Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance

459 A.2d 1251, 313 Pa. Super. 324, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2962
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 22, 1983
DocketNo. 1708
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 459 A.2d 1251 (Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance) 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
Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance, 459 A.2d 1251, 313 Pa. Super. 324, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2962 (Pa. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

WICKERSHAM, Judge:

This case comes to us after our original decision in Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Company, 301 Pa.Super. 146, 447 A.2d 284 (1982) was reviewed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 500 Pa. 179, 455 A.2d 108. Our supreme court directs us to reconsider the issue involved in this appeal in light of its recent decision in Sachritz v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Insurance Company, 500 Pa. 167, 455 A.2d 101 (1982). With the guidance provided by Sachritz, supra, we consider again the statute of limitations provisions contained in section 106(c) of the Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act.1

The facts of this case may be summarized as follows. On March 4, 1977, appellee’s spouse, James W. Guitón, was killed in an automobile accident. At the time of thq accident, James Guitón was covered by a no-fault insurance policy issued by appellant, Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Company. Following the accident, appellee, Blanche M. Guitón submitted a claim to appellant for no-fault benefits. On August 4, 1977, appellant paid Blanche Guitón $1,500.00 for funeral expenses, and $10.00 for ambulance expenses, and in October of 1977, appellant made a final payment to Blanche Guitón of $5,000.00 for survivor’s loss benefits.

On November 26, 1979, Blanche Guitón instituted suit against appellant by filing a praecipe for writ of summons and, on January 7, 1980, she filed a complaint in assumpsit against appellant seeking work loss benefits under her deceased spouse’s no-fault insurance policy. Appellant filed an answer and new matter to Blanche Guiton’s complaint in which it raised the defense of the statute of limitations provisions contained in section 106(c)(2) of the No-fault Act. After the pleadings were closed, appellant filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings in which it again raised the defense of the statute of limitations. The lower court [327]*327denied appellant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings by order dated May 17, 1981, but certified the order for immediate appeal to our court in accordance with 42 Pa.C.S. § 702(b). Thereafter, appellant petitioned our court for permission to take an immediate appeal from the lower court’s order in accordance with Pa.R.A.P. 1311, and we granted the petition by order dated July 9, 1981.

Section 106(c)(2) of the No-fault Act provides in pertinent part: “If survivor’s benefits have been paid to any survivor, an action for further survivor’s benefits by either the same or another claimant may be commenced not later than two years after the last payment of benefits.” In the instant case, appellant made a final payment to Blanche Guitón of $5,000.00 for survivor’s loss benefits in October of 1977, and Blanche Guitón commenced the instant action for work loss benefits on November 26, 1979 — more than two years later.

The lower court found that the limitation contained in section 106(c)(2) on actions for further survivor’s benefits applied only to actions for further survivor’s loss benefits and did not apply to subsequent actions for work loss benefits. The lower court found no limitation in the No-fault Act on actions for work loss benefits applicable here and, consequently, held that the six year limitation period applicable to general contract actions governed this action for work loss benefits.2

The decision of the supreme court in Sachritz, supra, compels a different result. William Sachritz suffered injuries in an automobile accident on August 16, 1976 and died as a result of those injuries on September 5, 1976. His widow, Ann Sachritz, was paid funeral expense, survivor’s benefit, medical expense and work loss benefits for the time between her husband’s accident and his death; she received these payments on February 28, 1977. After we filed our opinion in Heffner v. Allstate Insurance Company, 265 Pa.Super. 181, 401 A.2d 1160 (1979), Ann Sachritz filed a [328]*328claim for the post-mortem work loss benefits approved in Heffner. Her claim was denied by the insurer and she filed suit against Allstate on July 23, 1979. We ruled that the suit was barred by the two year statute of limitations found in the second sentence of section 106(c)(1) of the No-fault Act.

The supreme court affirmed. The court noted that the work loss benefits paid after a victim’s death are not survivor’s benefits meant to compensate certain persons for the loss they suffer by the insured’s death, but rather are “simply continuing work loss benefits, designed to compensate the decedent’s estate for the loss the insured himself suffered by having his earning power cut off by death ....” Sachritz, supra 500 Pa. at 168-69, 455 A.2d 101. Because some work loss benefits had been paid on February 28, 1977, any action for further work loss benefits had to be filed within two years of that date in order to be timely.

In the case sub judice Blanche Guitón received a payment for funeral expenses and ambulance expenses in August 1977, and received survivor’s loss benefits in October 1977. She now seeks post-mortem work loss benefits.

In Sachritz the court held “ ‘post-mortem’ [work loss] benefits are ... governed in no-fault by the limitations of Section 106(c)(1).” 500 Pa. at 170-71, 455 A.2d at 101.

Section 106(c)(1) states:

If no-fault benefits have not been paid for loss arising otherwise than from death, an action therefor may be commenced not later than two years after the victim suffers the loss and either knows, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, that the loss was caused by the accident, or not later than four years after the accident, whichever is earlier. If no-fault benefits have been paid for loss arising otherwise than from death, an action for further benefits, other than surviv- or’s benefits, by either the same or another claimant^] may be commenced not later than two years after the last payment of benefits.

[329]*329Unquestionably neither the funeral expenses nor the surviv- or’s loss benefits paid here arose otherwise than from death. There is, similarly, no allegation that the ten dollar “ambulance expense” arose otherwise than from death or was a medical expense as defined by the Act.3 Moreover, the complete absence of any expenses for treatment, emergency room care or other obvious medical services indicates that the ambulance expense arose out of James Guiton’s death. The relevant statute of limitations in this action is, therefore, found in the first sentence of section 106(c)(1).

In that sentence, it is provided that an action for benefits arising otherwise than from death “may be commenced not later than two years after the victim suffers the

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Related

Guiton v. PENNSYLVANIA NAT. MUT. CAS. INS.
469 A.2d 1388 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
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469 A.2d 1378 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance
469 A.2d 1388 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Murphy v. PRUD. PROP. AND CAS. INS. CO.
469 A.2d 1378 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Guiton v. PA. NAT. MUT. CAS. INS. CO.
459 A.2d 1251 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
459 A.2d 1251, 313 Pa. Super. 324, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guiton-v-pennsylvania-national-mutual-casualty-insurance-pasuperct-1983.