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Patterson v. Allstate Insurance Co.9/5/2003
Affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Jacalyn Patterson appeals the statute of limitations dismissal of her lawsuit for personal injury protection benefits.
Patterson was injured in a car accident on August 15, 1996, and she notified her insurer, defendant-appellee Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate). In a letter dated October 25, 1996, Patterson was assigned a claim number and was informed that Allstate had paid a portion of her medical bills. Allstate also paid her some work disability benefits before denying subsequent claims for personal injury protection benefits (PIP). Patterson filed a pro se suit to recover further PIP benefits on August 13, 2001.
Allstate moved to dismiss the case, arguing Patterson failed to meet the 2-year deadline set forth in K.S.A. 40-3110(a). The district court agreed. The district court dismissed Patterson's suit for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted.
Patterson's district court motion seeking reconsideration of the dismissal argued that her case was filed within the 5-year statute of limitations for breaches of written contracts under K.S.A. 60-511 and that she had complied with K.S.A. 40-3110(a) by filing a "claim" with the insurance company shortly after the accident in 1996. Still seeing K.S.A. 40-3110(a) as a statute of limitations governing the timing of the lawsuit, the district court denied the motion.
The interpretation and application of a statute of limitations raises a question of law over which an appellate court exercises unlimited review. Waterview Resolution Corp. v. Allen, 274 Kan. __, __, 58 P.3d 1284 (2003).
The fundamental rule of statutory construction is that the intent of the legislature governs. A court should give words in common usage their natural and ordinary meaning when those words appear in a statute. House v. American Fam. Mut. Ins. Co., 251 Kan. 419, 423, 837 P.2d 391 (1992).
K.S.A. 40-3110(a) provides:
"Except for benefits payable under any workmen's compensation law, which shall be credited against the personal injury protection benefits provided by subsection (f) of K.S.A. 40-3107, personal injury protection benefits due from an insurer or self-insurer under this act shall be primary and shall be due and payable as loss accrues, upon receipt of reasonable proof of such loss and the amount of expenses and loss incurred which are covered by the policy issued in compliance with this act. An insurer or self-insurer may require written notice to be given as soon as practicable after an accident involving a motor vehicle with respect to which the insurer's policy of motor vehicle liability insurance affords the coverage required by this act. No claim for personal injury protection benefits may be made after two (2) years from the date of the injury."
(Emphasis added.)
The key issue in this case is what is meant by the term "claim" in K.S.A. 40-3110(a). Although we find no case authority directly on point, Miner v. Farm Bur. Mut. Ins. Co., Inc., 17 Kan. App. 2d 598, 841 P.2d 1093, rev. denied 252 Kan. 1092 (1993). provides some guidance.
In Miner, one month after being injured in a car accident, the plaintiff sent an application to her insurance company for loss of wages and medical benefits under the PIP provision of her policy. Within 2 years of the date of the accident, the plaintiff filed suit, claiming the insurance company had failed to pay PIP benefits for medical expenses, wage loss, substitution services, and rehabilitation services. The insurance company appealed an award of benefits, arguing in part that the plaintiff had failed to give proper written notice of her c
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