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Craven v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co.9/9/2004
ORDER AFFIRMED
Plaintiff, Veronica Craven, appeals the trial court's order dismissing her claims against defendant, Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company. We affirm.
The dispute in this case arises out of an automobile accident occurring in Jefferson County, Colorado, on June 2, 2001. Craven, an Arkansas resident, was a passenger in her own van, which was rear-ended by another vehicle driven by a Colorado resident. As a result of the accident, Craven sustained injuries requiring medical treatment and physical therapy.
At the time of the accident, Craven's van was insured under a policy issued in Arkansas by Southern Farm. The policy provided for personal injury protection (PIP) benefits in the amount of $5,000 for each covered person, which is the minimum PIP benefit amount required under Arkansas law. At the time, the minimum no-fault PIP benefit amount required under Colorado law was $50,000 per person.
Following the accident, Southern Farm paid Craven the $5,000 limit of her PIP benefits required under her policy. Thereafter, Craven demanded that Southern Farm pay additional no-fault PIP benefits to which she asserted she was entitled under Colorado law.
Southern Farm filed an action against Craven in Arkansas seeking a declaratory judgment that Arkansas law applied to determine the amount of PIP coverage it owed to Craven. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the Arkansas trial court found that Colorado law applied and that Southern Farm owed Craven additional PIP benefits under Colorado law. Southern Farm appealed, and on November 13, 2002, the Arkansas Court of Appeals reversed and held that Southern Farm was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, ruling that Arkansas law applied and that Southern Farm was only obligated to pay Craven $5,000 in PIP benefits as required by Arkansas law. S. Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co. v. Craven, 89 S.W.3d 369 (Ark. Ct. App. 2002).
Prior to the ruling of the Arkansas Court of Appeals, Craven filed this action in Jefferson County District Court, alleging that Southern Farm was liable for bad faith and violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act by failing to pay PIP benefits under Colorado law. Southern Farm filed a motion to dismiss, which was stayed pending the outcome of the Arkansas appeal. After the decision on appeal was announced, the trial court granted Southern Farm's motion on the ground that the Arkansas judgment in favor of Southern Farm was entitled to full faith and credit and was not subject to collateral attack in Colorado. Craven filed a motion to alter or amend judgment under C.R.C.P. 59. The trial court denied that motion, and this appeal followed.
I.
Craven contends that the trial court erred in dismissing her complaint based on the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution. We disagree.
We review a trial court's ruling on a motion to dismiss de novo. Grossman v. Dean, 80 P.3d 952, 957 (Colo. App. 2003).
Under article IV, section 1 of the United States Constitution, the final judgments of one state must be given full faith and credit in every other state. See Marworth, Inc. v. McGuire, 810 P.2d 653, 655 (Colo. 1991)(holding that the Full Faith and Credit Clause prohibited a collateral attack on a Texas judgment in Colorado).
In Marworth, the supreme court provided a detailed analysis of the scope and effect of the Full Faith and Credit Clause as it relates to judgments of a sister state. The court noted that the United States Supreme Court has held that "full faith and credit 'generally requires every State to give a judgment at least the res judicata effect which the jud
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