Section 6.7 No Insurance Applicable

• Library: Insurance Practice 2015

Section 379.203.5, RSMo 2000, states that the failure of the owner or operator to file the report required by § 303.040, RSMo 2000, with the Director of Revenue shall be prima facie evidence of uninsured status. A statement of the absence of the report, certified by the Director of Revenue, shall be received in all courts of Missouri. An affidavit from a subordinate of the Director of Revenue is sufficient to meet the requirement of § 379.203.5; the Director is not required to personally certify the failure to file. Strom v. Auto. Club Inter-Ins. Exch., 952 S.W.2d 794 (Mo. App. S.D. 1997).

For a driver merely to say that he or she is insured is not enough when the driver is unable to produce a copy of the policy or receipts for premium payments. Woosley v. State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co., 600 S.W.2d 210 (Mo. App. E.D. 1980).

The issue is whether the vehicle is insured, not whether the operator is insured by the policy; a fellow employee exclusion in the policy did not make the vehicle uninsured when the employee/ passenger was injured in a one-vehicle accident by actions of the fellow employee/driver. Seymour v. Lakewood Hills Ass’n, 927 S.W.2d 405 (Mo. App. E.D. 1996). But an employee/driver who was injured while avoiding a collision with a phantom vehicle...