Court Opinion

ID: 9595665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:42:32.434209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:29.950365
License: Public Domain

McCORMICK, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result and all but division IIA of the opinion. The implication of division II of the opinion is that workmen’s compensation would have been deductible from the uninsured motorist coverage if the two coverages had been payable to the same person or entity. I disagree.
First, I do not believe a duplication of benefits would exist even if the coverages had been payable to the same person or entity. In Benzer v. Iowa Mutual Insurance Ass’n, 216 N.W.2d 385, 387 (Iowa 1974), we said § 516A.2 does not set a limit on maximum protection and “arguably could be construed as expressing only a legislative intent to prohibit the pyramiding of separate coverages to recover more than the actual damages.” We have said chapter 516A is written to protect the insurance consumer, not the policy vendor. Rodman v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., 208 N.W.2d 903, 909 (1973). Under this principle, I would hold the second sentence of § 516A.2 never comes into play except to avoid pyramiding which would permit the injured person or entity to recover more than the actual damages. Here the actual damages were $30,000. The uninsured motorist coverage and workmen’s compensation payment together total $20,094.17. Even if these payments went to the same person, that person would receive far less than actual damages. No duplication of insurance or other benefits would exist.
Second, I do not think the terms “insurance or other benefits” in § 516A.2 encompass workmen’s compensation, because I believe the legislature obviously intended those terms to include only payments which purport to compensate the injured person for tort damages. The majority’s application of § 516A.2 to permit operation of the “other insurance” clause in the Motor Club policy is the kind of situation plainly contemplated by the legislature. If such statutory payments as workmen’s compensation are deductible, what about Medicaid or A.D.C. benefits? And what about private contractual accident and life insurance benefits? I do not believe the kinds of insurance and other benefits which are deductible from uninsured motorist coverage include statutory or private contractual benefits which do not purport to compensate the injured person for tort damages.
Unlike the majority, I find the Tennessee case, Terry v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 510 S.W.2d 509 (Tenn.1974), unpersuasive and would not follow it.
HARRIS and MASON, JJ., join this special concurrence.