Brown v. Norman-Fuegero

165 So. 3d 1059, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0826, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 813, 2015 WL 1844533
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 22, 2015
DocketNo. 2014-CA-0826
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 165 So. 3d 1059 (Brown v. Norman-Fuegero) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Norman-Fuegero, 165 So. 3d 1059, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0826, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 813, 2015 WL 1844533 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

JOY COSSICH LOBRANO, Judge.

| plaintiff, Charles Brown, appeals the May 23, 2014 trial court judgment, granting summary judgment in favor of defendant, Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (“LIGA”), and dismissing plaintiffs claims. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

Plaintiff filed a petition for damages, claiming injuries sustained as a result of an August 20, 2012 vehicular collision. Plaintiff alleged that he was proceeding west on North Dorgenois Street in New Orleans, when Relimo Norman-Fuegero negligently drove his vehicle through a stop sign on Lapeyrouse Street, thereby causing the collision. In addition to naming Norman-Fuegero as a defendant, plaintiff also sued LIGA, as successor to the now-insolvent Southern Casualty Insurance Company. Plaintiff alleged that at the time of the accident, Norman-Fuegero was covered under a liability insurance policy issued by Southern Casualty-

LIGA answered plaintiffs petition, asserting, among other defenses, that LIGA and Southern Casualty’s insured, Norman-Fuegero, cannot be liable to ^plaintiff because plaintiff had received Medicaid payments that exceed the per person limit of the Southern Casualty policy, which is $15,000. LIGA further asserted that La. R.S. 22:2062(A) provides that all other applicable insurance must be exhausted before LIGA’s coverage can be reached. Therefore, LIGA argued that any amount payable by LIGA or by the party insured by Southern Casualty must be reduced by the full applicable limits stated in any other insurance policy from which plaintiff is entitled to receive benefits as a result of the alleged accident.

Plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment declaring that: (1) LIGA is not entitled to a credit commensurate with the value of plaintiffs Medicaid benefits; (2) if LIGA is entitled to a credit equal to the value of plaintiffs Medicaid benefits, the credit does not eliminate LIGA’s liability because the value of the Medicaid benefits is less than the total value of plaintiffs damages; and (3) La. R.S. 32:866, known as the “No Pay, No Play” statute, only acts to limit plaintiff from recovering the first $15,000.00 of his damages for bodily injury suffered in the accident, not as a dollar-for-dollar credit against LIGA’s insured’s per person policy limit of $15,000.00.

LIGA filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that: (1) the plaintiff has received in excess of $15,000.00 in medical expenses paid by the Medicaid program, and LIGA and Southern Casualty’s insured are entitled to a credit in that amount, which equals or exceeds the per person limit of the Southern Casualty policy covering the defendant insured, Norman-Fuegero; or, alternatively, | a(2) because there was no automobile liability insurance covering plaintiff or the vehicle he was operating at the time of the accident, plaintiff is barred from recovering the first $15,000.00 of bodily injury and the first $25,000.00 of property damage in an action for personal injuries against another driver, and the automobile liability insurance policy issued by Southern Casualty to Norman-Fuegero had a bodily injury claim limit of $15,000.00. Accordingly, LIGA asserted that plaintiffs claims against LIGA are barred by Louisiana’s “No Pay, No Play” law, La. R.S. 32:866(A) & (B).

The trial court heard both motions at a hearing on May 9, 2014, and rendered judgment on May 23, 2014, denying plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment [1061]*1061and granting LIGA’s motion for summary judgment on the ground that LIGA and Southern Casualty’s insured are entitled to a full credit in the amount of plaintiffs medical expenses paid by the Medicaid program. Because the amount paid by Medicaid on behalf of plaintiff exceeded Norman-Fuegero’s policy limits with Southern Casualty, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs claims. Plaintiff now appeals the May 23, 2014 trial court judgment.

On appeal, plaintiff presents four assignments of error:

(1) The trial court committed legal error by finding that Medicaid benefits are “other insurance” as per the State statutory scheme that grants LIGA a dollar-for-dollar credit for “other insurance;”
(2) If the trial court did not commit legal error by concluding that Medicaid benefits are “other insurance,” the trial court committed legal error by concluding that the credit should be deducted from LIGA’s insured’s per person automobile liability insurance limit even though plaintiff’s Medicaid benefits are undisputedly insufficient to completely compensate plaintiff for all of the damages, general and |4special, that plaintiff suffered because of LIGA’s insured’s negligence;
(3) If the trial court did not commit legal error by concluding that Medicaid benefits are “other insurance,” thereby entitling LIGA to take a credit equal to the amount of Medicaid benefits and that the credit should be applied against the per person automobile liability policy limit, then the trial court erred by failing to hold that federal law preempted the State statute authorizing LIGA to take a credit equal to the value of an injured plaintiffs Medicaid benefits and deduct the credit from the per person limit of LIGA’s insured’s automobile liability insurance; and
(4)The trial court erred as a matter of law by holding that La. R.S. 32:866, known as the “No Pay, No Play” statute, operated not as a bar to plaintiff recovering the first $15,000.00 in damages, but as a $15,000.00 credit against the per person limit of Norman-Fuegero’s automobile liability insurance.

In reviewing summary judgments, an appellate court applies the de novo standard of review, using the same criteria that govern the trial court’s determination of whether summary judgment is appropriate; i.e. whether there is any genuine issue of material fact, and whether the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Samaha v. Ran, 2007-1726, pp. 3-4 (La.2/26/08), 977 So.2d 880, 882 (citations omitted).

Plaintiff first argues that LIGA is not entitled to a dollar-for-dollar credit for amounts paid by Medicaid on plaintiffs behalf for injuries resulting from the accident at issue. Specifically, plaintiff argues that Medicaid benefits are not “other insurance” as contemplated by La. R.S. 22:2062. The trial court found that LIGA and its insured are entitled to a credit in the amount of the total recovery of the medical expenses paid for by Medicaid for plaintiff’s injuries.

La. R.S. 22:2062 provides as follows:

Is A. (1) Any person having a claim against an insurer shall be required first to exhaust all coverage provided by any other policy, including the right to a defense under the other policy, if the claim under the other policy arises from the same facts, injury or loss that gave rise to the covered claim against the association. The requirement to ex[1062]*1062haust shall apply without regard to whether or not the other insurance policy is a policy written by a member insurer. However, no person shall be required to exhaust any right under the policy of an insolvent insurer or any right under a life insurance policy or annuity.
(2) Any amount payable on a covered claim under this Part shall be reduced by the full applicable limits stated in the other insurance policy, or by the amount of the recovery under the other insurance policy as provided herein.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 So. 3d 1059, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0826, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 813, 2015 WL 1844533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-norman-fuegero-lactapp-2015.