Marciano v. Jimenez, 151 A.3d 1280, 324 Conn. 70 (2016)

Dec. 22, 2016 · Connecticut Supreme Court · SC 19547
151 A.3d 1280, 324 Conn. 70

James MARCIANO
v.
Diego JIMENEZ et al.

SC 19547

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued October 20, 2016
Officially released December 22, 2016*

*1281Karen L. Dowd, with whom was Brendon P. Levesque, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Christopher P. Kriesen, with whom, on the brief, was Kaelah M. Smith, for the appellees (defendants).

Palmer, Zarella, Eveleigh, McDonald, Robinson and Vertefeuille, Js.

VERTEFEUILLE, J.

**71When a plaintiff receives an award of damages in a civil action for personal injuries, **72General Statutes § 52-225a1 requires the trial court to reduce the award to reflect collateral source payments received by the plaintiff. Section 52-225a makes an exception to the required deduction, however, for collateral source payments for which a right of subrogation, or reimbursement, exists. The sole issue in this appeal is whether § 52-225a precludes the trial court from making any collateral *1282source reduction, either in full or in part, when a right of subrogation exists. We conclude that it does.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to the present appeal. The plaintiff, James Marciano, **73was injured in a motor vehicle accident and brought a personal injury action against the defendants, Diego Jiminez and Phoenix Limousine Service, LLC.2 Following trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $84,283.67 in economic damages and $40,000 in noneconomic damages, for a total of $124,283.67. Subsequently, the defendants moved for a collateral source reduction to the award pursuant to § 52-225a. In their motion and during a hearing before the court, the defendants argued that the economic damages award should be reduced to account for the fact that the plaintiff had paid only $1941.49 toward his medical expenses, and his health insurance coverage had covered the remainder. The plaintiff's health insurance coverage was provided by a self-funded plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (plan). The plan was offered through his employer, United Parcel Service (UPS), and was managed by Aetna Insurance Company.

In response to the defendants' motion for a collateral source reduction, the plaintiff objected3 to any reduction on the ground that § 52-225a precludes a collateral source reduction when a right of subrogation exists, as it does in the present case. The plaintiff further claimed that even if a reduction was appropriate under § 52-225a, the defendants had not met their burden of proving that the expenses at issue were deductible collateral sources.4 See footnote 1 of this opinion.

**74The plaintiff provided the court with a copy of the plan5 and an e-mail to the plaintiff's counsel from an agent on behalf of UPS establishing "[t]hat UPS will have a valid, enforceable lien or subrogation rights upon payment of the judgment ...." Another letter from an agent handling the plan's liens further indicated that UPS would accept $6940.19 in full satisfaction of the right of subrogation in the event of a settlement of the case for $120,000. The plaintiff further contended that if the court decided that a reduction was appropriate, the amount of the reduction should be offset by the cost to obtain the collateral source benefits, which was calculated to be $58,042.43.6

During the hearing on the defendants' motion for a collateral source reduction, *1283the defendants argued that the plaintiff's reading of § 52-225a to prohibit any collateral source reduction when a right of subrogation exists is contrary to the purpose of the statute, which is to preclude plaintiffs from obtaining double recoveries. Contending that the letter established an agreement to accept $6940.19 and therefore "extinguished" the right of subrogation, the defendants urged the court to order a collateral source reduction of $60,653.75.7 **75In response, the plaintiff argued that the letter merely indicated a willingness to accept a lesser amount than full reimbursement in the event of settlement and did not extinguish the right of subrogation. The plaintiff further contended that § 52-225a plainly provides that if any right of subrogation exists, as it does in the present case, no collateral source reduction may be made.

In its memorandum of decision, the court ordered a collateral source reduction, which it calculated by subtracting the cost to secure the collateral source benefits-$58,042.43-from the payments made to the plaintiff-$82,342.18. This amounted to a collateral source reduction of $24,299.75. To calculate the judgment amount, the court subtracted the collateral source reduction of $24,299.75 from the verdict of $124,283.67. The court then rendered judgment of $99,983.92, plus costs, from which the plaintiff now appeals.8 He claims that the trial court improperly ordered a collateral source reduction when there was a right of subrogation, in violation of § 52-225a.

In order to address the plaintiff's claim, we must interpret and apply the provisions of § 52-225a. In considering this question of statutory construction, we apply plenary review. Jones v. Kramer , 267 Conn. 336, 343, 838 A.2d 170 (2004). Moreover, because we have previously determined that § 52-225a is in derogation of common law; see id., at 345-49, 838 A.2d 170 ; it must be strictly construed and may not be "extended, modified, repealed or enlarged in its scope by the mechanics of [statutory] construction." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 348, 838 A.2d 170. Finally, it is well established that we interpret statutes in accordance with the plain meaning rule and will not consider extratextual evidence of the meaning of **76a statute unless the text is ambiguous or would yield an absurd or unworkable result. General Statutes § 1-2z.

We start our analysis with the text of § 52-225a (a), which provides in relevant part that "[i]n any civil action ... wherein liability is admitted or is determined by the trier of fact and damages are awarded to compensate the claimant, the court shall reduce the amount of such award which represents economic damages ... except that there shall be no reduction for ... a collateral source for which a right of subrogation exists ...." (Emphasis added.)

