Floyd Suchta seeks from this court the promulgation of a rule that an automobile liability insurance company owes a duty to its insured to advise him with respect to his reciprocal claim for damages, and to protect his interests in that regard. The opinion of this court in Woodstock v. Evanoff, Wyo., 550 P.2d 1132 (1976), leads to the ineluctable conclusion that our law recognizes no such duty. We then must affirm the rulings of the trial court in Suchta's action to recover damages on the dual theories of breach of contract and negligence.

In other words, the insured is only an "immediate party" to the settlement, within the Butters rule, if the insurer was authorized to settle the insured's own claims, or if the insured otherwise had knowledge of or consented to the insurer's settlement of his claim. This rule, embodied in the general principle embraced in Butters, is recognized by the great weight of authority in other jurisdictions. See, e.g., Fikes v. Johnson, 220 Ark. 448, 248 S.W.2d 362 (1952); Perry v. Faulkner, 98 N.H. 474, 102 A.2d 908 (1954); Berlant v. McAllister, 25 Utah 2d 237, 480 P.2d 126 (1971); Woodstock v. Evanoff, 550 P.2d 1132 (Wyo.1970).The defendant-appellee acknowledges that he can find no clear authority for applying the Butters rule against anyone release.