Gutierrez

Statement of the Case and Facts

On August 16,1983, plaintiffs filed a personal injury action against respondents, Rose Marie De Lara and Allied Electric, based on an automobile collision which occurred November 28, 1982. Plaintiffs, Maurillio Gutierrez and Isadora Gutierrez, the owners of the vehicle in which the plaintiffs were riding, were uninsured.

The jury returned special verdicts in favor of plaintiffs on May 29, 1985. At a posttrial hearing, the trial court granted respondents a setoff from the judgments obtained by Maurillio Gutierrez and Isadora Gutierrez for the sum of money paid in uninsured motorist benefits to respondent, Rose Marie De Lara, pursuant to Vehicle Code section 17200. Since the amount of the uninsured motorist benefits paid to Ms. De Lara was greater than the judgments obtained by Maurillio Gutierrez and Isadora Gutierrez, their judgments were reduced to zero.

Vehicle Code section 17200 became effective January 1,1984 (Stats. 1983, ch. 1252, § 10, pp. 4942-4943), over 13 months after the accident occurred. Nevertheless, the trial court believed the date of the judgment or settlement determined the applicability of the statute. We hold the…