When Insured’s Assignee Loses in South Dakota He May Not Sue in Minnesota

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Assignment of a Claim Where there is no Coverage is Valueless

After being seriously injured in a car accident in Worthington, Minnesota, appellant Alaaldeen Mussa sued the driver for negligence. When it became clear that the driver was unable to pay Mussa’s medical bills, Mussa instead sought satisfaction of his claim from the driver’s insurance provider, respondent Western Agriculture Insurance Company (Western Agriculture), in Minnesota district court. Western Agriculture then brought a declaratory-judgment action in South Dakota district court to determine whether there was coverage under the terms of the driver’s insurance policy. After a two-day trial, the South Dakota district court determined-and the South Dakota Supreme Court later affirmed- that the policy did not provide coverage. Unhappy with the result of his appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court he tried to try his case again in Minnesota.

In Alaaldeen Mussa v. Western Agricultural Insurance Company, et al., No. A21-0099, Court of Appeals of Minnesota (September 13, 2021) the trial court concluded that having prevailed in South Dakota, Western Agriculture was entitled to have that judgment granted full faith and credit in Minnesota.

ZALMA OPINION

A $1,500,000 stipulated judgment that became uncollectable resulted in the temptation to try a court in the scene of the accident. It failed because the assignee participated in the trial and eventual appeal in the Supreme Court of South Dakota. Mussa lost in a fully litigated and appellate honored case and lost again when he tried to bring the same action to another court. The Constitutional right requiring one state’s court to give full faith and credit to the judgment of a sister state is impossible to overcome. When a party loses a suit in one state he has no right to try again in another court.