Butta v. Geico Cas. Co.

383 F. Supp. 3d 426
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 19, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 19-675
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 383 F. Supp. 3d 426 (Butta v. Geico Cas. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butta v. Geico Cas. Co., 383 F. Supp. 3d 426 (E.D. Pa. 2019).

Opinion

KEARNEY, District Judge

Under section 1738 of the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law effective in July 1990, a Pennsylvanian buying auto insurance may pay increased premiums to stack his underinsured motorist coverage to provide more coverage for another vehicle insured by his family in the same household by the same insurer. He is entitled to this stacking unless he signs a form waiving this right. Avoiding the form waiver, insurers introduced "household exclusions" precluding stacking underinsured coverage when the vehicle involved in the accident is not listed on every insurance policy issued to family members in the same house. For over twenty-eight years, Pennsylvania courts wrestled with the insurers' household exclusion compared to section 1738. In August 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal on whether the household exclusion violated Pennsylvania Law. On January 23, 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held this household exclusion violated section 1738 at least when the same insurer agreed to stacking on different vehicles operated by family members in the same house. An injured insured now seeks a declaratory judgment and damages after his insurer declined stacking under the identical household exclusion language. The insurer moves to dismiss arguing the *428January 23, 2019 decision does not apply to the insured's earlier-issued policies. After careful analysis of the varied caselaw, we hold the decision did not announce a new rule but interpreted the law for the first time in a retroactive precedential decision. We deny the insurer's motion to dismiss.

I. Plead facts.

Pennsylvanian Francis J. Butta insured his motorcycle with an underinsured motorist ("UIM") coverage policy issued by GEICO Indemnity Company providing $ 15,000/$ 30,000 of stacked coverage.1 He lives with his parents, Francis R. Butta and Yvonne Butta.2 His parents insured their two cars with a separate UIM policy issued by GEICO Casualty Company providing up to $ 200,000 of stacked coverage.3

UIM provides coverage to an insured when the insurance of the tortfeasor causing the insured harm is insufficient to cover the insured's damages.4 "Inter-policy stacking" allows an insured to accumulate multiple coverages under different policies in the same household.5 An insured pays a higher premium to stack coverages. Francis J. Butta and his parents stacked their coverages.6 His parents' GEICO policy contained an amendment referred to as a "household exclusion,"7 noting the coverage "does not apply to bodily injury while occupying or from being struck by a vehicle owned or leased by you or a relative that is not insured for Underinsured Motorists Coverage under this policy."8

On July 20, 2017, Francis J. Butta suffered severe injuries while riding his motorcycle after an underinsured driver, June E. Rosengrant, struck Mr. Butta with her car.9 Ms. Rosengrant's liability coverage provided $ 300,000 in compensation to Mr. Butta, insufficient to compensate him for his injuries.10 Mr. Butta then collected $ 15,000 from his own UIM coverage.11 His compensation still insufficient, Mr. Butta next made a claim under the UIM policy issued to his parents.12

GEICO denied his claim for UIM coverage under his parents' policy on August 18, 2017.13 GEICO based its denial on the household exclusion reading: "When This Coverage Does Not Apply[:] This coverage does not apply to bodily injury while occupying or from being struck by a vehicle owned or leased by you or a relative that is not insured for Underinsured Motorist Coverage under this policy."14 GEICO explained Mr. Butta's parents' UIM coverage did not apply to Mr. Butta because he is related to the policyholders and their GEICO policy did not insure his motorcycle.15

*429II. Analysis

Mr. Butta sued GEICO on January 23, 2019 seeking we declare he is entitled to recover stacked underinsured motorist coverage under his parents' policy and compensatory damages for a breach of contract.16 He alleges the "household exclusion" is not enforceable under the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's January 23, 2019 holding in Gallagher v. GEICO Indemnity Co.17 In Gallagher , the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the same household exclusion relied upon by GEICO today in denying coverage violates Pennsylvania's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law ("MVFRL"). Mr. Butta argues the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision applies retroactively to his policy in effect before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's January 2019 decision. GEICO moves to dismiss seeking to uphold its denial of coverage arguing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court January 23, 2019 holding is not retroactive.18

On July 1, 1990, the General Assembly amended the MVFRL to provide, "[w]hen more than one vehicle is insured under one or more policies providing uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, the stated limit for uninsured or underinsured coverage shall apply separately to each vehicle so insured."19 This policy, called "stacking," applies unless an insured affirmatively waives it.20 The MVFRL contains a form insureds must sign to properly waive stacking.21 Under policies with a "household exclusion," however, stacking does not cover people living in the same household as the insured but not included in the insured's policy.22

On January 23, 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the household exclusion violates the MVFRL "under the facts *430of this case insomuch as it acts as a de facto waiver of stacked UIM coverage provided for in the MVFRL."23 GEICO argues it legally denied Mr. Butta's claim under the household exclusion, as the household exclusion constituted an enforceable exception when Mr. Butta's policy applied and when he made his claim.24 Mr. Butta does not dispute the language of his parents' policy, if enforceable, excluded coverage. He instead argues the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Gallagher decision bars the application of the household exclusion.

A. How do we decide if Gallagher is retroactive?

Because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not decide whether Gallagher applies to the same language in pre-policies issued to other persons, we "must predict how Pennsylvania's highest court would decide this case."25 "In predicting how the highest court of the state would resolve the issue, [we] must consider relevant state precedents, analogous decisions, considered dicta, scholarly works, and any other reliable data tending convincingly to show how the highest court in the state would decide the issue at hand."26

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Bluebook (online)
383 F. Supp. 3d 426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butta-v-geico-cas-co-paed-2019.