Carter v. Bordelon

370 So. 2d 113
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 5, 1979
Docket12448, 12449
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 370 So. 2d 113 (Carter v. Bordelon) 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
Carter v. Bordelon, 370 So. 2d 113 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

370 So.2d 113 (1979)

Charles Congreve CARTER, III
v.
Gaston J. BORDELON, Jr., et al.
Charles Congreve CARTER, Jr. and Marilyn B. Carter
v.
Gaston J. BORDELON, Jr., et al.

Nos. 12448, 12449.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 5, 1979.

*114 Henry A. Mentz, Jr. and Rodney C. Cashe, Hammond, for Charles Congreve Carter, III.

Phillip Gattuso, Gretna, for Gaston J. Bordelon, Jr.

Daniel Atkinson, Baton Rouge, for United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co.

Horace C. Lane, Baton Rouge, for United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. and Bordelon.

Tom H. Matheny and Pittman & Matheny, Hammond, for Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity (appellant-intervenor).

Before LANDRY, CHIASSON and SARTAIN, JJ.

LANDRY, Judge.

Intervenor-Appellant Louisiana Health Service and Indemnity Company (also known as, and hereinafter referred to as, Blue Cross), medical and hospital insurer of Charles Congreve Carter III (now deceased), appeals from judgment subordinating Blue Cross' subrogation rights to funds paid decedent's estate and surviving parents by the insurer of defendant tort-feasor Bordelon and by decedent's uninsured motorist insurer, for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident and resulting in decedent's death. We affirm.

On October 19, 1977, Charles Carter III sustained severe personal injuries in an automobile accident caused by the negligence of defendant Bordelon. The mishap occurred while Bordelon was driving a truck owned by defendant Bordelon Homes & Lumber Company, Inc. On November 9, 1977, suit was instituted on behalf of Charles Carter III to recover for personal injuries, medical expense, and lost earnings. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company (U.S.F.& G.) was made defendant in the action as liability insurer of the Bordelon vehicle and as uninsured motorist insurer of plaintiff's automobile.

Charles Carter III died on January 15, 1978, of injuries sustained in the accident. His parents, Charles Carter, Jr. and Marilyn B. Carter, were substituted as plaintiffs in decedent's survival action and, in addition, instituted a separate action for wrongful death damages. Both actions were consolidated for trial.

Pursuant to its hospital, surgical, and medical insurance policy issued to decedent, *115 Blue Cross paid decedent's succession $107,577.80 for medical expense incurred by decedent prior to his demise. Contemporaneously with the payment, Blue Cross obtained from Charles Carter, Jr. a subrogation agreement which pertinently provides:

". . . and for the consideration aforesaid and to the extent of said payment the undersigned further subrogates to said company all rights which the undersigned may have against any person or persons arising out of the loss mentioned above, and for the enforcement of such rights said insurer is hereby authorized to take any action which may be necessary either in law or in equity in its own name or that of the undersigned. . ."

Also germane is the following provision of Blue Cross' policy:

"F. In the event of any payment under this Contract, the Plan will be subrogated to all the Member's rights of recovery to the extent of such payment against any person or other legal entity. The Member will execute and deliver instruments and papers and do whatever else is necessary to secure such rights. The Member shall do nothing after loss to prejudice such rights."

Blue Cross intervened in plaintiffs' consolidated actions seeking enforcement of its subrogation rights to the extent of the $107,577.80 paid for medical expenses incurred by decedent.

Prior to trial on the merits of plaintiffs' consolidated actions, a settlement was reached pursuant to which all defendants were released from liability subject to certain stated conditions.

The settlement agreement, evidence by a written stipulation of record and incorporated into the judgment below, specifies as follows:

"1. Gaston J. Bordelon and Bordelon Homes and Lumber Company agreed to pay the total sum of $15,000.00, which payment was to be applied directly to plaintiffs in both the survival action and wrongful death suit, and Blue Cross Insurance Company specifically waived any rights to this payment.
2. $10,000.00 under the USF&G liability policy issued to Gaston J. Bordelon and Bordelon Homes and Lumber Company was paid and deposited into the registry of the Court.
3. $200,000.00 in U/M benefits under the USF&G policy issued to plaintiff, Charles C. Carter, Jr., was paid and appropriated as follows:
a. $97,000 to be paid in the registry of the Court.
b. $103,000.00 paid directly to plaintiffs in both the survival action and wrongful death action.
4. The pain and suffering of Charles C. Carter, III, in the survival suit was stipulated to be in excess of $300,000.00.
5. The pain and suffering of the plaintiffs in the wrongful death suit, for the loss of love and affection of their son, was stipulated to be the sum of $100,000.00 or $50,000.00 to each surviving parent.
6. The value of medical expenses incurred was stipulated to be in the sum of $137,154.74.
7. Blue Cross Insurance Company waived any subrogation rights to any amount paid under its policy in excess of $107,577.80.
8. Loss [of] wages incurred by Charles C. Carter, III, was stipulated at the sum of $2,700.00.
9. The court was to decide upon the appropriation of the sum of $107,000.00 deposited into escrow, in whole or in part to plaintiffs in the survival action and wrongful death action or Blue Cross Insurance Company under its petition for intervention."

As indicated by the above stipulation, the sole question is the proper allocation of the $107,000.00[1] deposit consisting of $10,000.00 *116 deposited by U.S.F.& G. as liability insurer of the tort-feasor, Bordelon, and his employer, and $97,000.00 paid by U.S.F.& G. as plaintiffs' uninsured motorist insurer. The trial court held that plaintiffs in the survival and wrongful death actions were entitled to be paid the entire deposit by preference. In so holding the trial court was influenced principally by the stipulation fixing the value of decedent's pain and suffering prior to his death at $300,000.00 and establishing the value of the survivors' loss of love and affection at a total of $100,000.00. The trial court reasoned there was no dual recovery of medical expenses because the combined general damages due in the consolidated actions exceeded $400,000.00 whereas plaintiffs' total recovery from all defendants aggregated only $225,000.00. Relying on Legendre v. Rodrigue, 358 So.2d 665 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1978), the trial court held plaintiffs' total general damages due in the survival action payable by preference over Blue Cross' right to reimbursement or subrogation. The trial court reasoned further that Blue Cross was not entitled to subrogation rights as to any of the damages allocated to the wrongful death action because no medical payments were made directly to plaintiffs therein. While we disagree with this latter reasoning of the trial court, for reasons hereinafter set forth, we affirm its judgment.

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

Related

Brister v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.
562 So. 2d 1040 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1990)
Smith v. Manville Forest Products Corp.
521 So. 2d 772 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
Wallace v. Aetna Life & Cas. Ins. Co.
499 So. 2d 577 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1986)
Southern Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. v. Sonnier
406 So. 2d 178 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Bond v. Commercial Union Assur. Co.
407 So. 2d 401 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
370 So. 2d 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-bordelon-lactapp-1979.