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Feeley v. Allstate Insurance Co.8/17/2005
ENTRY ORDER
. Defendant Allstate Insurance Company appeals from a Franklin Superior Court judgment on plaintiff Randal Feeley's claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits following a work-related motor vehicle accident. At issue in Allstate's appeal is whether Feeley's UIM policy allows Allstate to deduct the amount of workers' compensation benefits Feeley received pursuant to New York law from the UIM proceeds due under his personal policy with Allstate. The trial court entered judgment against Allstate on Feeley's claim, and we now affirm.
. Feeley is a Vermont resident who was working for a New York transportation company at the time of the motor vehicle accident giving rise to this litigation. The driver responsible for the accident was underinsured, and his liability insurer paid the policy's $25,000 liability limit after the accident. Feeley was covered by his employer's New York workers' compensation policy, and he received benefits pursuant to New York law. Feeley sought additional compensation for his injuries under a Vermont-issued UIM policy with a $300,000 limit. Coincidentally, Allstate was both the workers' compensation carrier for Feeley's New York employer and his Vermont UIM insurer.
. Allstate refused to pay Feeley the full amount of UIM benefits available under his policy. Allstate believed that Feeley's policy entitled it to reduce the UIM obligation by the amount of workers' compensation Allstate had paid Feeley-totaling approximately $200,000-pursuant to New York law. Seeking to enforce the terms of the UIM policy, Feeley filed a declaratory judgment action against Allstate in Franklin Superior Court. While admitting that New York law prohibited Allstate, in its capacity as a workers' compensation insurer, from placing a lien on Feeley's UIM proceeds, the company urged the Franklin Superior Court to interpret Feeley's UIM policy to allow a reduction in UIM proceeds by the amount of workers' compensation benefits he received from Allstate. The company argued that the reduction was necessary to prevent Feeley from receiving "double recovery."
. In a preliminary order, the trial court ruled that (1) New York law governed Feeley's receipt of workers' compensation , and (2) pursuant to New York law, Allstate could not recoup its workers' compensation payments from UIM proceeds payable under Feeley's Vermont policy. The court reserved the ultimate question of whether Vermont law or the UIM policy itself provided a basis for the offset Allstate sought until after the parties completed arbitration on the amount of Feeley's damages. After the arbitration panel set Feeley's damages at $450,000, Feeley moved for summary judgment. Allstate had paid Feeley only $210,000 in UIM benefits (the arbitration panel's non-economic damages award) so Feeley asked the court to enter judgment for the remaining amount owed under his Allstate policy. The trial court granted Feeley's motion and entered judgment in his favor.
. Allstate appeals, advancing the same arguments it presented to the trial court. Like the trial court, we review Allstate's claims under the summary judgment standard, which allows the court to enter judgment for any party if the material facts are undisputed and the law supports the judgment. V.R.C.P. 56(c)(3); Robertson v. Mylan Labs., Inc., 2004 VT 15, 15, 176 Vt. 356, 848 A.2d 310.
. Before addressing Allstate's arguments, we note that this dispute arose because Allstate played two roles here. Allstate was both the workers' compensation insurer for Feeley's employer, obligated to pay Feeley benefits in accordance with New York law, and Feeley's Vermont UIM insurer with obligations to the insured mandated by
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