Case Name: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Julie KLINGLESMITH, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-08-06
Citations: 717 So. 2d 569
Docket Number: No. 97-2919
Parties: STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Julie KLINGLESMITH, Appellee.
Judges: ANTOON, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 717
Pages: 569–572

Head Matter:
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Julie KLINGLESMITH, Appellee.
No. 97-2919.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Aug. 6, 1998.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 23, 1998.
Gregory J. Donoghue of Kane, Williams, Singer, Planck & Donoghue, P.A., Roekledge, for Appellant.
R. Keith Williams of R. Keith Williams, P.A., West Melbourne, and Bruce Jacobus, Jr., of Jacobus and Fielding, P.A., Melbourne, for Appellee.
Joseph H. Williams of Troutman, Williams, Irvin, Green & Helms, P.A., Winter Park, as Amicus Curiae of the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers Association on behalf of Ap-pellee.

Opinion:
THOMPSON, Judge.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm") appeals a final judgment awarding damages to Julia Klin-glesmith ("Klinglesmith"). State Farm contends that the trial court erred in failing to set off the entire amount of Klinglesmith's medical payments ("medpay") benefits against the jury verdict. We affirm.
Klinglesmith was injured in an automobile accident and sued State Farm seeking uninsured motorist benefits. She obtained a jury award of $15,214.88 in damages, of which $8,255.00 was for future medical expenses. State Farm moved to determine setoffs, and the trial court set off $10,000.00 for personal injury protection ("PIP") benefits pursuant to section 627.736(3), Florida Statutes, and $1,331.04 for medpay benefits paid pursuant to section 627.7372(2)(b), Florida Statutes. The trial court, however, denied State Farm's motion for set off of $3,668.96 in remaining medpay benefits which were unpaid and available to Klinglesmith for future medical expenses. The court ruled that this amount could not be setoff pursuant to section 627.7372(2)(b).
State Farm argues that the trial court incorrectly relied on section 627.7372, the collateral source statute, to deny the setoff for unpaid medpay benefits. State Farm contends that because medpay benefits must be paid pursuant to section 627.736(4)(f) in a PIP claim, section 627.736(3) permits a setoff of medpay benefits paid and payable in the future. Section 627.736(3), Florida Statutes (1991), reads in part:
An injured party who is entitled to bring suit . shall have no right to recover any damages for which personal injury protection benefits are paid or payable. The plaintiff may prove all of his special damages notwithstanding this limitation, but if special damages are introduced in evidence, the trier of facts, whether judge or jury, shall not award damages for personal injury protection benefits paid or payable. In all cases in which a jury is required to fix damages, the court shall instruct the jury that the plaintiff shall not recover such special damages for personal injury protections benefits paid or payable.
State Farm argues that the logic and reasoning in Kokotis v. DeMarco, 679 So.2d 296 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), should apply in this case. In Kokotis, this court held "that 'payable' as used in this statue includes expenses which have not yet accrued but which will result from the covered injury." Id. at 297. Thus, argues State Farm, the medical payment benefits should be used as a setoff against Klinglesmith's award for future medical expenses. The issue, then, is whether medpay benefits are a collateral source or the equivalent of PIP benefits.
The basis for State Farm's equating med-pay benefits with PIP benefits, section 627.736(4)(f), actually demonstrates that medpay benefits are a collateral source. That statute provides that if PIP medical benefits have paid 80 percent of an insured's medical expenses, see section 627.736(l)(a), medpay benefits, "if available in a policy of motor vehicle insurance," must be applied to the remaining 20 percent even if PIP benefits have not been exhausted. Thus, if an insured opts to purchase medpay benefits to supplement the PIP coverage, see State Farm v. Swearingen, 590 So.2d 506 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), rev. denied, 599 So.2d 1280 (Fla. 1992), the statute requires that collateral source to be applied first, rather than other medical insurance the insured may have, see Christian v. Colonial Penn Insurance Co., 537 So.2d 623 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988).
Section 627.7372, Florida Statutes (1991), reads in part:
Section 627.7372 Collateral sources of indemnity.
(1) In any action for personal injury or wrongful death arising out of the ownership, operation, use, or maintenance of a motor vehicle, the court shall admit into evidence the total amount of all collateral sources paid to the claimant, and the court shall instruct the jury to deduct from its verdict the value of all benefits received by the claimant from any collateral source.
(2) For purposes of this section, "collateral sources" means any payments made to the claimant, or on his behalf, by or pursuant to:
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ $ *
(b) Any health, sickness, or income disability insurance; automobile accident insurance that provides health benefits or income disability coverage; and any other similar insurance benefits except life insurance benefits available to the claimant, whether purchased by him or provided by others.
As a collateral source, only medpay benefits previously paid may be set off against a damage award. Therefore, the trial court in this case correctly denied State Farm a set-off for $3,668.96 in unpaid medpay benefits.
AFFIRMED.
ANTOON, J., concurs.
HARRIS, J., dissents, with opinion.