Carlisle v. Farmers Insurance Exchange

946 P.2d 555, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 129092
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 20, 1997
Docket95CA2080
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 946 P.2d 555 (Carlisle v. Farmers Insurance Exchange) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carlisle v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 946 P.2d 555, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 129092 (Colo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge TAUBMAN.

In this declaratory judgment action, plaintiff, Anne Carlisle, appeals the summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant, Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers). We affirm.

In August of 1993, Carlisle was a passenger in a car that was involved in a collision, with a second vehicle. It is undisputed that both the driver of the car in which Carlisle was a passenger and the driver of the second vehicle were negligent in causing the accident.

The driver of the ear in which Carlisle was a passenger (first driver) was insured for liability with policy limits of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per vehicle. The driver of the second car (second driver) was insured for liability with policy limits of- $50,000 per person, $100,000 per vehicle. At the time, Car-lisle was insured under her father’s policy for uninsured/underinsured motorist protection (UM/UIM) with policy limits of $50,000.

Carlisle collected the policy limits of both negligent drivers’ policies, for a total recovery of $75,000. She then initiated this declaratory judgment against Farmers, claiming that because the first driver had policy limits less than her UM/UIM coverage, he was underinsured. Carlisle argued that she is entitled to collect $25,000 of UM/UIM coverage, the difference between the limits of her father’s UM/UIM policy and the first driver’s liability policy. Farmers filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing in part that because Carlisle had recovered from the tortfeasors an amount greater than her father’s UM/UIM policy, she is precluded from recovery under the policy. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, and Carlisle brought this, appeal.

I.

We hold that the policy language unambiguously allows Farmers to aggregate-the liability damages received by Carlisle.

The UIM/UM policy in question here provides the following:

Limits of Liability
The limits of liability shown on the Declarations for Uninsured Motorist apply to uninsured motorist coverage, including un-derinsured motorist coverage as defined in Additional Definition 3b, subject to the following:
[[Image here]]
4. The maximum we will pay an insured person for damages caused by an underin-sured motorist as defined in Additional Definition 3b shall be no more than the extent the uninsured motorist bodily injury limit exceeds the sum of the amounts of all liability bonds or insurance policies 'available to all parties held to be liable for the accident. We will pay under this coverage only after the limits of all such liability bonds or policies have been exhausted by the payment of settlements or judgments.

An insurance policy should be enforced as written, giving words their plain meaning according to common usage and avoiding strained constructions of the language used. Allstate Insurance Co. v. Starke, 797 P.2d 14 (Colo.1990). A provision of a policy is ambiguous and must be interpreted by the court when, upon being evaluated within the policy as a whole, Union Insurance Co. v. Houtz, 883 P.2d 1057 (Colo.1994), it is reasonably susceptible to more than one meaning. Northern Insurance Co. v. Ekstrom, 784 P.2d 320 (Colo.1989).

First, we conclude that paragraph 4 quoted above unambiguously allows Farmers to offset'“the sum of the amounts of all liability bonds or insurance policies available to all parties held to be liable for the accident.”

Second, we reject Carlisle’s argument that an ambiguity exists between the liability section of the policy concerning “other insurance” and the above quoted provisions. The liability section of the policy was not made part of the record and is, therefore, not *557 available for review. In fact, the only reference in the portion of the pohcy provided in the record regarding “other insurance” is an endorsement which expressly removes the paragraph concerning that phrase from the pohcy.

Carlisle's failure to include a complete copy of the pohcy in the record makes it impossible to construe the contract as a whole, or to determine if provisions within the pohcy create an ambiguity. Accordingly, we presume that the trial court’s ruling is correct, and no ambiguity exists. See Bowen v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 929 P.2d 14 (Colo.App.1996).

Thus, the pohcy unambiguously provides that Farmers may offset the amounts Car-hsle received from the first and second drivers against the limits of her father’s UM/ UIM pohcy.

II.

We also reject Carhsle’s contention that aggregation of her recovery of damages from both tortfeasors violates pubhc pohcy because it precludes any recovery under her father’s UM/UIM coverage.

Even though a term in an insurance pohcy may be unambiguous, it should not be enforced if it violates pubhc pohcy by attempting to dilute, condition, or limit statutorily mandated insurance coverage. Terranova v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 800 P.2d 58 (Colo.1990).

Here, the statute expressly permits Farmers to offset the combined recovery received by Carhsle from all tortfeasors. Section 10-4-609(5), C.R.S. (1994 Repl.Vol. 4A) provides the following:

The maximum liability of the insurer under the uninsured motorist coverage provided shah be the lesser of:
(a) The difference between the limit of uninsured motorist coverage and the amount paid to the insured by or for any person or organization who may be held hable for the injury; or
(b) The amount of damages sustained, but not recovered.

The purpose of UM/UIM coverage is to provide an insured with benefits to the extent necessary to recover for losses caused by neghgent drivers who are underinsured, subject to the insured’s pohcy limits. However, § 10-4-609 does not require full indemnification of losses suffered by an UM/UIM insured under all circumstances. Terranova v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., supra.

Under § 10-1-609(5), Farmers is allowed to offset “the amount paid to the insured by or for any person or organization who may be held hable for the injury.” (emphasis added) In construing a statute, “any” may mean “ah”. Obert v. Colorado Department of Social Services, 766 P.2d 1186 (Colo.1988); City of Colorado Springs v. Tipton, 910 P.2d 75 (Colo.App.1995).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mullen v. Metropolitan Casualty
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2021
Margaret MULLEN v. METROPOLITAN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY
2021 COA 149 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2021)
Adamscheck v. American Family Mutual Insurance
818 F.3d 576 (Tenth Circuit, 2016)
Jordan v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America
2013 COA 47 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2013)
Colorado Pool Systems, Inc. v. Scottsdale Insurance Co.
2012 COA 178 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)
Vaccaro v. American Family Insurance Group
2012 COA 9 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2012)
Lincoln General Insurance Co. v. Bailey
224 P.3d 336 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2009)
Wagner v. Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America
209 P.3d 1119 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2008)
Wagner v. TRAVEL. PROP. CAS. CO. OF AMERICA
209 P.3d 1119 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2008)
Radil v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh
207 P.3d 849 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2008)
American Family Mutual Insurance Co. v. Murakami
169 P.3d 192 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2007)
Pham v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
70 P.3d 567 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2003)
McCord v. Affinity Insurance Group, Inc.
13 P.3d 1224 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2000)
DeHerrera ex rel. DeHerrera v. Sentry Insurance Co.
992 P.2d 629 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1999)
Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Star
952 P.2d 809 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
946 P.2d 555, 1997 Colo. App. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 129092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlisle-v-farmers-insurance-exchange-coloctapp-1997.