Opinion ID: 2331492
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Retroactive Application of the 2005 Amendment

Text: To comply with due process requirements, retroactive legislation cannot abolish a vested right. See Resolution Trust Corp. v. Fleischer, 257 Kan. 360, 365, 892 P.2d 497 (1995). To decide whether the 2005 amendment's retroactive application violates Brennan's due process rights by extinguishing a vested right, we must first determine whether KIGA was entitled to offset its liability with Brennan's health insurance under the original statute. If the law did not change, Brennan's due process claim fails. But if we determine that the amendment changed KIGA's obligations from what it was at the time of PHICO's insolvency, we must then determine whether Brennan's right to payment vested prior to the statutory change. Brennan argues KIGA could not offset amounts paid or payable under a health insurance policy under the provision in effect at the time PHICO became insolvent. He contends the exhaustion requirement in place at that time was intended to keep the claimant in the same position he or she would have occupied absent the insurance company's insolvency. KIGA argues the statute always entitled it to offset health care policy payments and the 2005 amendments merely clarified this then-existing right, citing this court's decision in Hetzel to support that interpretation. KIGA also argues the Guaranty Act's purpose is limited to providing a safety net to protect the insured against insolvencies, so limitations on a claimant's recovery properly prevent duplicate recovery and maintain the Act's continued viability. To resolve these conflicting positions, we examine below the statute's explicit purpose and plain language, how other jurisdictions have viewed the same or similar statutory language, and whether the legislature expressed its original intent when it amended the law in 2005.