Mid-Century Insurance Co. of Texas v. Kidd

997 S.W.2d 265, 42 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1007, 1999 Tex. LEXIS 90, 1999 WL 450908
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1999
Docket98-0800, 98-1024
StatusPublished
Cited by124 cases

This text of 997 S.W.2d 265 (Mid-Century Insurance Co. of Texas v. Kidd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mid-Century Insurance Co. of Texas v. Kidd, 997 S.W.2d 265, 42 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1007, 1999 Tex. LEXIS 90, 1999 WL 450908 (Tex. 1999).

Opinion

Justice GONZALES

delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

These two cases present a common question: can an insured recover the same loss under both the uninsured/underin-sured motorist (UM/UIM) and personal injury protections (PIP) of a standard automobile insurance policy? Two courts of appeals answered yes and refused to enforce a policy provision barring duplication of UM and PIP benefits that would result in double recovery. 1 We hold that a non-duplication-of-PIP-benefits provision in an automobile insurance policy is valid and enforceable. Accordingly, we reverse the judgments of the courts of appeals and remand these cases to their respective trial courts for further proceedings.

Jack Kidd was injured in a vehicle collision caused by an uninsured motorist running a red light. Mid-Century Insurance Company, Kidd’s insurance carrier, paid Kidd $10,000 in PIP benefits. After settlement negotiations for UM benefits broke down, Kidd sued Mid-Century. A jury found that Kidd suffered $13,000 in past medical expenses and no other damages. Mid-Century moved for a judgment of $2,070 — Kidd’s $13,000 in damages less $10,000 paid under PIP and $930 paid to another doctor. The trial court granted the $930 offset but denied the $10,000 PIP offset and rendered a judgment for $12,070 plus pre- and post-judgment interest. The court of appeals affirmed. 2

Catherine Gerlich was also injured in a vehicle collision caused by an uninsured motorist. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Gerlich’s insurance carrier, paid Gerlich $2,208.72 in PIP benefits and orally agreed to settle her UM claim for $3,500. But Nationwide tendered Gerlich only $1,291.28, asserting that it could offset the $3,500 settlement amount by the $2,208.72 it had paid in PIP benefits. Gerlich sued Nationwide for breach of contract. Following a bench trial on stipulated facts, the trial court rendered judgment for Gerlich, holding that Nationwide was not entitled to a PIP credit. A divided court of appeals, sitting en banc, affirmed. 3

In affirming the trial courts’ judgments, the Kidd opinion and the Gerlich plurality opinion concluded that the following UM7 UIM provision, found in all standard Texas motor vehicle policies, was unenforceable:

In order to avoid insurance benefits payments in excess of actual damages sustained, subject only to the limits set out in the Declarations and other applicable provisions of this coverage, we will pay all covered damages not paid or payable under any workers’ compensation law, disability benefits law, any similar law, auto medical expense coverage or Personal Injury Protection Coverage.

Both courts held that this offset was inconsistent with the UM/UIM and PIP statutes 4 and violated our holding in Dabney *268 v. Home Insurance Co. 5 In contrast, three other courts of appeals, recently pressed with the same arguments, have upheld the same offset provision. 6 We granted the petitions in Gerlich and Kidd to resolve this conflict among the courts of appeals.

I

Kidd and Gerlich contend that the PIP offset provision contravenes the text, purpose, and intent of the UM and PIP statutes. We begin our analysis with an overview of those statutes.

In 1967, the Legislature enacted Insurance Code article 5.06-1 to mandate that all automobile insurance policies provide uninsured motorist protection. 7 The Legislature amended the statute in 1977 to also require underinsured motorist protection. 8 Under the statute, UM/UIM coverage must give insureds limited protection from bodily injuries and property damage caused by financially irresponsible motorists:

[Cjoverage is provided ... for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured or underinsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death, or property damage resulting therefrom. 9

Currently, the statute sets the minimum limits of UM/UIM liability at $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident for bodily injury and at $15,000 per accident for property damage. 10 An insured may decline UM/UIM coverage and not have to pay premiums for it, but must do so in writing. 11

In 1973, the Legislature enacted Insurance Code article 5.06-3 to require all automobile liability insurance policies to offer PIP coverage. 12 PIP gives a minimum of $2500 coverage to any covered person — the insured, members of the insured’s household, and occupants of the insured’s vehicle — for reasonable medical expenses and lost wages that result from an accident. 13 PIP coverage, unlike UM/ UIM coverage, is a form of no-fault insurance:

The benefits required by this Act shall be payable without regard to the fault or non-fault of the named insured or the recipient in causing or contributing to the accident, and without regard to any collateral source of medical, hospital, or wage continuation benefits. 14

PIP’s limitation to medical expenses and lost wages, along with its collateral-source and no-fault features, are designed to sim *269 plify and hasten claim resolution and payment.

II

Over the years, questions have been raised about whether an insured may aggregate or “stack” coverages under different provisions of the same policy or under multiple policies. The Texas Department of Insurance [TDI] has approved various provisions to offset amounts recoverable under one policy or policy provision by amounts received under other policies or policy provisions. This Court has previously struck down many offset provisions for being inconsistent with the express requirements and purposes of the UM/ UIM statute. But none of these cases involved the exact question here.

In American Liberty Insurance Co. v. Ranzau, 15 for example, we struck down an “other insurance” clause that prevented claimants from stacking coverages under multiple policies. The Ranzaus’ daughter suffered $50,000 in damages after an insured vehicle in which she was a passenger was struck by an uninsured motorist. The Ranzaus recovered $10,000 in UM benefits from the vehicle owner’s insurer and sought to recover $10,000 more in UM benefits under their own policy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
997 S.W.2d 265, 42 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1007, 1999 Tex. LEXIS 90, 1999 WL 450908, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mid-century-insurance-co-of-texas-v-kidd-tex-1999.