Limandri v. Allstate Ins. Co.

379 F. Supp. 3d 400
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 29, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 16-2960
StatusPublished

This text of 379 F. Supp. 3d 400 (Limandri v. Allstate Ins. 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
Limandri v. Allstate Ins. Co., 379 F. Supp. 3d 400 (E.D. Pa. 2019).

Opinion

Smith, District Judge

Under Pennsylvania's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law ("MVFRL"), an insurance company must provide uninsured and underinsured motorists ("UM" and "UIM", respectively; "UM/UIM", collectively) coverage limits equal to the bodily injury liability limits under an automobile insurance policy unless the named insured submits a written request for lower limits. In the instant case, the named insureds effectively lowered the UM/UIM benefits for their four vehicles under an automobile insurance policy with the defendant by executing a form request for lower UM/UIM coverage in September 2001. The named insureds later dropped their fourth vehicle from the policy, only to add another fourth vehicle a few months later. When they added the new fourth vehicle, the vehicle would have had UM/UIM coverage equal to the bodily injury limits unless the named insureds executed another document requesting lower limits on this vehicle.

In March 2003, the named insureds signed a form provided by the defendant wherein they unequivocally requested lower UM/UIM limits for this fourth vehicle. This form, however, also listed the other three vehicles covered by the policy, and the named insureds did not check any boxes indicating a selection of lower UM/UIM limits for these vehicles. At the top of the form, there is language indicating that the policy will carry UM/UIM limits equal to the bodily injury liability limits unless the first named insured selects a lower limit.

In this action, the daughter of the named insureds was injured in an accident while driving a covered vehicle. The named insureds had reduced the UM/UIM coverage for this vehicle in September 2001, but they did not check any box for lower limits on the form request for lower UM/UIM limits in March 2003. The daughter has brought an action against her parents' insurer seeking, inter alia , UIM coverage equal to the bodily injury liability limits by *403essentially claiming that her parents' decision not to check any box for lower UM/UIM coverage in March 2003 resulted in the default UM/UIM coverage when a named insured has not affirmatively selected lower limits. The insurance company contends that the available UM/UIM coverage for the daughter is the lower coverage that the named insureds selected in September 2001. The insurer argues that the parents' failure to check any box for lower UM/UIM limits on the March 2003 form for three of their four covered vehicles does not and cannot result in higher UM/UIM coverage because the named insured has previously reduced the coverage for these vehicles and took no affirmative steps thereafter to change or increase the coverage.

Both parties have moved for summary judgment on the plaintiff's cause of action seeking a declaratory judgment. After reviewing the record, the court finds that the March 2003 reduction form was intended to reduce the UM/UIM limits for the fourth vehicle (thus bringing it into line with their UM/UIM coverage on their three other vehicles) and did not otherwise operate to increase the UM/UIM limits on the other three vehicles to the bodily injury liability limits. As such, the court will deny the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and grant the insurance company's motion for summary judgment.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The plaintiff, Pietra Limandri ("Plaintiff"), commenced this action by filing a complaint against the defendant, Allstate Insurance Company ("Allstate"), in the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County on June 3, 2016. See Notice for Removal of Civil Action from State Court, Ex. A, Compl., Doc. No. 1-1. In the complaint, Plaintiff alleges that in September 2013, she was involved in a motor vehicle accident caused by another motorist unlawfully proceeding through a stop sign. See Compl. at 1. Plaintiff suffered numerous injuries from the accident, "including but not limited to, cervical disc herniation, acute cervical strain and spasms, [a] strained left shoulder, severe migraines, and decreased range of motion in the neck[.]" Id. Due to her injuries, she "underwent an anterior cervical discectomy fusion surgery at C5-6 with graft plating and bone marrow aspiration." Id. at 2.

Plaintiff first attempted to recover damages for those injuries by suing the tortfeasor. See id. at 2. This lawsuit resulted in Plaintiff entering into a settlement with the tortfeasor's insurance carrier for the applicable bodily injury liability limits, i.e. $ 15,000. See id. At Plaintiff's request, Allstate, which had insured the vehicle Plaintiff was driving at the time of the accident, consented to the settlement with the tortfeasor in October 2015.1 See id. at 2-3.

The tortfeasor's bodily injury policy limits were allegedly inadequate to compensate Plaintiff for her injuries, so she notified Allstate of her intent to seek UIM coverage under an automobile insurance policy with Allstate. See id. at 3, 5. Plaintiff sought $ 200,000 (representing a bodily injury limit of $ 100,000, stacked for two vehicles) from Allstate. See id. at 5. Allstate responded to Plaintiff's UIM benefits claim by notifying her that it believed that she was entitled to a maximum of $ 30,000 in UIM coverage under the applicable policy. See id. at 6. Then, in September 2015, Allstate offered Plaintiff $ 10,000 for her UIM claim. See id. Plaintiff provided Allstate with additional documentation showing that her injuries and economic damages well exceed the $ 10,000 offer, yet Allstate did not increase its offer even *404after having enough time to review the documents. See id.

Based on these allegations, Plaintiff asserts three causes of action in the complaint. See id. at 6-13. The first cause of action is a claim for declaratory relief seeking a declaration that the applicable insurance policy provides for UIM coverage equal to the bodily injury coverage under the policy, $ 100,000 stacked for two vehicles, for a total of $ 200,000. See id. at 6-9. The second cause of action is a breach of contract claim. See id. at 9-11. The final cause of action is a bad faith claim under Pennsylvania's Bad Faith Statute, 42 Pa. C.S. § 8371. See id. at 11-13.

Allstate removed the action from the Court of Common Pleas to this court on June 27, 2016, and it was originally assigned to the Honorable Lawrence F. Stengel, now retired. See Doc. No. 1. After receiving an extension, Allstate filed an answer and affirmative defenses to the complaint on July 27, 2016. See Doc. No. 7. The parties proceeded through discovery, and then filed the instant cross-motions for summary judgment on February 23, 2017.2 See Doc. Nos. 15, 16. Allstate filed a separate statement of undisputed material facts in support of its motion for summary judgment on March 6, 2017. See Doc. No. 18. Plaintiff filed a response in opposition to Allstate's summary judgment motion on March 7, 2017. See Doc. No. 19. Allstate filed its response in opposition to Plaintiff's summary judgment motion on March 9, 2017. See Doc. No. 20. Plaintiff filed a response to Allstate's statement of undisputed material facts on March 31, 2017. See Doc. No. 22.

This matter was reassigned from then-Chief Judge Stengel to the undersigned on July 17, 2018. See Doc. No. 23.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Erie Railroad v. Tompkins
304 U.S. 64 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Scott v. Harris
550 U.S. 372 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Orsatti v. New Jersey State Police
71 F.3d 480 (Third Circuit, 1995)
Wright v. Owens Corning
679 F.3d 101 (Third Circuit, 2012)
Lewis v. Erie Insurance Exchange
793 A.2d 143 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Hutchison v. Sunbeam Coal Corp.
519 A.2d 385 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Madison Construction Co. v. Harleysville Mutual Insurance
735 A.2d 100 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Motorists Insurance Companies v. Emig
664 A.2d 559 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Gene & Harvey Builders, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Ass'n
517 A.2d 910 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 F. Supp. 3d 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/limandri-v-allstate-ins-co-paed-2019.