Court Discusses Calculation of Under Insured Motorist Benefits
After a car wreck, the not at fault injured driver was potentially covered by three policies. One was the at fault driver’s automobile policy with a $100,000 limit; one was his employer’s policy on the car providing under insured motorist coverage up to $50,000; and the last was his own automobile policy with under insured motorist coverage up to $250,000. The at fault driver’s coverage paid $100,000, $60,000 for her personal injuries and $40,000 for loss of consortium of her spouse. She also received around $48,000 in workers compensation. The employer’s policy offset the worker’s compensation and paid the not at fault driver about $2,000. The last policy offset the $100,000 paid by the at fault driver’s policy limit and the worker’s compensation amount from the $250,000, paying the driver about $102,000. The driver appealed that she was owed more money by the third policy’s insurance carrier.
The court held that the policy on the car was not the primary under insured motorists coverage provider because the at fault’s driver’s policy limit was higher than the under insured motorist coverage limit in the employer’s policy. Whether or not it offset the worker’s compensation and what it paid to the plaintiff was therefore irrelevant. The third policy’s insurance carrier could offset the worker’s compensation payment because it was the primary under insurance coverage provider, and it could also offset the entire $100,000 from the at fault driver’s policy because a loss of consortium one that results from one person’s injury and is therefore a bodily injury to one person under the policy and capable of being set off.
Katz v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 965 N.E.2d 636 (Ill.App. 1 Dist., 2012), No. 1-11-0931
