Ardrey v. Keystone Insurance

29 Pa. D. & C.4th 342, 1995 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 52
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedAugust 31, 1995
Docketno. 1918 S 1994
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Pa. D. & C.4th 342 (Ardrey v. Keystone Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ardrey v. Keystone Insurance, 29 Pa. D. & C.4th 342, 1995 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 52 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1995).

Opinion

KLEINFELTER, J,

The present matter before the court is a motion for summary judgment by defendant Keystone Insurance Company. On February 18,1989 plaintiff Joanna Ardrey, while driving her automobile, was involved in a collision with two other vehicles. She and plaintiff Aylea Richardson, a passenger in her car, were both injured. The other two vehicles were operated by Jesus Morales and Dean Borger. According to the police report, Ardrey’s vehicle was stopped, facing west, at a stop sign when the Morales and Borger vehicles, travelling north, approached the intersection. The report states that as Morales began moving into the inside lane where Borger was located, Borger braked his vehicle to avoid a collision with Morales, and, as a result, Borger’s brakes locked, causing him to slide into the Ardrey car. The police issued Morales a citation under the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code for failure to observe the required position and method of making a righthand turn. See 75 Pa.C.S. §3331(a). Neither Ardrey nor Borger were charged.

At the time of the accident Keystone was Ardrey’s insurance carrier. It received a report of the collision several days after it occurred. Fourteen months later, as evidenced by a “report to file form” in Keystone’s files, plaintiffs’ attorney phoned the Keystone adjuster assigned to the case and advised her that Ardrey would be claiming underinsured motorists coverage. A month later, on June 12, 1990, plaintiffs’ attorney forwarded to Keystone copies of letters demanding settlement from Allstate Insurance Company, Morales’ insurer, and Erie Insurance Company, Borger’s insurer. In an accompanying letter the attorney again informed Keystone that Allstate and Erie had indicated that their insureds would probably not have sufficient coverage to compensate the plaintiffs’ claims and that, consequently, plaintiffs [344]*344would look to Ardrey’s underinsured motorist coverage for compensation.

Fifteen days later, on June 27, without any further contact with Keystone, Ardrey and Richardson settled with Allstate. In the settlement plaintiffs and a third person, a passenger in Ardrey’s car who is not a part of this action, each received $10,000, which constituted the limits of Morales’ coverage. Moreover, Ardrey and Richardson signed an agreement which effectively released Morales and his insurer from any further liability arising from the accident. By letter dated July 2, plaintiffs’ attorney informed Keystone of this transaction. He also advised Keystone that Erie had refused to make settlement. According to the attorney, Erie insisted that Borger was “not legally liable for the accident and the resulting injuries.” Thus, the attorney stated, “Ms. Ardrey now looks to Keystone, her underinsured motorist carrier, for the balance of her settlement demand, which is $115,000.”

On December 18, 1990 the Keystone adjuster forwarded a letter to plaintiffs’ attorney to tell him that “before we can honor the underinsured motorist claims, you must exhaust the limits of all tortfeasors involved in this loss. We feel there is a negligence on the Erie Insurance driver, no matter what Erie says or what you accept.” Noting her awareness of the attorney’s disagreement with Keystone’s position, the adjuster suggested that the attorney formally request Keystone to meet with an arbitrator to resolve the matter. The attorney was apparently uninterested in arbitration because on February 15, 1991 plaintiffs filed suit against Borger. The action was subsequently dismissed, however.1 On May 17, 1994 plaintiffs initiated this action seeking [345]*345declaratory judgment against Keystone. Plaintiffs claim that they are entitled to underinsured motorists benefits pursuant to the coverage in Ardrey’s policy. Keystone filed an answer and new matter July 12, 1994, and plaintiffs responded to new matter on July 27. Discovery was subsequently conducted. Keystone filed a motion for summary judgment on March 10,1995. The motion was argued before an en banc court the following May.

Summary judgment will only be granted when a review of all “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions of fact together with affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” 42 Pa.R.C.P. 1035. The moving party has the burden of proving that summary judgment is warranted. Any doubt in this regard will be resolved in favor of the nonmoving party. Baesel v. New Boulevard Baking Co. Inc., 410 Pa. Super. 591, 600 A.2d 610 (1991).

Keystone supports its motion on two grounds, both relating to the charge that plaintiffs violated the terms of the contract by not taking the appropriate steps in their claims against Morales and Borger. First, defendant avers, by signing the agreement to release Morales and Allstate from future liability without defendant’s consent, plaintiffs violated certain directives in the contract that were intended to protect Keystone’s rights of subrogration.2 According to Keystone, it was never even [346]*346notified of a settlement offer until the letter of July 2, 1990 wherein plaintiffs’ attorney advised the defendant that plaintiffs had executed the settlement and release agreement with Allstate. Consequently, Keystone argues, when plaintiffs signed the release agreement, they breached the insurance contract and are not entitled to underinsured motorists benefits. In the second contention Keystone claims that plaintiffs breached the term requiring them to exhaust the “limits of liability” against Borger when they allowed the suit against him to be dismissed3 and that under the circumstances Keystone would not have the option of pursuing an action against Borger as a subrogee. Because we grant summary judgment on the first argument we need not address the second.

Plaintiffs oppose the motion by charging Keystone with engaging in “bad faith” conduct in its handling of their claims. In particular, plaintiffs contend that Keystone violated its usual practice and procedures in such matters by not conducting a timely investigation of Morales and Borger’s insurance coverage. Plaintiffs [347]*347point out that the claims supervisor at Keystone testified in his deposition that such information is usually obtained by Keystone within 20 days of receiving the accident report and claim. Moreover, plaintiffs aver, Keystone received adequate notice of the pending settlement “at least by” June 12, 1990 through the correspondence of that date sent by plaintiffs’ attorney.

As further evidence of this notice, plaintiffs cite a “report to file form,” written by the Keystone adjuster on September 25, 1990, which states in pertinent part:

“We were notified of Allstate’s offer on — June 12, 1990 — And we should have requested a copy of the dec sheet as well as the tender letter. We should have been requested to send a letter advising that we would not pursue subrogation rights against Allstate’s insured. Under Daley-Sand we would have had 30 days to give permission to settle or pay out what the tortfeasor was obligated to pay.”

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Related

Daley-Sand v. West American Insurance
564 A.2d 965 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Archer v. State Farm Insurance
615 A.2d 779 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Baesel v. New Blvd. Baking Co., Inc.
600 A.2d 610 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
29 Pa. D. & C.4th 342, 1995 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ardrey-v-keystone-insurance-pactcompldauphi-1995.