Country Mutual Insurance Co. v. Hertz Corp.

981 P.2d 1118, 1999 Colo. J. C.A.R. 3165, 1999 Colo. App. LEXIS 147, 1999 WL 333235
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 27, 1999
DocketNo. 98CA0756
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 981 P.2d 1118 (Country Mutual Insurance Co. v. Hertz Corp.) 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
Country Mutual Insurance Co. v. Hertz Corp., 981 P.2d 1118, 1999 Colo. J. C.A.R. 3165, 1999 Colo. App. LEXIS 147, 1999 WL 333235 (Colo. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge DAVIDSON.

In this action for subrogation under an automobile insurance policy, defendant, The Hertz Corporation (Hertz), appeals from the trial court’s judgment determining that Hertz was 'liable for a pro rata share of the expenses incurred by plaintiff, Country Mutual Insurance Company (Country), in defending and settling a suit against a driver who leased a car from Hertz and who was insured by Country. We affirm on different grounds.

When the driver leased a car from Hertz, she declined to purchase a liability insurance supplement (LIS) which would have designated Hertz as the primary provider for liability coverage. Instead, by refusing the LIS, the driver agreed that, under the rental contract, Country, as her insurance carrier, would be the primary insurer.

While driving the rental car, the driver was involved in an accident in which she was at fault. The driver of the other car filed suit against her, seeking compensation for injuries suffered as a result of the accident.

Claiming that the driver had designated Country as her primary liability insurer, Hertz refused to defend her in the suit. Country paid the costs of defending the driver and the amount owed to the injured driver under a settlement agreement.

Country then filed suit, seeking to have Hertz reimburse it for a proportionate share of its expenses. The trial court, finding that Hertz’s liability provision was void because it violated public policy, entered judgment for Country and ordered Hertz to pay half the costs of defending the suit and the settlement amount.

The primary issue on appeal is whether the provision in the rental contract purporting to shift primary liability coverage from Hertz to Country is void as against public policy.

In the trial court, in response to Country’s motion for summary judgment, Hertz argued that freedom of contract principles allowed a [1120]*1120driver to determine which insurance company will provide primary coverage and that it was not attempting to exclude or limit its statutory obligation to provide liability coverage. Therefore, it maintained that it should be allowed to offer its customers the option of making such designation.

The trial court disagreed. In granting Country’s motion, the court determined that Hertz, by allowing the driver to reject Hertz’s liability coverage in favor of relying on her own personal insurance, was attempting to avoid having to provide liability insurance as mandated under § 10-4-701, et seq., C.R.S.1998 (No-fault Act). Because a policy provision that seeks to dilute or avoid a legislative mandate is void, the court reasoned, Hertz could not enforce its excess clause and avoid having to provide coverage in this case. We disagree with the trial court’s holding and conclude that it is not against public policy for a rental car company and a leasing driver to contract to name the rental company as a secondary provider of liability insurance.

I.

Summary judgment is appropriate if no genuine issue as to any material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The burden of showing that no such issue exists is on the moving party and all doubts are to be resolved in favor of the nonmoving party. Vargas v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 916 P.2d 652 (Colo.App.1996).

A.

Section 10-4-705, C.R.S.1998, requires every owner of a motor vehicle in this state, including rental car companies, to carry certain minimum insurance coverages as set forth under the No-fault Act. See Allstate Insurance Co. v. Avis Rent-A-Car System, Inc., 947 P.2d 341 (Colo.1997).

By its plain language, the No-fault Act imposes the responsibility of complying with its requirements on the owner of a motor vehicle. See Barnes v. Whitt, 852 P.2d 1322 (Colo.App.1993) (No-fault Act requires every owner of a motor vehicle to provide liability coverage without exception).

Here, it is undisputed that Hertz is the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident. Therefore, Hertz, as the owner, is required to provide liability coverage for bodily injury arising from the permissive use of its vehicles.

B.

Exclusions under an insurance contract must be consistent with the requirements of the No-fault Act or they will be void as against public policy. Coffman v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 884 P.2d 275 (Colo.1994). Policy provisions that attempt to dilute, restrict, or condition the coverage required by the No-fault Act are void and invalid. An insurer cannot limit its statutory duty by a contractual provision contrary to the requirements of the No-fault Act. Finizio v. American Hardware Mutual Insurance Co., 967 P.2d 188 (Colo.App.1998).

Here, the pertinent provisions of the Country policy state:

[Country] promise[s] to pay all sums in behalf of an insured which the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of:
1. bodily injury ... including death resulting from that bodily injury, sustained by any person;
2. damage to or destruction of property
If there is other applicable liability insurance for a loss covered by this policy, we will pay only our share of the loss. Our share is determined by totaling the limits of this insurance and all other collectible insurance and finding the percentage of the total which our limits represent. However, any insurance we provide with respect to a vehicle you do not own will be excess over any other collectible insurance.

The challenged provision of the Hertz rental contract states:

If you do not purchase liability insurance supplement (LIS) ... at the commencement of the rental, your insurance coverage will be primary, which means that the protection provided by Hertz by this para[1121]*1121graph will be secondary, and not in addition to, any valid and collectible insurance that provides coverage for you and/or any authorized operator.

Hertz asserts that, because it provides for liability insurance and because it would provide such coverage to a driver without his or her own liability insurance, it has complied with the requirements of the No-fault Act. Further, Hertz asserts, because liability coverage existed under Country’s policy and the victims were compensated, the General Assembly’s intent to compensate victims of automobile accidents was fulfilled. Therefore, Hertz argues, the contractual provision that allows a driver to shift primary coverage to his or her own insurer is not against public policy. We agree that the LIS provision in the Hertz rental contract is not contrary to the requirements of the No-fault Act.

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981 P.2d 1118, 1999 Colo. J. C.A.R. 3165, 1999 Colo. App. LEXIS 147, 1999 WL 333235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/country-mutual-insurance-co-v-hertz-corp-coloctapp-1999.