44-6408. Motor vehicle liability policy; uninsured and underinsured motor vehicle insurance coverages; when required.

(1) No policy insuring against liability imposed by law for bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death suffered by a natural person arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle within the United States, its territories or possessions, or Canada shall be delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed with respect to any motor vehicle principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided for the protection of persons insured who are legally entitled to recover compensatory damages for bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death from (a) the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle in limits of twenty-five thousand dollars because of bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death of one person in any one accident and, subject to such limit for one person, fifty thousand dollars because of bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death of two or more persons in any one accident, and (b) the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle in limits of twenty-five thousand dollars because of bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death of one person in any one accident and, subject to such limit for one person, fifty thousand dollars because of bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death of two or more persons in any one accident.

(2) At the written request of the named insured, the insurer shall provide higher limits of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages in accordance with its rating plan and rules, except that in no event shall the insurer be required to provide limits higher than one hundred thousand dollars per person and three hundred thousand dollars per accident.

(3) After purchase of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages, no insurer or any affiliated insurer shall be required to notify any policyholder in any renewal, reinstatement, substitute, amended, altered, modified, transfer, or replacement policy as to the availability of optional limits of such coverages. The named insured may, subject to the limitations of this section, make a written request for additional coverage or coverage more extensive than that provided in a prior policy.

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Annotations

An insurer that provides higher underinsured motorist coverage limits than are required by subsection (2) of this section does not thereby escape the minimum requirements of the Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance Coverage Act. Likewise, an insured who pays for higher coverage does not forfeit the protections of the act. Kline v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 277 Neb. 874, 766 N.W.2d 118 (2009).

This section does not prevent insurers from entering into agreements with insureds providing more underinsured motorist coverage limits than those required by subsection (2) of this section. Kline v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 277 Neb. 874, 766 N.W.2d 118 (2009).

An insurance company's decision to limit both its liability and uninsured coverage for a person "using" a vehicle with the consent of the insured to those circumstances in which the use involves the operation and maintenance of the vehicle does not violate public policy. Jones v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Cos., 274 Neb. 186, 738 N.W.2d 840 (2007).

The minimum limit of uninsured benefits for non-named insureds is $25,000. Jones v. Shelter Mut. Ins. Cos., 274 Neb. 186, 738 N.W.2d 840 (2007).

Under this section, when an insurer delivers, issues for delivery, or renews an automobile liability policy, the policy must provide underinsured motorist coverage if Nebraska is the state where the insured intends to keep the vehicle most often compared to any other state during the policy period. Blair v. State Farm Ins. Co., 269 Neb. 874, 697 N.W.2d 266 (2005).

A named driver exclusion will not be applied in a manner that will deny an insured party uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage when the subject of the exclusion is not responsible for the injury and is not seeking coverage. Hood v. AAA Motor Club Ins. Assn., 259 Neb. 63, 607 N.W.2d 814 (2000).

"Persons insured" are those persons insured under the liability provisions of a motor vehicle policy. Allied Mut. Ins. Co. v. Action Elec. Co., Inc., 256 Neb. 691, 593 N.W.2d 275 (1999).