Barnett v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co.

843 P.2d 1302, 1993 WL 3495
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedFebruary 1, 1993
Docket91SC464
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 843 P.2d 1302 (Barnett v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnett v. American Family Mutual Insurance Co., 843 P.2d 1302, 1993 WL 3495 (Colo. 1993).

Opinions

Justice VOLLACK

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Petitioners Gale F. and Gary Barnett (the Barnetts) petition from the court of appeals decision in American Family Insurance Co. v. Barnett, 821 P.2d 853 (Colo.App. 1991). The court of appeals found that a limit of payable benefits clause in the Bar-netts’ automobile insurance policy was valid, and was properly applied to set off Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits received for injuries which Gale Barnett (Barnett) sustained in an accident. We reverse and remand with directions.

I.

Gale and Gary Barnett were insured under a contract of liability insurance, policy No. 05-001426-01, with American Family Mutual Insurance Company (American Family). The policy took effect on December 22, 1983. The Barnetts’ policy with American Family contained uninsured-un-derinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage for bodily injury of $100,000 for each person and $300,000 for each accident. The damage recovery provision of the Barnetts’ policy provided in pertinent part:

We will pay damages for bodily injury which an insured person is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle or an underinsured motor vehicle. The bodily injury must be caused by accident and arise out of the use of the uninsured motor vehicle or the underinsured motor vehicle.

(Emphasis omitted.) The policy also contained a section entitled “Limits of Liability,” which provided:

Any amounts payable will be reduced by:
1. A payment made by the owner or operator of the uninsured motor vehicle or organization which may be legally liable.
2. A payment under the Liability coverage of this policy.
3. A payment made or amount payable because of bodily injury under any workers’ compensation or disability benefits law or any similar law.

(Emphasis omitted and added.)

On March 17, 1984, the Barnetts were involved in an automobile accident with Robert Scott Minson (Minson), an underin-sured motorist, who was driving a car owned by Lulubelle Morton (Morton). Barnett, who was a passenger in the car driven by her husband, was seriously injured as a result of the accident. Barnett stopped working on April 2, 1985.

On March 11, 1987, Barnett filed an application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits based upon a disability due to neck, back, and hip injuries which were allegedly caused by the car accident.

On August 20, 1987, the Barnetts initiated a personal injury action against Min-son for the injuries Barnett received in the accident and for a loss of consortium for Gary Barnett. Like the Barnetts, Morton and Minson were insured under an American Family policy. The liability insurance policy was in Morton’s name for the amount of $50,000.

On September 22,1988, a Federal Administrative Law Judge found Barnett disabled, and awarded her SSDI benefits to be retroactively applied to April 2, 1985, the date she stopped working. Barnett was awarded SSDI benefits of approximately $430 a month for herself and an additional $170 a month for her children under sections 416(i) and 423 of the Federal Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 401-433 (1988).

The Barnetts settled the personal injury action against Morton and Minson for $50,-000, the liability limit under Morton’s casu[1304]*1304alty policy. American Family contends, and the Barnetts do not dispute, that the Barnetts’ settlement with Minson is set off from the underinsured motorist benefits limits of $100,000, leaving a total additional coverage of $50,000 available to the Bar-netts. The Barnetts placed American Family on notice that they would initiate a claim through the arbitration process for underinsured motorist benefits under policy No. 05-001426-01.

American Family initiated a declaratory judgment action, requesting a court determination of whether the SSDI benefits may be set off from the underinsured motorist benefits available to Barnett. American Family filed a motion for summary judgment in which it argued that the award from the Social Security Administration should be set off from any award made by the arbitration panel in the underinsured motorist claim pursuant to the Colorado collateral source limitation statute, § 13-21-111.6, 6A C.R.S. (1987) (“collateral source statute”), and subsection (3) of the “Limits of Liability” section of the American Family contract, which provides for the set-off of benefits payable under “any ... disability benefits law or any similar law” (“the subsection (3) set-off clause”).

The Barnetts answered and filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the subsection (3) set-off clause in the insurance policy is void because it contravenes public policy. The Barnetts also argued that applying the collateral source statute to this accident would unconstitutionally violate the contracts clause and their rights to due process and equal protection.

In a written order dated February 6, 1990, the trial court allowed the set-off. The trial court held that the subsection (3) set-off clause in the insurance policy was valid, and that the collateral source statute, as applied to the facts of this case, does not violate either the United States or Colorado constitutions. Accordingly, the trial court granted American Family’s motion in full and stated that American Family may submit the SSDI benefits received by Barnett to the arbitration panel for set-off under either the insurance policy or the collateral source statute.

The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s finding that the set-off of the SSDI benefits was valid. The court of appeals found that the set-off was proper under the subsection (3) set-off clause in the insurance policy, and, consequently, it did not address the question of whether the collateral source limitation statute is unconstitutional.

We granted certiorari to review the holding of the court of appeals that the uninsured motorist statute, § 10-4-609, 4A C.R.S. (1987), allows an insurance company to reduce the $100,000 in uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage which was purchased by the Barnetts, and which American Family was required by section 10-4-609(2), 4A C.R.S. (1987), to offer, by the amount of SSDI benefits received by the insured as a result of the injuries for which she claims uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits. Barnett, 821 P.2d 853. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case for further proceedings.

II.

American Family argues that Barnett’s SSDI benefits should be set off from the UM/UIM benefits available to Barnett under the policy in accordance with the subsection (3) set-off clause in the contract. The Barnetts contend that the subsection (3) set-off clause in the American Family policy contravenes public policy because it undermines the purpose of the UM/UIM statute to prevent inadequate compensation to tort victims such as the Barnetts, and because it would minimize rather than maximize UM/UIM coverage.

Relying upon Perkins v. Riverside Insurance Co. of America,

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Bluebook (online)
843 P.2d 1302, 1993 WL 3495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnett-v-american-family-mutual-insurance-co-colo-1993.