Zdeb v. Allstate Insurance Company

404 Ill. App. 3d 113
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 17, 2010
Docket1-09-2774 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 404 Ill. App. 3d 113 (Zdeb v. Allstate Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zdeb v. Allstate Insurance Company, 404 Ill. App. 3d 113 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

JUSTICE ROBERT E. GORDON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff Elizabeth Zdeb, a policyholder, filed a declaratory judgment action in the circuit court of Cook County seeking a determination that defendant, Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate), was not entitled to a setoff on underinsured motorist coverage with monies paid to her for automobile medical payments coverage. Allstate moved for summary judgment pursuant to section 2 — 1005 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 1005 (West 2008)), claiming that the provisions of her automobile insurance policy permitted the setoff. Plaintiff filed a response to Allstate’s motion, and a cross-motion for summary judgment, claiming that a setoff is allowed only when a policyholder obtains double recovery. The trial court found the policy unambiguously permitted the setoff, granted Allstate’s motion for summary judgment, and denied plaintiffs cross-motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff appeals and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

The underlying facts are not in dispute. On October 19, 2006, plaintiff was a pedestrian on a public sidewalk in Chicago when she was struck by an automobile driven by Kamil A. Scislowicz (Scislowicz). As a result, plaintiff sustained serious injuries, claiming damages in excess of $200,000.

Scislowicz’s vehicle was insured by State Farm Insurance Company (State Farm) under an automobile insurance policy that provided liability coverage limits of $50,000 per person for bodily injury. Plaintiff settled with State Farm for the full policy limit of $50,000.

Plaintiff’s policy with Allstate provided underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage with a limit of $100,000 for bodily injury and automobile medical payments (MP) coverage with a limit of $50,000. Plaintiff paid separate premium amounts for the UIM and MP coverages, as is normally done in an automobile insurance policy. Part 2 of the policy declaration explains “automobile medical payments coverage” as follows:

“Allstate will pay to *** an insured person all reasonable expenses actually incurred for necessary medical treatment, medical services or medical products actually provided to the insured person. Hospital, medical, surgical, x-ray, dental, orthopedic and prosthetic devices, pharmaceuticals, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and professional nursing services *** are covered.
Payments will be made only when bodily injury is caused by an accident involving an auto or when [the insured] *** is struck as a pedestrian by a motor vehicle ***.”

Part 6 of the policy declaration contains provisions concerning UIM coverage. That part contained a “Limits of Liability” section that included the following applicable setoff provision:

“Damages payable will be reduced by:
1. all amounts paid by or on behalf of the owner or operator of the uninsured auto or anyone else responsible. This includes all sums paid under the bodily injury or property damage liability coverage of this or any other auto insurance policy.
2. all amounts payable under any workers’ compensation law, disability benefits law, or any similar automobile medical payments coverage.” (Emphasis added.)

Plaintiff submitted a UIM claim for her injuries to Allstate in the amount of $50,000, which equaled her UIM coverage limit minus the settlement amount she received from State Farm. Allstate had paid plaintiff $38,952.53 in MP coverage.

Allstate calculated plaintiffs UIM claim as follows: $100,000 would be set off by the $50,000 settlement she received from State Farm and the $38,952.53 that Allstate had paid her in MP coverage, for a total setoff amount of $88,952.53. Allstate tendered the balance of $11,047.47 to plaintiff.

On April 23, 2009, plaintiff filed a declaratory judgment action against Allstate seeking a declaration that she was entitled to $50,000, which represents the full UIM limit for bodily injury less the settlement amount she received from State Farm. On July 1, 2009, Allstate filed a motion for summary judgment claiming that it was entitled to set off the MP paid to plaintiff in the amount of $38,952.53.

On August 14, plaintiff filed a response to Allstate’s motion for summary judgment and a cross-motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff responded that summary judgment in favor of Allstate was improper because the MP coverage is a separate and distinct portion of plaintiffs insurance policy and claimed that a setoff is only allowed to prevent a double recovery.

After hearing arguments from both parties, the trial court issued a written memorandum and order finding that the policy provisions unambiguously allowed Allstate to set off the UIM coverage by any settlement amount and payments made under the MP coverage.

Furthermore, the trial court found that the purpose of UIM coverage is to place a policyholder in the same position had the underinsured motorist carried liability insurance in the same amount as the policyholder. The trial court concluded that in allowing Allstate to set off the UIM coverage by Scislowicz’s settlement amount and the amount paid to plaintiff under her MP coverage placed plaintiff in the same position had she recovered $100,000 liability coverage from Scislowicz. As a result, the trial court entered an order granting summary judgment in favor of Allstate and denied plaintiffs cross-motion for summary judgment.

This appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, plaintiff claims that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Allstate and denying her cross-motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff argues that Allstate violated public policy when it reduced its underinsured motorist coverage by amounts paid for medical payments although the insurance policy unambiguously allowed for such a reduction.

A trial court is permitted to grant summary judgment only “if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1005(c) (West 2006). Construction of the terms of an insurance policy and whether the policy comports with statutory requirements are questions of law properly decided on a motion for summary judgment. See Librizzi v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 236 Ill. App. 3d 582, 587 (1992). The standard of review from the granting of summary judgment is de novo. Weather-Tite, Inc. v. University of St. Francis, 233 Ill. 2d 385, 389 (2009) (“We review appeals from summary judgment rulings de novo”).

When the language of an insurance policy is clear and unambiguous, a reviewing court will give effect to those terms. Grevas v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 152 Ill. 2d 407, 410 (1992); Menke v. Country Mutual Insurance Co., 78 Ill. 2d 420, 423-24 (1980).

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404 Ill. App. 3d 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zdeb-v-allstate-insurance-company-illappct-2010.