Hermeling v. Minnesota Fire & Casualty Co.

534 N.W.2d 716, 1995 Minn. App. LEXIS 934, 1995 WL 434389
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 25, 1995
DocketNo. C4-95-376
StatusPublished

This text of 534 N.W.2d 716 (Hermeling v. Minnesota Fire & Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hermeling v. Minnesota Fire & Casualty Co., 534 N.W.2d 716, 1995 Minn. App. LEXIS 934, 1995 WL 434389 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge.

Five years and eleven months after an accident involving the collision of two vehicles, the victim brought an underinsured motorist’s claim against appellant, the insurer of the vehicle in which the victim was injured. A month later, appellant filed a third-party subrogation action against respondents, the [717]*717owner and the operator of the other vehicle. Respondents moved successfully for summary judgment, arguing that during that month, the six-year statute of limitations for bringing actions on the accident expired. Appellant challenges the summary judgment. Because we conclude that appellant as subro-gee can stand in no better position than the subrogor victim, whose right to bring suit was governed by a six-year statute of limitations, we affirm.

FACTS

On March 22, 1988, a vehicle owned by respondent Warren E. Johnson, operated by respondent Rochelle Johnson Lessard, and insured by American States, collided with another vehicle, owned and operated by Randy Nelson and insured by appellant Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company (MFC). Steven Hermeling, a passenger in Nelson’s vehicle, was injured. American States offered Hermeling the liability limit of the policy, $30,000, in settlement in June 1989. In July 1989, MFC preserved its subrogation rights against Johnson and Lessard by tendering its own check in the amount of $30,000 to Hermeling, who then returned the check from American States.

Hermeling sued MFC for coverage under Nelson’s underinsured motorist (UIM) policy on February 28, 1994. On March 31, 1994, MFC answered Hermeling’s complaint and filed a third-party complaint alleging negligence against Johnson and Lessard. Johnson and Lessard moved for summary judgment, arguing that the time to bring a negligence action arising out of the accident had expired on March 22, 1994. The district court granted the summary judgment motion, and MFC appeals.

ISSUE

Does the statute of limitations on a subro-gation action brought by a UIM insurer against an underinsured tortfeasor begin to run on the date of the accident?

ANALYSIS

“On an appeal from summary judgment, we ask two questions: (1) whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and (2) whether the lower courts erred in their application of the law.” State by Cooper v. French, 460 N.W.2d 2, 4 (Minn.1990). Here, the facts are not in dispute, but the legal issue is of first impression in Minnesota.

Minn.Stat. § 541.05, subd. 1(5) (1992) provides that actions “for any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated” must be commenced within six years. The accident occurred on March 22, 1988; the right to commence an action for an injury arising out of it therefore expired on March 22, 1994.

Appellant argues that the statute of limitations for its subrogation action should run from the time of the substitution of its own check to Hermeling in July 1989, because it was only at that time that a subrogation right arose. Despite the superficial appeal of this argument, it must fail.

We note, initially, that appellant’s claims are rooted only in subrogation.1 While appellant’s argument that a subrogee’s statute of limitations should commence at a point in time other than that of the subrogor is new to the appellate courts of this state, similar arguments have been addressed by both commentators and the supreme court of at least one jurisdiction. Both sources are informative:

While a subrogated insurer frequently contends that its action against the third-party tortfeasor who allegedly caused the damage or injury for which the insurer had to recompense its insured did not accrue, and the statute of limitations did not begin to run thereon, until the insurer had made the payments required under its insurance contract, courts have held, generally, that such a contention is without merit * * * [T]he statute of limitations begins to run on such actions at the same time that the [718]*718statute of limitations would have begun to run on the insured’s action, or that of the insured’s personal representative, against the third-party tortfeasor.

Jane Massey Draper, B.C.L., Annotation, When Does Statute of Limitations Begin to Run Upon an Action by Subrogated Insurer Against Third-Party Tortfeasor, 91 A.L.R.3d 844, 850 § 3.

The supreme court of Montana in a recent decision also concluded that the statute of limitations on the insurer’s action must begin to run at the same time that the statute of limitations begins to run on the insured’s action. In St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. v. Glassing, 269 Mont. 76, 887 P.2d 218 (1994), the Montana Supreme Court stated:

Because an insurer’s claim is derived from that of the insured, its claim is subject to the same defenses, including the statute of limitations as though the action were sued upon the insured. * * *
[W]e are cited to no authority for the proposition that the principles of subrogation vary with the type of risk insured against. We recognize that there are jurisdictions which have statutes extending the limitations period for subrogation claims of insurers that have paid damages to their insureds under uninsured or un-derinsured motorist policy provisions from the date of payment made under the policy. However, Montana has no such statutory authority extending the limitation date. Whether there should be such a statute is a matter to be determined by the legislature.
Rather, this Court follows the general principles of subrogation which provide:
Since the insurer’s claim by subrogation is derivative from that of the insured, it is subject to the same statute of limitations as though the cause of action were [sued] upon by the insured. Consequently, the insurer’s action is barred if it sues after expiration of the period allowed for the suing out of tort claims. 16 Couch on Insurance 2d, § 61:234 (1983).

Id. 887 P.2d at 221 (citations omitted).

We find the rationale of the Montana Supreme Court persuasive. Like the Montana legislature, the Minnesota legislature has not addressed the issue of whether a different statute of limitations should apply to insurer and insured in a subrogation action. We share the view of the Montana court that the question of whether there should be such a statute must be answered by the legislature. See, e.g., Johnson v. Winthrop Lab., 291 Minn. 145, 151, 190 N.W.2d 77, 81 (1971) (statutes of limitations are within the legislative domain and courts have no authority to extend or modify the limits prescribed by statute).

Because UIM coverage is not mandatory in Montana as it is in Minnesota, MFC argues that having an insurer’s cause of action accrue on the date of the accident is equitable in Montana, where insurers can avoid the restriction by issuing policies without UIM coverage, but not in Minnesota, where policies must include UIM coverage.

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Related

St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Glassing
887 P.2d 218 (Montana Supreme Court, 1994)
Great Northern Oil Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance
189 N.W.2d 404 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1971)
Johnson v. Winthrop Laboratories Division of Sterling Drug, Inc.
190 N.W.2d 77 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1971)
State Ex Rel. Cooper v. French
460 N.W.2d 2 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1990)
Schmidt v. Clothier
338 N.W.2d 256 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
534 N.W.2d 716, 1995 Minn. App. LEXIS 934, 1995 WL 434389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hermeling-v-minnesota-fire-casualty-co-minnctapp-1995.