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Roselawn Chiropractic Center3/25/2005
DECISION
{ } Defendant-appellant, Allstate Insurance Company, appeals the trial court's determination that defendant Tiffany A. Tate executed a valid assignment to plaintiff-appellee, Roselawn Chiropractic Center, Inc., of a portion of Allstate's payment to her of a settlement for damages she sustained in a car accident. We affirm.
I. Accident and Medical Treatment
{ } Tate was in a car accident with Helen Stanton, who was insured by Allstate. Tate went to Roselawn Chiropractic Center for medical treatment. Before receiving any treatment, Tate signed a form titled "Assignment." The form stated that Tate was assigning to Roselawn any proceeds that she would receive from a claim against Stanton and Allstate, equal to the cost of her treatment.
{ } A few months later, after Tate had finished her treatment, Roselawn sent Allstate several documents. Roselawn sent a copy of the assignment form Tate had signed, a paper titled "Notice of Assignment," and an itemized statement of Tate's treatment at Roselawn. Allstate acknowledged receipt of the documents. But when Tate settled her claim with Allstate, Allstate paid all the settlement money directly to Tate.
{ } Denied any compensation for the medical treatment it had provided to Tate, Roselawn sued both Tate and Allstate. Roselawn received a default judgment against Tate. Allstate claimed that it was not obligated by the assignment that Tate had signed with Roselawn. The trial court concluded otherwise and held that the assignment was valid and that Allstate was liable to Roselawn for the amount of Tate's medical bills.
{ } Allstate now brings two assignments of error. Allstate argues that the trial court erred when it denied its motions for summary judgment and for a directed verdict. Allstate's reasoning is that there was never a valid assignment between Tate and Roselawn. Whether a valid assignment existed is the sole issue we must decide.
II. Assignment
{ } An assignment is a transfer to another of all or part of one's property in exchange for valuable consideration. No particular words are required to create an assignment. Rather, " ny word or transaction which shows an intention on the one side to assign and on the other to receive, if there is a valuable consideration, will operate [to create an assignment]."
{ } An account debtor, such as Allstate, is authorized to pay the assignor, Tate, until the account debtor receives notification that the account has been assigned and that payment is to be made to the assignee, in this case, Roselawn.
The assignee is entitled to exercise collection rights against the account debtor as long as the account debtor "receives (1) an indication that the account has been assigned, (2) a specific direction that the payment is to be made to the assignee rather than the assignor, and (3) a reasonable identification of the rights assigned."
{ } It is undisputed that Allstate received notification from Roselawn that Tate had assigned to Roselawn the proceeds from any claim against Stanton and Allstate. The assignment itself stated, "I hereby direct any insurance company, attorney or other person who holds or later holds any proceeds from my claim to pay such proceeds directly to Roselawn Chiropractic Center, Inc., up to the outstanding balance of my account." And the right assigned-the right to receive a specific amount of any settlement sum-was clearly identified in the assignment.
{ } Therefore, we conclude that the document executed by Tate was a valid assignment obligating Allstate to pay Roselawn instead of Tate for the amount of her medical treatment.
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