Date of Case Completion:
August 5, 2022
Category:
Appellate Victory / Uninsured Motorist Coverage / Insurance Law
Summary:
McLemore Law PLLC achieved a pivotal win in the Tennessee Court of Appeals, successfully arguing that an insurer may offset medical payments coverage from the total liability under an uninsured motorist (UM) policy. The decision reversed the trial court’s order and clarified the application of Tennessee’s UM statute in favor of policyholders’ insurers.
Description:
Case Name: Christopher McCoy v. Katelyn Conway and Courtland Douglas
Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals (Appeal from Circuit Court of Wilson County, Tennessee at Lebanon)
Appeal No.: M2021-00921-COA-R3-CV
Trial Court Case No.: 2020-CV-40
Christopher McCoy was injured in a collision caused by an uninsured motorist. His insurer, Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, paid him $5,000 under the medical payments coverage of his policy. A jury later awarded McCoy $80,000 in compensatory damages. Allstate then paid $45,000 under the UM coverage, citing a $50,000 policy limit and asserting a $5,000 offset for the prior MedPay payout.
McCoy challenged the offset, and the trial court sided with him, ordering Allstate to pay an additional $5,000. McLemore Law PLLC, brought on for appeal, argued that Tennessee Code Annotated § 56-7-1205 allows an insurer to apply offsets to avoid duplicate payments. The Court of Appeals agreed, stating Allstate had fulfilled its obligation by paying the $50,000 policy maximum, inclusive of the MedPay offset.
The ruling clarified that insurers are not required to exceed UM policy limits when prior payments have already been made, affirming the enforceability of offsets in Tennessee UM claims. The trial court’s judgment was reversed accordingly.