Banks v. Jennings

920 N.E.2d 432, 184 Ohio App. 3d 269
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 25, 2009
DocketNo. 22855
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 920 N.E.2d 432 (Banks v. Jennings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Banks v. Jennings, 920 N.E.2d 432, 184 Ohio App. 3d 269 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

Brogan, Judge.

{¶ 1} This is an appeal by Rick Banks, plaintiff-appellant, from a trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Allstate Insurance Company, defendant-appellee, on the enforceability of an arbitration provision in an automobile insurance policy. The parties dispute Banks’s entitlement to uninsured-/underinsured-motorists (“UIM”) benefits under two Allstate insurance policies. According to the arbitration provision in each policy, the parties agreed that they would submit such a dispute to a panel of arbitrators in Pennsylvania, which Allstate seeks to do. Banks contends that the arbitration provision is unenforceable because it violates strong public policy in Ohio that an Ohio court should apply Ohio law to resolve claims based on personal injury occurring in Ohio. We affirm.

I

{¶ 2} In January 2005, in Dayton, Ohio, Rick Banks was seriously injured in an automobile accident. Banks resides in Pennsylvania with his parents and was in Dayton to interview for a job. Although he owns a vehicle, Banks drove his mother’s car to Ohio. At the time of the accident, though, Banks was a passenger. Douglas Jennings, his Ohio friend, was driving when he collided with a transport truck. Banks claims coverage under two Allstate automobile insurance policies— his parents’ policy insuring their cars and his policy insuring his vehicle.1

{¶ 3} Two years after the accident, in January 2007, Banks, still living in Pennsylvania, filed a complaint in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. Among his claims are two (one for each policy) that seek declaratory judgment against Allstate for UIM benefits.2 Banks asserts that under these policies he has UIM coverage of up to $250,000. The UIM coverage section in each policy contains a mandatory arbitration provision that requires UIM cover[272]*272age disputes over the right to and the amount of benefits to be decided by arbitration in the Pennsylvania county in which Banks resides.

{¶ 4} Based on the arbitration provision, Allstate filed a motion to dismiss Banks’s claims and asked for a stay of the action. Because Allstate attached one of the policies to its motion as supporting evidence, the trial court sua sponte converted the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. On July 8, 2008, the trial court granted Allstate summary judgment on the enforceability of the arbitration provision and ordered the action stayed pending the outcome of arbitration.

{¶ 5} Banks’s appeal from this judgment is now before us.

II

{¶ 6} The sole assignment of error reads, “The trial court erred by granting Allstate’s motion for summary judgment.”

{¶ 7} Banks contends that the arbitration provision is unenforceable because Ohio law and public policy require that his claim be resolved in Ohio, under Ohio law. Banks argues that Ohio has a strong public-policy interest in his claim because of the relationship between him and Allstate. Banks further argues that Ohio law is the appropriate law to apply because Ohio has the most significant relationship to the accident and the parties. Finally, Banks argues that Pennsylvania tort law on joint and several liability will not allow him to recover.

{¶ 8} The principal issue is whether the arbitration provision in the UIM coverage section of the insurance policy is enforceable.3 Banks and Allstate do argue this issue, but they do so using a forum-selection clause analysis. This is incorrect.

{¶ 9} A name is of course unimportant if, like Juliet, one sees beyond the name to the substance of that which is named.4 The parties here, like the Montagues and Capulets, seem to suffer from a form of blindness, for Banks and Allstate (and even the trial court) affix the name forum-selection clause to the provision at issue, but fail to see its substance — arbitration.5 Our review of the [273]*273policy reveals that a forum-selection clause,6 as well as a choice-of-law provision,7 are actually found in the General Provisions section. Forum-selection and choice-of-law clauses reflect agreement on which public court and which public law will resolve disputes that arise under the contract. Complicated issues of connections to competing forums become relevant in order to show which state has the greatest interest in resolving the dispute (which are the issues that the parties here argue). Arbitration, conversely, reflects an agreement to resolve disputes in a private, extra-judicial way.

{¶ 10} Analytically, when a dispute falls within an arbitration provision, the provision must be addressed first. If the provision is enforced, the dispute proceeds to arbitration according to the provision. Only when the provision is found unenforceable do questions of forum selection and choice of law arise because, absent arbitration, a court must resolve the dispute. In this case the issue is the first — whether the arbitration provision will be enforced, compelling resolution of the parties’ dispute by arbitration. The question is not which court according to the forum-selection clause should resolve the dispute, nor is it what law according to the choice-of-law provision should be used to resolve the dispute. The question is, in essence, whether a court of law should resolve the claim at all.

{¶ 11} We will review the trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. A trial court should grant summary judgment if the evidence “show[s] 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.” Civ.R. 56(C); Cohen v. G/C Contracting Corp., Greene App. No. 2006 CA 102, 2007-Ohio-4888, 2007 WL 2743707, at ¶ 20 (reviewing de novo a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the existence of a valid arbitration agreement).

{¶ 12} The Ohio Arbitration Act (“OAA”), which “sets forth a trial court’s role in construing and enforcing arbitration agreements,” Lindsey v. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., Montgomery App. No. 19903, 2003-Ohio-6898, 2003 WL 22972357, at ¶ 15, in effect, requires a court to enforce most arbitration agree[274]*274ments. An arbitration provision is “valid, irrevocable, and enforceable,” under the OAA, “except upon grounds that exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” Garcia v. Wayne Homes, L.L.C. (April 19, 2002), Clark App. No. 2001 CA 53 2002, 2002 WL 628619, *4; R.C. 2711.01(A) (“A provision in any written contract * * * to settle by arbitration a controversy that subsequently arises out of the contract, or out of the refusal to perform the whole or any part of the contract * * * shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, except upon grounds that exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract”). When a trial court determines that an arbitration provision is enforceable, the OAA instructs the court to stay the case pending the outcome of arbitration. Garcia at * 5 (“R.C. 2711.02 requires a court to stay an action if the issues involved fall under a valid, enforceable arbitration agreement”); R.C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Booher v. Brace Quest Corp.
2018 Ohio 3598 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
Gaither v. Wall & Assocs., Inc.
2017 Ohio 765 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
McCulloch v. Janney Montgomery Scott L.L.C.
2014 Ohio 4002 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
920 N.E.2d 432, 184 Ohio App. 3d 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/banks-v-jennings-ohioctapp-2009.