Wolf

Insurance Code section 11580.2 (section 11580.2), in part, governs insurance companies in providing uninsured motorist coverage (UMC). Subdivision (c)(2) of section 11580.2 authorizes an insurer to exclude UMC for bodily injury of its insured if the insured is in, upon, entering into, or alighting from, a motor vehicle that is not described in the insured’s auto policy and the owner of that vehicle “has insurance similar to that provided in this section.”

We conclude that where the insured has $100,000 in UMC and the owner of the nondescribed vehicle has $30,000 in UMC, the owner does not have “insurance similar to that provided in this section.” Consequently, the exclusion authorized by subdivision (c)(2) of section 11580.2 does not apply, and we affirm the judgment. (In referring to this statutory language, we will refer to the insured as the injured insured and to the owner as owner.)

Background

On January 10, 1997, defendant Daniel Wolf (Wolf) was a passenger in a car driven by Richard Morgan (Morgan). They were rear-ended by an uninsured drunk driver going approximately 50 miles per hour. Morgan had UMC through State Farm Insurance Company, with a coverage limit…