Sec. 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
Sec. 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. (1) 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.
(2) 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 (A) 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 (B) 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.
(3) 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.
(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.)
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.
Annotations to former section 38-282:
Cited. 215 C. 224. Cited. 217 C. 371.
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. Connecticut Insurance Guaranty 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 (38a-838(5)(B)(i)), nor did
that payment violate requirement of this section re exhaustion of solvent carrier policies. Those statutory sections do not
have effect of automatically shifting liability from the association to the nearest solvent insurer when liability does not
rest there already. 278 C. 794.
Subsec. (1):
Claimant satisfies the 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.