Gillette v. Estate of Gillette

837 N.E.2d 1283, 163 Ohio App. 3d 426, 2005 Ohio 5247
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 30, 2005
DocketNo. 05AP-171.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 837 N.E.2d 1283 (Gillette v. Estate of Gillette) 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
Gillette v. Estate of Gillette, 837 N.E.2d 1283, 163 Ohio App. 3d 426, 2005 Ohio 5247 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

Klatt, Judge.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Joyce Gillette, appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment to defendantappellee Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company (“Nationwide”). For the following reasons, we reverse and remand.

{¶ 2} On April 23, 2003, Joseph M. Gillette was driving his 1996 Ford Aerostar east on U.S. 62 in Licking County, Ohio, when he lost control' of the minivan and drove it off the roadway, where it struck a culvert and flipped onto its side. Appellant, Joseph’s wife, was a passenger in the minivan when it crashed, and she was seriously injured in the accident.

{¶ 3} At the time of the accident, Joseph maintained an automobile insurance policy through Nationwide. The declarations page of the policy named the minivan as the only insured vehicle and Joseph as the only named insured. Although appellant was not the named insured, Nationwide concedes that as the spouse of the named insured, appellant was an insured under the policy.

{¶ 4} Although the policy provided five different types of coverages, only three are relevant to this appeal: the “Family Compensation,” “Medical Payments,” and “Auto Liability” coverages. In the “Family Compensation” section of the policy, Nationwide agreed to pay medical and confinement benefits to its insureds for accidental bodily injury suffered while occupying Joseph’s Ford Aerostar regardless of who was at fault for the accident. The medical benefit provided up *429 to $10,000 to pay for “usual, customary and reasonable charges” for “medically necessary services” rendered within one year after the accident. The confinement benefit provided $5 per day for each day of necessary and continuous indoor confinement within 360 days after the accident.

{¶ 5} In the “Medical Payments” section of the policy, Nationwide agreed to pay to its insureds “usual, customary and reasonable charges” for “medically necessary services” due to accidental bodily injury suffered by an insured while occupying the Ford Aerostar regardless of who was at fault for the accident. Finally, in the “Auto Liability” section of the policy, Nationwide agreed to pay for property and bodily injury damages for which an insured was legally liable as a result of an accident arising out of the use of the Ford Aerostar. Nationwide limited its liability for bodily injury damages to $300,000 for each person and $300,000 for each accident.

{¶ 6} Four days after the accident, a Nationwide representative sent a letter to appellant in which Nationwide acknowledged the accident and invited appellant to submit her medical bills to Nationwide. Based on the medical bills subsequently submitted, Nationwide made two payments to two different medical providers in May 2003. The payments totaled $10,000, which Nationwide maintained was the limit of benefits available to appellant under the policy. Nationwide made these two payments pursuant to the medical benefit included within the “Family Compensation” coverage.

{¶ 7} On September 3, 2003, appellant’s attorney made a formal demand for further benefits, in which he asserted that appellant’s medical expenses due to the accident exceeded $59,000. Appellant’s attorney demanded that Nationwide render to appellant a payment equal to “the full limits of her insurance policy.” Following this demand, appellant’s attorney submitted further medical bills, and in December 2003, he informed Nationwide that appellant’s total medical expenses topped $69,000.

{¶ 8} On January 12, 2004, Nationwide offered to settle appellant’s claim against it for $100,000. Appellant rejected this offer and, on January 21, 2004, she filed a complaint against Nationwide, asserting bad faith on the part of the insurer for refusing to pay the full amount of insurance proceeds owed to her under the policy. Appellant also asserted a negligence claim against her husband for causing the accident in which she was injured. 1

*430 {¶ 9} On August 5, 2004, Nationwide filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that appellant was barred from asserting a bad-faith claim against it. Nationwide maintained that although appellant was an insured under the policy, by seeking benefits via the liability coverage Nationwide provided to her husband, she stood in the shoes of a third-party claimant. Because Ohio law precludes a third-party claimant from asserting a bad-faith claim against an insurer, Nationwide argued that it was entitled to summary judgment on appellant’s bad-faith claim.

{¶ 10} While Nationwide’s motion for summary judgment was pending, appellant’s attorney caused the court to issue subpoenas duces tecum to the three Nationwide employees who had handled appellant’s claim. The subpoenas requested that each employee attend a deposition and produce at that deposition any records regarding appellant and the accident, as well as any records regarding Nationwide’s procedures for handling bodily-injury claims. In response, Nationwide filed motions to quash, arguing that because the subpoenaed employees could testify only as to facts underlying the legally insupportable bad-faith claim, appellant had no right to the depositions and records she sought. In its October 28, 2004 decision, the trial court agreed with Nationwide and granted its motions to quash.

{¶ 11} On January 24, 2005, the trial court issued a decision on Nationwide’s motion for summary judgment, in which it found that appellant, as a third-party claimant, could not assert a claim for bad faith against Nationwide. On February 7, 2005, the trial court reduced this decision to judgment and rendered judgment on appellant’s bad-faith claim in Nationwide’s favor. Appellant now appeals from this judgment.

{¶ 12} On appeal, appellant assigns the following errors:

[1.] The trial court erred in granting the defendants’ motions to quash subpoenas issued to various Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company claims adjusters, thus prohibiting plaintiff from conducting discovery depositions as to Nationwide’s claims handling conduct as reflected in the court’s decision of October 29, 2004 [sic].
[2.] The trial court erred in concluding, as a matter of law, that Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company did not owe a duty of good faith to its own insured, Joyce Gillette, the appellant herein.
[3.] The trial court erred in granting Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s motion for summary judgment as to appellant’s claims of bad faith.

{¶ 13} Because they are potentially dispositive, we will begin our review with appellant’s second and third assignments of error, both of which challenge the trial court’s ruling on summary judgment. Appellate review of summary judg *431 ment motions is de novo. Helton v. Scioto Cty. Bd. of Commrs. (1997), 123 Ohio App.3d 158, 162, 703 N.E.2d 841. “When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on summary judgment, the court of appeals conducts an independent review of the record and stands in the shoes of the trial court.” Mergenthal v. Star Banc Corp.

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Bluebook (online)
837 N.E.2d 1283, 163 Ohio App. 3d 426, 2005 Ohio 5247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillette-v-estate-of-gillette-ohioctapp-2005.