The plaintiff contends that the language of § 52-225a is plain and unambiguous and clearly provides that "[i]f there is a right of subrogation, whether for all or part of the collateral source amount, there shall be *1284no collateral source reduction." We agree. First, in the phrase "a right of subrogation exists," the legislature chose to use the expansive term "a," which commonly means "any." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th Ed. 2003). This court has interpreted the term "any" to mean "all or every" and has "presume[d] that the legislature, in using the word any to modify [another] term ... intended that term to be broad, rather than restrictive, in scope." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Gipson v. Commissioner of Correction , 257 Conn. 632, 640, 778 A.2d 121 (2001). Here, the legislature's use of the broad term "a" to modify the term "right," coupled with the lack of any restrictive or qualifying language, supports the plaintiff's contention that if there is any right of subrogation, a reduction is precluded.

Section 52-225a (a) further provides that if there is a right of subrogation for a collateral source, "there shall be no reduction " of the damages award. (Emphasis added.) The phrase "no reduction " in § 52-225a (a) leaves no doubt that if a right of subrogation exists, the trial court cannot order a collateral source reduction **77of any amount. There is no qualifying language to suggest that a partial reduction is appropriate or within the trial court's discretion. The defendants do not dispute that the use of the term "shall" in § 52-225a indicates that the provision is mandatory rather than directory and, thus, precludes a reduction. See State v. Banks, 321 Conn. 821, 840, 146 A.3d 1 (2016) (generally, use of term "shall" connotes mandatory command).9

In the absence of restrictive or qualifying language, and in view of our mandate to strictly construe the statute, we reject the defendants' claim that § 52-225a requires a partial collateral source reduction even when a right of subrogation exists. As this court has emphasized, "a court must construe a statute as written. ... Courts may not by construction supply omissions ... or add exceptions merely because it appears that good reasons exist for adding them. ... The intent of the legislature, as this court has repeatedly observed, is to be found not in what the legislature meant to say, but in the meaning of what it did say. ... It is axiomatic that the court itself cannot rewrite a statute to accomplish a particular result. That is the function of the legislature." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Cruz v. Montanez , 294 Conn. 357, 370, 984 A.2d 705 (2009). Construing the language of § 52-225a strictly, as we must, we conclude that when any right of subrogation exists, whether in full or in part, for a collateral source, § 52-225a precludes the trial court from ordering any collateral source reduction at all.

**78We are not persuaded by the defendants' claim that such a construction of § 52-225a would lead to the absurd result of a windfall for the plaintiff. Pointing to our decision in Jones v. Riley , 263 Conn. 93, 103, 818 A.2d 749 (2003), the defendants argue that the legislature's purpose in adopting § 52-225a was to preclude *1285double recoveries for plaintiffs. They contend that because the foregoing construction of § 52-225a contravenes this intent and leads to a bizarre result, we must consult the legislative history of § 52-225a to ascertain its meaning. See General Statutes § 1-2z. We disagree.

This court has explained that the legislature, in enacting § 52-225a, sought to achieve an "equitable balance ... between barring plaintiffs from recovering twice for the same loss, on the one hand, and preventing defendants from benefiting from reduced judgments due to collateral source payments, on the other." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Pikulski v. Waterbury Hospital Health Center , 269 Conn. 1, 7, 848 A.2d 373 (2004). We have also recognized, in discussing the historical underpinnings of the collateral source rule, that "[t]he reason for the [collateral source] rule ... is that a windfall ought not to be granted to a defendant ... [and that] [i]f there must be a windfall certainly it is more just that the injured person shall profit therefrom, rather than the wrongdoer shall be relieved of his full responsibility for his wrongdoing." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Saint Bernard School of Montville, Inc. v. Bank of America , 312 Conn. 811, 841, 95 A.3d 1063 (2014). In addition, we have emphasized that characterizing "insurance proceeds as pure double recovery overlooks the fact that the plaintiff presumably paid premiums to obtain those proceeds." Id., at 841-42, 95 A.3d 1063. In enacting § 52-225a, the legislature has attempted to achieve an "equitable balance ...." Pikulski v. Waterbury Hospital Health Center , supra, at 7, 848 A.2d 373. In view of this history, we cannot conclude that the possibility of **79a windfall for a plaintiff is a bizarre result. We therefore reject the defendants' claim that we must consult the legislative history of § 52-225a to determine its meaning.

Applying the provisions of § 52-225a to the facts of the present case, we conclude that the trial court improperly ordered a collateral source reduction. At trial and during argument before this court, the defendants acknowledged that the health insurance plan that covered the plaintiff contains a right of subrogation.10 In addition, the trial court's memorandum of decision refers to "$6940.19 (amount agreed to accept in satisfaction of UPS' right to reimbursement)," thus acknowledging the existence of a right of subrogation. Under the plain and unambiguous meaning of § 52-225a, the trial court, having found that a right of subrogation exists, improperly ordered a collateral source reduction of the award of economic damages to the plaintiff.

The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded to the trial court with direction to reinstate the original verdict and *1286to render judgment in accordance with the verdict.

In this opinion the other justices concurred.