Brink v. Erie Insurance Group

940 A.2d 528, 2008 Pa. Super. 7, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 4, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 940 A.2d 528 (Brink v. Erie Insurance Group) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brink v. Erie Insurance Group, 940 A.2d 528, 2008 Pa. Super. 7, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7 (Pa. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION BY

LALLY-GREEN, J.:

¶ 1 Appellants, Donald L. Brink, Jr. and Donna J. Brink, appeal from the order entered on October 20, 2006. The order in question granted the motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by Appellee, Erie Insurance Group (“Erie”), and denied Appellants’ cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings. After careful review, we affirm.

¶2 The trial court described the facts and procedural history of this case as follows:

[Appellants], Donald and Donna Brink, purchased personal automobile insurance from ... [Erie] ... which provided coverage for [Appellants] and their son between the dates of December 18, 2003 and December 18, 2004. The auto insurance policies issued by [Erie] also included UIM [Underinsured Motorist] coverage.
In 2004 ..., Donald Brink was an employee of the Swatara Township Police Department where his duties includ[530]*530ed responding to motor vehicle accidents and operating police vehicles. On September 8, 2004, Officer Brink was called to respond to an incident and did so in one of the police department’s vehicles. In the course of his responding to the incident that evening, he was involved in [an] automobile accident in which he suffered physical injury. The other motorist involved in the accident was not covered by liability insurance in amounts sufficient to fully compensate Officer Brink for his injuries. Officer Brink and his wife then filed a claim with [Erie] to recover UIM benefits under their insurance policy.
[Erie] denied Officer Brink’s claim citing Exclusion 10 of the UIM policy in a section entitled “LIMITATIONS ON OUR DUTY TO PAY” including a subheading “What we do not Cover-Exclusions.” Exclusion 10 reads, “[b]odily injury to you or a resident using a non-owned motor vehicle or a non-owned miscellaneous vehicle which is regularly used by you or a resident, but not insured for Uninsured or Underinsured Motorists Coverage under this policy.”
On January 24, 2006, [Appellants] filed a complaint alleging that [Erie] breached the insurance contract by refusing to pay UIM benefits to [Appellants] under the policy and asserting that [Erie] acted in bad faith in denying those benefits to Appellant without reasonable justification. On March 10, 2006, [Erie] filed an Answer with New Matter and Counterclaim denying [Appellants’] allegations and seeking declaratory judgment of its rights and obligations under the Policy, particularly with respect to the Endorsement and Exclusion 10. On March 16, 2006, [Appellants] filed a Reply to New Matter and Counterclaim. On May 23, 2006, [Erie] filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. [Appellants] filed a response to [Erie’s] Motion and a Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on June 8, 2006.

Trial Court Opinion, 10/20/06, at 1-2. Following oral argument on the parties’ motions, the trial court entered an order on October 20, 2006, which granted Erie judgment on the pleadings and denied Appellants’ cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings. This appeal followed.1

¶ 3 Appellants raise the following issues on appeal:

I. Did the Lower Court commit an error of law in its denial of [Appellants’] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and granting [Erie’s] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings where Officer Brink’s use of a police vehicle was not “regular” as required by the exclusion?
II. Did the Lower Court commit an error of law in its denial of [Appellants’] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and granting [Erie’s] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings because Office [sic] Brink had a reasonable expectation of coverage?
III. Did the Lower Court commit an error of law in its denial of [Appellants’] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and granting [Erie’s] Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings because the ... exclusion is against clearly stated public policy?

Appellants’ Brief at 4.

¶ 4 All of Appellants’ issues are interrelated and challenge the trial court’s order [531]*531granting Erie judgment on the pleadings. As such, we will address Appellants’ claims in accordance with the following scope and standard of review:

A motion for judgment on the pleadings should be granted only where the pleadings demonstrate that no genuine issue of fact exists, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Pa.R.C.P. 1034[.] Thus, in reviewing a trial court’s decision to grant judgment on the pleadings, the scope of review of the appellate court is plenary; the reviewing court must determine if the action of the trial court is based on a clear error of law or whether there were facts disclosed by the pleadings which should properly go to the jury. An appellate court must accept as true all well-pleaded facts of the party against whom the motion is made, while considering against him only those facts which he specifically admits. Neither party can be deemed to have admitted either conclusions of law or unjustified inferences. Moreover, in conducting its inquiry, the court should confine itself to the pleadings themselves and any documents or exhibits properly attached to them. It may not consider inadmissible evidence in determining a motion for judgment on the pleadings. Only where the moving party’s case is clear and free from doubt such that a trial would prove fruitless will an appellate court afñrm a motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Integrated Project Services v. HMS Interiors, Inc., 2007 PA Super 246, ¶ 19, 931 A.2d 724.

115 Appellants make two arguments in them first issue. First, Appellants assert that the language of the “regular use” exclusion in their insurance policy was ambiguous. Second, Appellants contend that the exclusion did not apply because Officer Brink’s use of the police car was not “regular.”

¶ 6 First, we address whether the “regular use” exclusion in the policy was ambiguous. Our Supreme Court has set forth the following rules for interpreting insurance contracts:

The task of interpreting [an insurance] contract is generally performed by a court rather than by a jury. The purpose of that task is to ascertain the intent of the parties as manifested by the terms used in the written insurance policy. When the language of the policy is clear and unambiguous, a court is required to give effect to that language. When a provision in a policy is ambiguous, however, the policy is to be construed in favor of the insured to further the contract’s prime purpose of indemnification and against the insurer, as the insurer drafts the policy, and controls coverage. Contractual language is ambiguous if it is reasonably susceptible of different constructions and capable of being understood in more than one sense. Finally, in determining what the parties intended by their contract, the law must look to what they clearly expressed. Courts in interpreting a contract, do not assume that its language was chosen carelessly. Thus, we will not consider merely individual terms utilized in the insurance contract, but the entire insurance provision to ascertain the intent of the parties.

401 Fourth Street, Inc. v. Investors Insurance Group, 583 Pa. 445, 879 A.2d 166

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Bluebook (online)
940 A.2d 528, 2008 Pa. Super. 7, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brink-v-erie-insurance-group-pasuperct-2008.