2002, or may submit their views in writing prior to the commencement of said hearing.

Additional opportunity for interested parties who feel that they will be adversely affected by the adoption of the proposed regulation will commence with the filing of the Order adopting the proposed regulation, including any amendments thereto, with the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of Mississippi, and will remain open for a period of five (5)calendar days from the date such Order is filed and such adversely affected party when submitting its comments or objections shall file or cause to be filed with the Commissioner of Insurance a written statement setting forth how such person will be adversely affected and such person's reasons for review of the Order.

The purpose of this regulation is to provide a form for insurers to use in the course of the sale or issuance of single-limit nonstacking uninsured motorist insurance coverage which would inform the named insured or applicant of the limitation on stacking imposed and that such coverage is an alternative to coverage without such limitation in accordance with Miss. Code Ann. Miss. Code Ann. § 83-11-102.

Copies of the proposed amended regulation may be obtained from the Secretary of State of the State of Mississippi or by mail from the Mississippi Department of Insurance, Post Office Box 79, Jackson, Mississippi 398205-0079. Copies may also be obtained from the Department's website address at http://www.doi.state.ms.us.

This the 8th day of April, 2002.

Lee Harrell
Deputy Commissioner
Mississippi Department of Insurance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section 1. Authority
Section 2. Purpose
Section 3. Coverages under a Single-Limit Policy
Section 4. Disclosures of Limitations of Single-Limit Policy
Section 5. Severability
Section 6. Effective date
Appendix A. Approved Form

Section 1. Authority
 

This Regulation is promulgated by the Commissioner of Insurance pursuant to the authority granted to him by Miss. Code Ann. § 83-5-1 and Miss. Code Ann. § 83-11-102 as enacted in the 2002 Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature, as well as the provisions of Mississippi Department of Insurance Regulation No. 88-101, said regulation being the Rules of Practice and Procedure before the Mississippi Insurance Department.

Section 2. Purpose

The purpose of this Regulation is to provide a form for insurers to use in the course of the sale or issuance of single-limit nonstacking uninsured motorist insurance coverage which would inform the named insured or applicant of the limitation on stacking imposed and that such coverage is an alternative to coverage without such limitation in accordance with Miss. Code Ann. § 83-11-102.

Section 3. Coverages under a Single Limit Policy

Insurers may offer single-limit, nonstacking uninsured motorist insurance coverage only to an insured in an automobile liability policy that covers ten (10) or more vehicles. Insurers must offer uninsured motorist insurance that would cover bodily injury and property damage with limits no less than those in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law in accordance with Miss. Code Ann. § 83-11-101 and § 83-11-102. The Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law sets out minimum split limits often thousand dollars ($10,000) for bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and five thousand dollars ($5,000) for injury to or destruction of property of others.

Thus, the minimum an insurer must offer for a single-limit nonstacking uninsured motorist insurance policy is one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident, two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for injury to or destruction of property of others. Should the minimum requirements in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law be increased, the requirement for the single-limit nonstacking uninsured motorist coverage must be increased accordingly.

Section 4. Disclosures of Limitations of Single-Limit Policy

A disclosure document containing the disclosures required in Miss. Code Ann. § 83-11-102 and this regulation shall be provided before or concurrent with taking an application for uninsured motorist coverage under a single-limit. Said disclosure document shall be in the form of the disclosure listed in Appendix A.

Section 5. Severability

If any provision of any section of this Regulation or the application thereof is held by a court to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect any other provision of that section or application of the Regulation which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Regulation are declared to be severable.

Section 6. Effective Date

The Effective Date of this Regulation shall be thirty (30) days from and after its adoption and filing with the Secretary of State's Office of the State of Mississippi.

APPENDIX A

Mississippi law* provides for an optional Single-Limit Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist coverage to be made available only to an insured under an auto liability policy that covers ten (10) or more vehicles. The Single-Limit Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist limits chosen shall cover all vehicles listed in the policy and does not apply per vehicle. The selection of this Single-Limit UM coverage imposes a limitation regarding the stacking of coverages. This Single-Limit UM coverage is the maximum limit per accident. It is in lieu of uninsured motorist coverage for each vehicle whose limits may be added together (stacked) for all covered injuries or property damages.

An insured may reject Uninsured Motorist coverage in its entirety, or select both Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury and Property Damage coverage, or select Bodily Injury coverage only. No insured may have Property Damage coverage without the Bodily Injury coverage.

The minimum limits required for Single-Limit Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist Coverage is ten (10) times the required limits under the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law. An increase to the statutory limits under the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law shall increase the minimum limits for Single-Limit Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist coverage accordingly.

I understand the Single-Limit Nonstacking Uninsured Motorist limitation imposed and that such coverage is an alternative to coverage without such limitation. I further agree that this acknowledgement of Single-Limit Nonstacking UM coverage selection or rejection shall apply to any policy from the same insurer, including sister insurers in the same holding company, which renews the coverage, extends the coverage, or changes covered vehicles unless and until I make a written request for a change to stackable uninsured motorist coverage.

UM Bodily Injury Only at Limits of _______________/_______________

UM Bodliy Injury and UM Property Damage at limits of __________/__________/___________

Rejects all Uninsured Motorist coverage.

Date:__________            Policy Number:_______________

Signature of Applicant:______________________________

Form No.