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Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Hardcover
Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Electronic
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§ 4.07 CONNECTICUT
§ 4.07[1] Subrogation Rights
Connecticut recognizes conventional (contractual) subrogation, but
states it can take effect only by agreement and has been said to be
synonymous with assignment.1 It occurs where one having no
interest or any relation to the matter pays the debt of another and by
agreement is entitled to the rights and securities of the creditor so
paid.2 By contrast, equitable (legal) subrogation is not a matter of
contract and does not arise from any contractual relationship between
the parties, but takes place as a matter of equity, with or without an
agreement to that effect.3 The object of equitable subrogation is the
prevention of injustice. It is designed to promote and to accomplish
justice, and is the mode which equity adopts to compel the ultimate
payment of a debt by one who, in justice, equity, and good
conscience, should pay it.4 The Doctrine of Equitable Subrogation is
broad enough to include every instance in which one person, not
acting as a mere volunteer or intruder, pays a debt for which another
is primarily liable, and which in equity and good conscience should
have been discharged by the latter.5
A typical automobile insurance policy contains a subrogation
provision such as:
In the event of any payment under this policy the Company
shall be subrogated to all the Insured’s rights of recovery
therefor against any person or organization and the
Insured shall execute and deliver instruments and papers
and do whatever else is necessary to secure such rights.
The Insured shall do nothing after loss to prejudice such
rights.6
The right of an automobile carrier to subrogate pursuant to such a
term is recognized in Connecticut law.7
The Connecticut Supreme Court has held that while “a right of
true equitable subrogation may be provided for in a contract…the
exercise of the right will…have its basis in general principles of
equity rather than in the contract, which will be treated as being
merely a declaration of principles of law already existing.”8
Gary Wickert is an insurance trial lawyer and is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on insurance subrogation. He is also the author of several subrogation books and legal treatises and is a national and international speaker and lecturer on subrogation and motivational topics. After 15 years as the youngest managing partner in the history of the 30-lawyer Houston law firm of Hughes, Watters & Askanase, L.L.P., Mr. Wickert returned to his native Wisconsin in 1998 and co-founded the subrogation firm of Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. He oversees a National Recovery Program which includes a network of nearly 285 contracted subrogation law firms in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom and boasts recoveries of more than $500 million in recoveries and credits for more than 200 insurance companies. Licensed in both Texas and Wisconsin, Mr. Wickert is double board-certified in both personal injury law and civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, for whom he has both written and graded the product liability questions contained on the NBTA national certification exam taken by trial lawyers around the country. For 25 years, Mr. Wickert has served as an expert witness and insurance consultant on subrogation and insurance related issues and has been consulted by insurance carriers, lawyers, and legislative bodies from several states. He is a licensed arbitrator and has attended more than 750 mediations in more than 30 different states. He has represented subrogated insurance carriers in every state, and has been admitted pro hac vice in 17 states. Gary Wickert has worked with the Texas Legislative Oversight Committee in rewriting their workers' compensation subrogation statutes, has served on the Board of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals, and has been cited as an authority on workers' compensation subrogation by several appellate courts, including the Texas Court of Appeals. He is one of only a few lawyers to have ever represented a subrogated carrier before the United States Supreme Court, and was named as one of Law & Politics magazine's "Super Lawyers" for 2005, 2006, and 2007.
