Horton v. State Farm Ins. Co.

641 So. 2d 993, 1994 WL 460679
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 17, 1994
Docket25943-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 641 So. 2d 993 (Horton v. State Farm Ins. Co.) 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
Horton v. State Farm Ins. Co., 641 So. 2d 993, 1994 WL 460679 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

641 So.2d 993 (1994)

Marilyn J. HORTON and Mary Horton, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANY, Sarah Nelken, Eugene McDuff & Sarah Jerome, in solido, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 25943-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

August 17, 1994.

*994 Jack H. Kaplan, Shreveport, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Lunn, Irion, Johnson, Salley & Carlisle by Marshall R. Pearce, Shreveport, for defendants-appellees, Eugene McDuff, Sarah Jerome, & State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co.

Davis & Singleton by Dorothy F. Jackson, Shreveport, for third party defendant-appellee, La. Ins. Guaranty Assoc.

*995 Before MARVIN, C.J., and SEXTON and HIGHTOWER, JJ.

MARVIN, Chief Judge.

A plaintiff motorist, Marilyn Horton, who was found solely at fault in a Shreveport intersectional collision, appeals a $9,371 judgment on the reconventional demand made against her by State Farm, the subrogated insurer of the other driver, Sarah Jerome, for the amounts paid to Jerome for her personal injury and property damage.

Having paid Jerome a total of $19,371 (medical, UM personal injury, and property damage), State Farm initially reconvened for that amount against Horton. State Farm did not join either Horton's insolvent liability insurer, Colonial Lloyds, or the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association, that insurer's statutory successor under LRS 22:1375 et seq., in Horton's city court action. Horton joined LIGA as a third party defendant for the amount of any judgment against her on State Farm's reconventional demand.

State Farm thereafter supplemented its reconventional demand only against Horton. The supplement asserted that Horton's Colonial Lloyds liability policy had limits of $10,000/$20,000 and that if LIGA was not statutorily liable for the $19,371 subrogated claim asserted against Horton, Horton was liable to State Farm for $9,371, an amount "equal" to State Farm's demand, "less the $10,000 policy limits of the Colonial Lloyds policy." At the trial on the merits Horton's third party demand against LIGA was dismissed on the authority of LRS 22:1379(3)(b).

While primarily complaining of the city court's factual finding that she was solely at fault, Horton assigns three legal errors relating to

—the city court's subject matter jurisdiction over State Farm's reconventional demand asserting claims exceeding $10,000;

—the dismissal of Horton's third party demand against LIGA; and

— Horton being personally liable even for part of State Farm's subrogation claim.

Finding no error of fact or law, we affirm the judgment.

FACTS

The 1991 accident occurred during afternoon daylight hours at the intersection of Southern and Pierremont Avenues, each of which is a two-way, four-lane street, with two lanes in each direction. Traffic proceeds northerly and southerly on Southern and easterly and westerly on Pierremont. The intersection is controlled by traffic lights. The speed limit on each avenue is 35 mph.

Horton was driving west on Pierremont in a 1987 Chevrolet. Jerome had been driving south on Southern, intending to make a left turn onto Pierremont to proceed easterly in a 1988 Mazda. Near the center of the two westbound lanes of Pierremont, Horton's Chevrolet struck the front left or driver's side of Jerome's Mazda, which was later declared a total loss. Horton was ticketed for, and after trial was convicted of, running a red light. Horton instituted the action in city court to recover her damages against Jerome and her liability insurer, State Farm.

After hearing conflicting evidence about how the accident happened, which we hereafter summarize, the trial court found Horton solely at fault for running the red light. The court found that State Farm was subrogated to a $19,371.49 claim by virtue of its payments to its insured, Jerome, but reduced its recovery against Horton by $10,000, the amount of Horton's liability coverage purchased from Colonial Lloyds.

The trial court correctly applied § 1379(3)(b), which provides that an insured (here, Horton) of an insolvent insurer (here, Colonial Lloyds) shall not be liable for a subrogation claim within the insured's policy limits. Applying this credit ($10,000), the court cast Horton in judgment for $9,371.49 in favor of State Farm.

SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION

The city court's ruling that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the reconventional demand asserting claims exceeding $10,000 is clearly supported by CCP Art. 4845 A:

When a ... city court has subject matter jurisdiction over the principal demand, it may exercise subject matter jurisdiction *996 over any incidental action properly instituted in connection with the principal demand, regardless of the amount in dispute in the incidental demand.
Our emphasis.

Horton contends Art. 4845 A is contrary to Art. 4843's grant of jurisdiction to city courts only in cases where the amount in dispute does not exceed $10,000.[1]

When a conflict exists in legislation on the same subject, the article that is more specifically directed to the matter at issue prevails over the more general article. Smith v. Cajun Insulation, Inc., 392 So.2d 398 (La.1980); Sargent v. La. Health Serv. & Indem. Co., 550 So.2d 843 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1989).

Art. 4843 provides that city courts have subject matter jurisdiction of a principal or main demand where the amount in dispute does not exceed $10,000. Subject matter jurisdiction of an incidental demand in city courts is not limited by a monetary amount. Art. 4845 A, emphasized and quoted above, grants subject matter jurisdiction to city courts over incidental demands, regardless of the amount in dispute, when the city court has subject matter jurisdiction over the principal demand.

The city court had subject matter jurisdiction over Horton's principal demand because she did not seek to recover more than $10,000 and over State Farm's incidental demand in reconvention, regardless of the amount in dispute in the incidental demand. Art. 4845 A.

DISMISSAL OF LIGA

State Farm did not name LIGA as a co-defendant with Horton in its reconventional demand. The trial court correctly dismissed Horton's third party demand against LIGA on the authority of LRS 22:1379(3)(b), which excludes from coverage by LIGA "any amount due any ... insurer ... as subrogation recoveries or otherwise."

Horton does not seriously dispute that LIGA statutorily has no liability on her third party demand. See § 1379(3)(b) and Townsend v. Clakley, 628 So.2d 1249 (La.App. 3d Cir.1993). She argues, however, that even if State Farm's subrogation claims are not covered by LIGA, LIGA yet had a duty to defend her on State Farm's reconventional demand because LIGA admits that Horton's Colonial Lloyds liability policy was in effect on the date of the accident. Horton cites cases which generally state that a liability carrier's duty to defend exists even where only one of several claims against the insured is a "covered" claim.

State Farm's claims against Horton were subrogation claims, specifically excluded from LIGA's statutory "coverage" by § 1379(3)(b). LIGA is statutorily deemed to have the rights, duties and obligations of the insolvent insurer only "to the extent of its obligation on the covered claims." § 1382 A(2); Bowens v. General Motors Corp., 608 So.2d 999 (La.1992).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
641 So. 2d 993, 1994 WL 460679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horton-v-state-farm-ins-co-lactapp-1994.