Connecticut General Statutes/Title 38a/Chapter 704a/Section 38a-845

CGS § 38a-845. (Formerly Sec. 38-282). Exhaustion of rights under policy prior to claim against association. Claims recoverable from more than one association. Persons required to exhaust rights under governmental insurance or guaranty program.

(a) Any person having a claim against an insurer under any provision in an insurance policy, other than a policy of an insolvent insurer, which is also a covered claim under sections 38a-836 to 38a-853, inclusive, shall exhaust first his rights under such policy. Any amount payable on a covered claim under said sections shall be reduced by the amount recoverable under the claimant's insurance policy or chapter 568.

(b) Any person having a claim which may be recovered under more than one insurance guaranty association or its equivalent having a like function to that of said association shall seek recovery first from the association operating in the area of the residence of the insured except that (1) if it is a first party claim for damage to property with a permanent location, such person shall seek recovery first from the association operating in the location of the property, and (2) if it is a workers' compensation claim, such person shall seek recovery first from the association operating in the area of residence of the claimant. Any recovery under sections 38a-836 to 38a-853, inclusive, shall be reduced by the amount recoverable from any other insurance guaranty association or its equivalent having a like function to that of said association.

(c) Any person having a claim under any governmental insurance or guaranty program which such claim is also a covered claim shall be required to first exhaust his rights under such program. Any amount payable on a covered claim under sections 38a-836 to 38a-853, inclusive, shall be reduced by any amount recoverable under such program.

Short History

(1971, P.A. 466, S. 10; P.A. 79-376, S. 65; P.A. 87-290, S. 5, 8; P.A. 88-76, S. 3, 10; P.A. 97-125, S. 5, 9; P.A. 03-49, S. 2; P.A. 10-5, S. 44.)

Long History

History: P.A. 79-376 replaced “workmen's compensation” with “workers' compensation”; P.A. 87-290 amended Subsec. (2) to delete references to the procedure for the recovery of a workers' compensation claim from more than one association; P.A. 88-76 amended Subsec. (1) to reduce the amount payable to a claimant by the amount of recovery under the claimant's insurance or workers' compensation; Sec. 38-282 transferred to Sec. 38a-845 in 1991; P.A. 97-125 substituted “amount recoverable” for “amount of any recovery” in Subsecs. (1) and (2), and added new Subsec. (3) re exhaustion of claims under governmental insurance or guaranty programs, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 03-49 amended Subdiv. (2) to substitute “residence of the insured” for “residence of the claimant”, designate existing exception as Subpara. (A) and add Subpara. (B) re workers' compensation claims, effective May 23, 2003, and applicable to claims filed on or after that date; P.A. 10-5 made technical changes, effective May 5, 2010.

Citations

Annotation to former section 38-282:

Cited. 215 C. 224.

Annotations to present section:

Cited. 217 C. 371. Section inapplicable where plaintiff does not have claim against an insurer under an insurance policy. 247 C. 442. Association payment to plaintiff who was injured when her motor vehicle was struck by municipally owned police cruiser did not relieve plaintiff's automobile insurance company of obligation for purposes of statutory limitation on association payments for the benefit of a solvent insurer, nor did that payment violate requirement of section re exhaustion of solvent carrier policies; statutory sections do not have effect of automatically shifting liability from association to the nearest solvent insurer when liability does not rest there already. 278 C. 794. Exhaustion provisions of Subsec. (a) do not preclude liability of association under Sec. 31-299b based on facts of case. 302 C. 219.

Subsec. (a):

Claimant satisfies exhaustion requirement of Subsec. by pursuing coverage under her own uninsured motorist policy prior to attempting to collect; claimant's failure to obtain the full policy limits from her own coverage does not preclude claimant from collecting from guaranty fund or tortfeasor personally, but any recovery is reduced by full amount of those policy limits. 275 C. 290.

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