Tenth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment in Favor of State Farm in Class Action

Following the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in Calderon v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company two plaintiffs filed suit against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company on behalf of a potential group of similarly situated individuals who allegedly suffered a common claim. Those plaintiffs claimed that State Farm unlawfully set off prior medical payment coverage payments when settling their uninsured/underinsured motorist claims. They requested that the Court award them the amount of the setoffs that had been applied and that the identical relief be awarded to all putative class members, which included individuals that had settled claims based on policies that incepted or renewed after January 1, 2008.

Sheryl Anderson, Mike Brooks, and Drew Lavin of Wells, Anderson & Race, LLC, alongside Frank Falzetta and Jeff Crowe of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP, represented State Farm in defense of these claims and successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of State Farm. Plaintiffs appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the summary judgment. In summary, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the Calderon decision did not invalidate the previously entered settlements and that Colorado law did not require State Farm to acquire a formal release to prove that the plaintiffs had settled their claims.