Opinion ID: 2514082
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: pip benefits to heirs and estates under the statute

Text: ¶ 8 The Botts first urge that Utah's PIP statute requires that lost income and household services benefits be paid to the heirs and estate of a covered person killed instantly in an automobile accident. This question turns on the interpretation of section 31A-22-307(1) of the Utah Code. That section, in relevant part, provides: (1) Personal injury protection coverages and benefits include: (a) the reasonable value of all expenses for necessary medical, surgical, X-ray, dental, rehabilitation, including prosthetic devices, ambulance, hospital, and nursing services, not to exceed a total of $3,000 per person; (b)(i) the lesser of $250 per week or 85% of any loss of gross income and loss of earning capacity per person from inability to work, for a maximum of 52 consecutive weeks after the loss, except that this benefit need not be paid for the first three days of disability, unless the disability continues for longer than two consecutive weeks after the date of injury; and (ii) a special damage allowance not exceeding $20 per day for maximum of 365 days, for services actually rendered or expenses reasonably incurred for services that, but for the injury, the injured person would have performed for his household, except that this benefit need not be paid for the first three days after the date of injury unless the person's inability to perform these services continues for more than two consecutive weeks; (c) funeral, burial, or cremation benefits not to exceed a total of $1,500 per person; and (d) compensation on account of death of a person, payable to his heirs, in the total of $3,000. Utah Code Ann. § 31A-22-307(1)(1999). ¶ 9 The Botts argue that the plain language of the statute requires that all five of the above-described categories of benefits be paid to all claimants covered by the PIP statutes, regardless of whether or not the individual dies instantly in the accident. As heirs to Jesse's estate, the Botts contend they should be paid all five classes of benefits. They reason that the conjunctive and included between subsections (c) and (d), and the absence of a disjunctive or following subsection (b)(ii), indicate legislative intent to mandate the payment of all benefits to the estate and heirs in the event of the claimants death; and further, that fairness and equity require lost income and household services benefits to be paid to the Botts, who have been deprived of Jesse's income and household services. ¶ 10 This court's primary responsibility in construing legislative enactments is to give effect to the legislature's underlying intent according to the statute's plain language. DOIT, Inc. v. Touche, Ross & Co., 926 P.2d 835, 843-44 (Utah 1996). In order to ascertain the meaning of statutory language, we look to the background and general purpose of the statute. Versluis v. Guar. Nat'l Cos., 842 P.2d 865, 867 (Utah 1992) (citing Jamison v. Utah Home Fire Ins. Co., 559 P.2d 958, 959 (Utah 1977)). ¶ 11 The general purpose of the PIP statutes is to ensure that insurance companies provide immediate minimal benefits for covered individuals in automobile accidents in order to equitably and effectively handle the greater bulk of personal injury claims arising out of automobile accidents. See id. PIP benefits are intended to provide immediate compensation without having to bring a lawsuit for out-of-pocket expenses and actual loss of earnings that are incurred as a result of an accident. Id. However, this does not mean that a covered individual is entitled to all five categories of PIP benefits described in section 31A-22-307. Such an interpretation of the statute would, for instances, produce the obviously unintended result of providing funerary and survivor benefits to an injured individual who is still living. Rather, the statute limits the benefits a living person may receive to health care expenses, lost income, and household services compensation. Thus, mandatory coverage does not mean mandatory payment of all possible benefits. ¶ 12 The statute clearly contemplates separate compensatory benefits for those injured yet still alive, and the heirs and estates of decedents killed instantly in an automobile accident. The language and scheme of the statute provide that the heirs and estates of those instantly killed in automobile accidents are limited, for purposes of PIP benefits, to the funerary and survivor benefits under section 31A-22-307(1)(c) and (d), plus any actually incurred medical expenses pursuant to part (a). Further, the statute specifically identifies part (d) as compensation on account of death ... payable to his heirs. We presume the legislature uses each term advisedly and according to its ordinary meaning. West Jordan v. Morrison, 656 P.2d 445, 446 (Utah 1982). Clearly, part (b) contemplates compensation for disability, not death. Had the legislature contemplated further compensation to the heirs or the estate of the covered decedent from PIP benefits, it could have included language to that effect in the statute. However, it did not designate further payment to the heirs or estate, and as a result there are no PIP benefits for lost income or household expenses payable to Jesse Bott's heirs or estate. ¶ 13 The district court was correct in interpreting the language of section 31A-22-307 to limit PIP benefits payable to the heirs and estate of a person otherwise covered by PIP benefits but killed instantly in an accident to exclude lost income and household services.