Insurance Co. of Evanston v. Bowers

758 A.2d 213, 2000 Pa. Super. 230, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2015
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 9, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 758 A.2d 213 (Insurance Co. of Evanston v. Bowers) 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
Insurance Co. of Evanston v. Bowers, 758 A.2d 213, 2000 Pa. Super. 230, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2015 (Pa. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

ORIE MELVIN, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant Catherine Bowers, Admin-istratrix of the Estate of Jarret D. Poston, Deceased, (the Estate) appeals from the trial court’s grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of Appellee, The Insurance Company of Evanston (Evanston), denying the Estate underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits under a business auto policy issued by Appellee to Outside-In School of Experiential Education, Inc. (Outside-In). The Estate claims the trial court erroneously concluded the decedent was not an insured for purposes of UIM coverage because he was not a “family member” of Outside-In. For the. following reasons, we affirm.

¶2 Evanston issued a Business Auto Policy, No. 1002CI014716-0, to Outside-In with a coverage period effective November 26, 1994 through November 26, 1995. On October 28th, 1995, Jarret D. Poston (the decedent) was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while participating as a bicyclist in a long-distance expedition supervised by Outside-In. Prior to the accident, the Erie County Court of Common Pleas had adjudicated the decedent delinquent. Due to his need for treatment, supervision and rehabilitation the court ordered his commitment to Outside-In for an indefinite period of time. The Estate made a claim against the tortfeasor’s motor vehicle owner’s liability insurance carrier, which settled for the policy limit of $10,000.00. Thereafter, the Estate made a claim with Evanston for UIM benefits under the policy issued to Outside-In. Evanston denied the claim asserting the decedent was not an insured under the policy.

¶ 8 Evanston then filed the instant declaratory judgment action seeking the court’s declaration that the decedent is not an insured under the subject policy, and therefore, it need not extend the UIM coverage to his estate. The Estate filed an answer and counterclaim admitting the factual allegations but disputing Evans-ton’s interpretation of the policy as not providing coverage. To the contrary, the Estate asserts the decedent is an insured by virtue of the policy’s definition of family member or § 1702 of the MVFRL since he was made a ward of the state by operation of law through the delinquency proceedings, and subsequently made a ward of the named insured when placed under their custody, care, and supervision. Moreover, the Estate claims Evanston’s interpretation would render the endorsement wholly meaningless, illusory, and absurd, as it would exclude any party from ever making a claim.

¶4 Alternatively, the Estate contends any denial of UIM coverage under the circumstances of this case is violative of the public policy of this Commonwealth. This alternative contention also makes up the substance of the counterclaim wherein the Estate requests a declaration from the court that denial of coverage violates the public policy of this Commonwealth. Specifically, the Estate alleges “the public *215 policy of this Commonwealth requires that a ward of the Commonwealth, placed into the custody, care and supervision of a corporation over which the ward has no control and for which the corporation is duly paid, and which corporation regularly thereafter exposes said ward to the types of intensive treatment and physically and emotionally demanding wilderness expeditions and accompanying, reasonably foreseeable risks as did Outside-In to the decedent in this case, be given coverage under and considered an insured within the parameters of the existing automobile insurance policies of such a corporation.” Certified Record at 8, Answer and Counterclaim ¶ 39 at p. 8.

¶ 5 Evanston next filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to whether or not UIM coverage should be extended to the decedent. After the submission of briefs by the parties and argument thereon the trial court entered an Order granting a judgment on the pleadings in favor of Evanston. In its accompanying opinion, the court declared that pursuant to the definitions set forth in both the policy and under the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL), the decedent did not qualify as a family member of the named insured because the named insured is a corporate entity and as such cannot have a household within the common-sense meaning of that term. Therefore UIM coverage did not extend to the decedent’s Estate. This timely appeal followed.

¶ 6 On appeal the Estate presents two questions for our review:

1. WHETHER THE DECEDENT, JARRET D. POSTON, IS AN INSURED UNDER THE POLICY OF MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE ISSUED BY THE APPEL-LEE, INSURANCE COMPANY OF EVANSTON[?]
2. WHETHER ANY INTERPRETATION OF THE SUBJECT INSURANCE POLICY THAT DETERMINES THE DECEDENT, JARRET D. POSTON, WAS NOT AN INSURED IS VIOLATIVE OF THE PUBLIC POLICY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA!;?]

Appellant’s Brief at 3.

¶ 7 Our standard of review of appeals from the grant of a motion for judgment on the pleadings is well settled:

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. 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 affirm a motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Consulting Eng’rs, Inc. v. Insurance Co. of N. America, 710 A.2d 82, 83-84 (Pa.Super.1998) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

¶ 8 The Estate initially contends the trial court erred, as a matter of law, in granting Evanston’s motion where the policy in question was ambiguous as to who *216 was covered thereunder. Specifically, the Estate asserts its decedent is entitled to benefits under the UIM endorsement found within Outside-In’s policy because he was legally a “ward” of Outside-In and, therefore, a “family member” of the named insured as defined by the policy. Additionally, the estate claims coverage pursuant to the MVFRL’s definition of insured because the decedent was “residing in the household of the named insured” as “a minor in the custody of ... the named insured.” 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1702. We disagree.

¶ 9 The legal principles to be applied in reviewing coverage questions arising under insurance contracts are well settled.

[T]he task of interpreting [an insurance] contract is generally performed by a court rather than by a jury.

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Bluebook (online)
758 A.2d 213, 2000 Pa. Super. 230, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2015, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/insurance-co-of-evanston-v-bowers-pasuperct-2000.