Republished with permission, originally published in the September 19, 2019 issue of the DRI Life, Health, and Disability Committee News.

by Little V. West

What’s a New Mexico business to do if one of its key employees is absent from work due to a non-work-related injury? A pair of cases, one from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and another recently issued by the New Mexico Court of Appeals underscore and illustrate, for both New Mexico insurers and employers why keyperson insurance is important for New Mexico employers. These cases clarify the limits of other kinds of insurance and tort claims in the employment context.

In 1991, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals was called upon to decide if New Mexico law permits an employer to recover under an uninsured-motorist policy for economic damages the employer incurred when the corporation’s president was physically injured in an accident by an uninsured motorist. Cont’l Cas. Co. v. P.D.C., Inc., 931 F.2d 1429, 1430 (10th Cir. 1991). The language of the insurance policy at issue provided that the insurer would pay for:

all sums the insured is legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or driver of an uninsured motor vehicle. The damages must result from bodily injury sustained by the insured, or property damage, caused by an accident.

Id. (emphasis from the original quoted policy document).

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