Property & Casualty Insurance Guaranty Corp. v. Beebe-Lee

66 A.3d 615, 431 Md. 474, 2013 WL 1760529, 2013 Md. LEXIS 271
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedApril 25, 2013
DocketNo. 64
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 66 A.3d 615 (Property & Casualty Insurance Guaranty Corp. v. Beebe-Lee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Property & Casualty Insurance Guaranty Corp. v. Beebe-Lee, 66 A.3d 615, 431 Md. 474, 2013 WL 1760529, 2013 Md. LEXIS 271 (Md. 2013).

Opinion

BARBERA, J.

When a property or casualty insurer becomes insolvent, the Maryland Property & Casualty Insurance Guaranty Corporation (“PCIGC”) assumes responsibility for any outstanding claims or litigation. In the case before us, an insurance company settled a claim with an insured party but became insolvent before the agreement could be approved by a court. Maryland Code (1995, 2011 RepLVol.), § 9-306(e)(l)(ii) of the Insurance Article,1 states that PCIGC “may review settlements, releases, and judgments to which the insolvent insurer or its insureds were parties to determine the extent to which the settlements, releases, and judgments may be properly contested.”

PCIGC argues that the insurance company should not have been liable on the claim and seeks to challenge the settlement [478]*478reached by the parties. PCIGC also contends that it should not have to pay its statutory maximum on both an underlying insurance policy and an umbrella policy when the claims stem from a single incident. The Court of Special Appeals, in an unreported opinion, held that PCIGC may challenge a settlement only on limited grounds, such as fraud or collusion, and the corporation bears the burden of proving its reason for challenging a claim. Additionally, the Court held that PCIGC was liable for the statutory maximum on both policies.

We granted a petition for a writ of certiorari, Property & Casualty Insurance Guaranty Corp. v. Beebe-Lee, 428 Md. 543 (2012), to answer the following questions:

1. Did the Circuit Court err in ruling, and the Court of Special Appeals err in affirming, that [§ 9-306(e)(l)(ii) ] provides PCIGC with only a limited right to contest settlements entered into between a claimant and an insolvent insurer, despite the absence of such limiting language in the governing statute?
2. Did the Circuit Court err in declaring, and the Court of Special Appeals err in affirming, that PCIGC is liable to Claimants for twice its statutory limit of liability on a claim for a single bodily injury where the insolvent insurer provided both primary coverage and umbrella coverage?

For reasons we shall explain, we answer no to both questions and affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

I.

While visiting her grandparents at their home in Jefferson, Maryland on June 30, 2003, nine-year-old Ashley Beebe-Lee was seriously injured while riding a go-cart.2 Prior to the accident, Ashley and another grandchild asked their grandfather William Lee if they could take the go-cart out of the garage. Lee initially resisted, telling them that the go-cart [479]*479had not been running for a year or more. After the grandchildren washed dirt and dust off of the vehicle, Lee decided to see if it would operate. The go-cart’s engine started up, and Ashley drove the vehicle around the driveway and back lot of the property. At one point, Ashley lost control of the go-cart and drove into a trailer. She suffered severe injuries to her right arm and shoulder, and was flown ultimately to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for treatment. She sustained two severed arteries, a broken collar bone, and two broken ribs in the accident, among other injuries. Ashley reportedly has permanent scarring and was estimated at one point to have roughly 62 percent impairment to her body, with serious impairment to her right arm, hand, and fingers.3

Ashley’s mother, Belinda Beebe-Lee, on behalf of her minor daughter (hereinafter Respondents), hired an attorney and presented notice of a bodily injury claim against the Lees on November 3, 2003. Respondents filed the claim with the Lees’ insurer, Shelby Casualty Insurance Company (“Shelby”). The Lees had two policies with Shelby, one that provided homeowner’s personal liability protection up to $500,000 and a second umbrella policy that covered up to $1 million. Respondents’ attorney communicated with Shelby by letter and fax on multiple occasions between December 2003 and March 2006, discussing the insurance company’s liability investigation. Respondents forwarded copies of medical bills to Shelby along with photographs documenting Ashley’s injuries and her recovery.4 As of January 20, 2006, Ashley’s medical treatment totaled more than $155,000, and one doctor estimated the cost of future surgical procedures at roughly $300,000. After initially offering $750,000 to settle the claim on April 19, 2006, [480]*480Shelby raised its offer to $1 million in an email a month later, with a proposal to structure $500,000 of the settlement as an annuity. Gary Murtón, a litigation specialist at Shelby, wrote an email to Respondents’ attorney in which he stated, ‘You and I understand any settlement must be approved by the court and that the courts certainly look favorably upon the settlement to which we have agreed.”5 In an affidavit signed on July 10, 2009, Murtón said that he viewed court approval as a “ministerial” matter “that did not prevent the settlement agreement from being binding.”

On June 28, 2006, the Texas Department of Insurance sought, and was granted, a court order placing the Vesta Insurance Group and its affiliates, which included Shelby, into receivership. After finding that Shelby was insolvent, the District Court of Travis County, Texas, ordered that the company be liquidated on August 1, 2006. Respondents learned of Shelby’s problems in late July and asked the company to place the $1 million settlement in escrow. Shelby responded by directing Respondents to PCIGC, describing it as the “only recourse” available.

Respondents sent a letter on September 18, 2006 to PCIGC, informing it of the $1 million settlement reached with Shelby and that company’s liquidation. PCIGC and Respondents’ attorney exchanged letters through the remainder of 2006 and early 2007. PCIGC stated that it was not clear whether Shelby had a duty to defend the claim, and it sought additional information about the policies and the accident to assist it in determining what its statutory obligations were under the circumstances. Respondents maintained that Shelby had a duty to defend and that, under § 9-306(c),6 PCIGC was re[481]*481quired to assume all of the obligations and duties that Shelby would have had if the company had not become insolvent. On January 31, 2007, PCIGC informed Respondents that its investigation failed to find any breach of duty on the part of the Lees and, consequently, it declined “to make any offer of settlement.”7

Respondents filed a complaint against PCIGC seeking declaratory relief in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County on March 11, 2009. Respondents asked the court to find that they settled the claim with Shelby for $1 million and that PCIGC was obligated to pay $599,800 on the claim under the two insurance policies. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment and the matter came on for a hearing in the Circuit Court on May 19, 2010.

In an order issued July 12, 2010, the Circuit Court denied PCIGC’s motion for summary judgment and granted Respondents’ motion. The Circuit Court found that, as a matter of law, Respondents and Shelby had a binding settlement agreement. Consequently, the Circuit Court ruled that this agreement constituted an “unpaid obligation” arising out of the Shelby policies for which PCIGC was responsible.

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66 A.3d 615, 431 Md. 474, 2013 WL 1760529, 2013 Md. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/property-casualty-insurance-guaranty-corp-v-beebe-lee-md-2013.