Bouchard v. Wheeler

Citations

• 224 Conn. App. 611

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 38a-336 (e)), an underinsured motor vehicle is a motor vehicle with respect to which the sum of the limits of liability under insurance policies applicable at the time of the accident is less than the applicable limits of liability under the uninsured motorist portion of the policy against which the claim is made. The plaintiffs, who sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident, sought to recover underinsured motorist benefits under an automobile insurance policy issued to them by the defendant S Co. At the time of the accident, the plaintiffs' policy and the insurance policy of the defendant tortfeasors each provided liability coverage of up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. The tortfeasors' insurer thereafter made payments to the plaintiffs and to others injured in the accident that exhausted the $300,000 per accident limit of the tortfeasors' policy. After the plaintiffs settled their claims with the tortfeasors and withdrew their action as against them, S Co. moved for summary judgment, claiming that the plaintiffs were not entitled to underinsured motorist benefits because, under our Supreme Court's precedent, their underinsured motorist cov- erage did not exceed the liability limits of the tortfeasors' policy. The plaintiffs contended that the tortfeasors' vehicle was an underinsured motor vehicle and that they were entitled to underinsured motorist benefits because a legislative amendment (P.A. 14-20, § 1) to the underin- sured motorist statute (§ 38a-336) had overruled that precedent. The trial court denied S Co.'s motion for summary judgment, concluding that the plaintiffs were entitled to underinsured motorist benefits because the total recovery they obtained from the tortfeasors was less than the $300,000 per accident limit in the tortfeasors' policy. The court reasoned that P.A. 14-20 required that the proper comparison of the applicable limits of the policies of the tortfeasor and the claimant must be between the