Kidder v. Boudreaux

636 So. 2d 282, 1994 WL 113588
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 6, 1994
Docket93-859
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 636 So. 2d 282 (Kidder v. Boudreaux) 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
Kidder v. Boudreaux, 636 So. 2d 282, 1994 WL 113588 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

636 So.2d 282 (1994)

Marie KIDDER, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
John BOUDREAUX, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 93-859.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 6, 1994.
Rehearing Denied May 19, 1994.

*283 J. Minos Simon, Lafayette, for Marie Kidder et al.

Kenny L. Oliver, Lafayette, for John Boudreaux et al.

Before GUIDRY, C.J., LABORDE and THIBODEAUX, JJ., and WILLIAM A. CULPEPPER[*] and LUCIEN C. BERTRAND, Jr.,[**] JJ. Pro Tem.

THIBODEAUX, Judge.

Marie Kidder filed a tort action claiming damages for injuries sustained when she was rear-ended by John Boudreaux's pickup truck. Mr. Boudreaux was insured by Louisiana Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, but was also underinsured which resulted in Mrs. Kidder filing suit against her underinsured motorist carrier, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. The parties stipulated to the liability of Mr. Boudreaux, and the case was tried solely on the issue of the extent of damages suffered by Mrs. Kidder and her children.

The case was tried before a jury. Evidence was presented by Mrs. Kidder and her daughter, Christine Borden, on the extent of Mrs. Kidder's back injury and on the harm the injury caused Mrs. Borden. At the close of Mrs. Kidder's case, the defendants moved for and were granted a directed verdict on the loss of consortium claims brought by all of Mrs. Kidder's children with the exception of Mrs. Borden.

The jury returned a verdict awarding Mrs. Kidder the following items of damages:

Pain and suffering, past and future ...$20,000.00
Permanent injury and disability........$10,000.00
Past medical expenses .................$13,275.00
Future medical expenses ...............$10,000.00

The jury concluded that Mrs. Borden was not entitled to any damages on her loss of consortium claim.

Prior to judgment, all claims against State Farm were dismissed and judgment was rendered only against Boudreaux and his insurer, Farm Bureau. Judgment was signed on December 23, 1992. Pursuant to a stipulation entered into by the parties that State Farm paid $5,000.00 to Mrs. Kidder representing payment of a portion of her medical expenses, the court reduced the jury award by that amount.

Pursuant to a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, advanced by Mrs. Kidder and Mrs. Borden, the trial court held that the jury's decision regarding its denial of Mrs. Borden's claim for loss of consortium and its decision to deduct the $5,000.00 paid by State Farm from Mrs. Kidder's award, was without error.

Mrs. Kidder and Mrs. Borden have appealed the trial court's determination that Farm Bureau is entitled to a credit of $5,000.00 and have further appealed the jury's determination that Mrs. Borden is not entitled to damages for loss of consortium.

For the following reasons, we amend the judgment to reinstate the $5,000.00 improperly deducted by the trial court and affirm the jury's refusal to award loss of consortium damages.

*284 LAW AND DISCUSSION

The first issue presented is whether the tortfeasor's insurer, Farm Bureau, is entitled to credit for medical payments made to the injured party, Mrs. Kidder, by her own insurer where the insurer making payments, State Farm, did not assert a subrogation right, and where there is no evidence in the record that Mrs. Kidder and State Farm entered into a subrogation agreement, or that under its policy, State Farm was contractually subrogated to the rights of Mrs. Kidder to the extent of the $5,000.00 payment. We answer this issue in the negative, and amend the trial court's ruling.

Farm Bureau contends it is entitled to a credit for the amount Mrs. Kidder received from her underinsured motorist carrier, State Farm. The trial court gave Farm Bureau the credit. Mrs. Kidder argues that the "collateral source" rule is applicable to this case.

The "collateral source" rule means that the tortfeasor may not benefit, and an injured plaintiff's tort recovery may not be diminished, because of benefits received by the plaintiff from sources independent of the tortfeasor's procuration or contribution. Williamson v. St. Francis Medical Center, 559 So.2d 929 (La.App. 2d Cir.1990); Doerle v. State, DOTD, 147 So.2d 776 (La.App. 3d Cir.1962). The clear result, in Mrs. Kidder's case of giving Farm Bureau the $5,000.00 credit, would be to permit Mr. Boudreaux and Farm Bureau to gain a substantial benefit from the fact that Mrs. Kidder procured and contributed to a separate insurance policy which would protect her from injuries caused by un/underinsured motorists which is clearly prohibited by the established jurisprudence of this state. Huval v. Sinitiere, 376 So.2d 548 (La.App. 3d Cir.1979).

Farm Bureau correctly points out that this court in Guillory v. Terra International, Inc., 613 So.2d 1084 (La.App. 3d Cir.1993), held that the right of subrogation is an exception to the collateral source rule even if the party subrogated does not appear to assert its subrogation rights and the defendants do not timely object to the nonjoinder of the necessary party. Guillory, 613 So.2d at 1093.

The Louisiana Civil Code Article 1825 provides the definition of subrogation as the substitution of one person to the rights of another. It further provides that subrogation takes place by written contract or by operation of law. Louisiana Civil Code Article 1827, involving subrogation by the obligee, provides that when an obligee receives performance from a third person, that obligee may subrogate that third person to his or her rights. Mrs. Kidder, as the person who is owed damages, is the obligee. Farm Bureau, as the insurer of Mr. Boudreaux, the tortfeasor, is the person who must pay damages to Mrs. Kidder. Farm Bureau is an obligor. State Farm, as Mrs. Kidder's insurer, is the third person from whom Mrs. Kidder, the obligee, has received performance. Thus, Mrs. Kidder may subrogate State Farm to her rights against Farm Bureau.

In Guillory, not only did the plaintiff receive performance from a third person, when his crop insurer paid $20,001.00 but, by virtue of a provision in his contract of insurance, the plaintiff subrogated his crop insurer to his rights. Insurance contracts usually contain provisions providing for conventional subrogation of the insurers to the rights of their insureds against the tortfeasors since the agreement is considered to be fairly negotiated. However, as Mrs. Kidder accurately pointed out in her reply brief, there is no evidence in the record of State Farm's right of subrogation since, unlike the plaintiff in Guillory, the insurance policy between State Farm and Mrs. Kidder was not introduced into evidence and is not a part of the record on appeal. Thus, there is no evidence that Mrs. Kidder granted by express agreement to State Farm the right to assert her claim for medical expenses against Mr. Boudreaux and his insurer, Farm Bureau.

Farm Bureau argues that subrogation took place by operation of law, as provided in La.Civ.Code art. 1829, subsection (3) which states that subrogation, absent a conventional subrogation agreement, takes place "in favor of an obligor who pays a debt he owes with others or for others and who has recourse against those others as a result of the payment." The payment for which Farm *285 Bureau seeks credit was for medical expenses which State Farm was obligated to pay under its policy with Mrs. Kidder.

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636 So. 2d 282, 1994 WL 113588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kidder-v-boudreaux-lactapp-1994.