GEORGIA SUPREME COURT RULES PAYMENT OF A HOSPITAL LIEN DOES NOT REDUCE AVAILABLE LIABILITY COVERAGE SO AS TO INCREASE UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE
Posted by H. Lee Pruett
In State Farm v. Adams, Case No. S09G1710 (Ga. S. Ct., Nov. 30, 2010), the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ decision in Adams v. State Farm, 298 Ga. App. 249 (2009), in which the Court of Appeals held that a liability insurance carrier’s payment of the plaintiff’s hospital lien reduced the amount of liability coverage available, so the plaintiff’s uninsured motorist coverage carrier was not entitled to set off the amount of the lien. (See Levy & Pruett’s April 27, 2009 blog post.) Looking to the language and purposes of the uninsured motorist statute and the hospital lien statute, the Georgia Supreme Court held that payment of the hospital lien does not increase the amount of uninsured motorist coverage, that the UM carrier is entitled to the setoff.
