Miller v. Hellman

21 Pa. D. & C.4th 462, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 93
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Perry County
DecidedJuly 13, 1993
Docketno. 88-408
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Pa. D. & C.4th 462 (Miller v. Hellman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Perry County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Hellman, 21 Pa. D. & C.4th 462, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 93 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1993).

Opinion

QUIGLEY, P.J.,

This case arose as a result of an accident between the plaintiffs and the defendants on December 24, 1987. Early in 1988, a series of letters from plaintiffs’ attorney to Prudential’s attorney requested tender of the policy limits of the defendant’s insurance policy. At this time the return letters from Prudential stated that they were in the process of investigating the potential (accident) liability and that tendering the policy limit would be premature. The plaintiffs filed a complaint on May 3, 1988. On May 135(,the defendant sent a letter offering the $100,000 policy limit of defendant’s insurance policy. Plaintiffs would not accept this offer, and the case went to trial. At trial, plaintiffs received a $2,500,000 jury award. From the time of the accident to the present, the plaintiffs have not sought payment from the assets of the defendant’s estate. Plaintiffs have stated that going after the estate assets would be premature at this time. At the hearing, it was shown that the plaintiff’s counsel did not know the size of the estate until the date of the hearing. This shows that at this point, the plaintiffs have not been actively pursuing the assets of defendant’s estate.

Plaintiffs are now seeking delay damages, on the basis that Prudential’s tender of the policy limits was untimely. Prudential, the insurance company, is contesting any award of delay damages. Prudential makes three arguments against delay damages: first that they offered the policy limits and therefore should not be liable for delay damages; next, that if they are liable for delay damages, this period should exclude the time between August of 1989 through February of 1992 when [464]*464the plaintiffs were trying to pursue a case against PennDOT; and finally, that Rule 238 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure is unconstitutional.

Rule 238 as amended in 1988, provides for damages for delay in actions of bodily injury, death or property damage. According to Rule 238, delay damages should be awarded for the period of time, in an action commenced before August 1, 1989, from the date plaintiff first filed the complaint or from a date one year after the accrual of the cause of action, whichever is later up to the date of a verdict. This period of time for which delay damages can be calculated excludes the periods of time when the defendant has made a written offer of settlement which was not exceeded by 125 percent of the verdict, or when the plaintiff caused the delay of trial. As plaintiff strenuously argues, this rule is for the most part explicit and concrete. However, there are exceptions to this rule.

The explanatory comment to Rule 238 states that old Rule 238 was the subject of many appellate cases and except where new Rule 238 clearly implies or specifies the contrary, most of these old cases will be applicable to practice under the new rule. One case noted in the explanatory comment is Berry v. Anderson, 348 Pa. Super. 618, 502 A.2d 717 (1986). The explanatory comment interprets Berry v. Anderson as stating, “that delay damages are not to be awarded after the date of the defendant’s offer when the court determines that the offer was the full amount available for payment of the plaintiff’s claim and it was impossible for the defendant to have offered more.”

Plaintiffs’ counsel suggests that this is only an indigent defendant exception to delay damages where the defendant can avoid delay damages by submitting an af[465]*465fidavit of indigency and having their insurance carrier tender the policy limits to the court. The explanatory comment to new Rule 238 does not limit Berry v. Anderson with such language. Moreover, recent case law seems to suggest that the Berry v. Anderson exception is more than an indigent defendant exception.

The first case of relevance, is Woods v. Ellerbe, 389 Pa. Super. 281, 566 A.2d 1245 (1989). In this case an action was brought against the defendant following an automobile accident. Id. at 282-83,566 A.2d at 1246. Stipulated verdicts were entered in favor of the plaintiffs representing policy limits of an automobile liability policy carried by the defendant. Id. at 282, 566 A.2d at 1245. The plaintiffs then petitioned for delay damages. Id. at 283, 566 A.2d at 1246. “The trial court determined appellants could not receive delay damages since Prudential paid the limits of the policy, unless appellants could show Prudential had acted in bad faith.” Id. at 284, 566 A.2d at 1246. In Woods, the Superior Court agreed with the trial court on this point. Id. at 285, 566 A.2d at 1247. This case is applying new Rule 238. Id. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania also cites to a prior case, Hall v. Brown, 363 Pa. Super. 415, 526 A.2d 413 (1987). The Superior Court stated,

“In Brown, supra, we held that an insurance carrier would not be liable beyond the policy limits unless it was proven the carrier breached its duty to act in good faith. We further found that under the rule, a plaintiff could collect delay damages from the defendant only and there was no provision for shifting liability to the insurer. [Footnote 1. Although Hall is an interpretation of the old Rule 238, nothing in the new rule leads us to believe that deviation from the holding in Hall is necessary or required.]” Woods, supra at 285, 566 A.2d at 1247.

[466]*466The holding in Woods seems to state that where the insured has tendered the policy limits of the defendant, that the insured cannot be held liable for delay damages unless there is a showing of bad faith.

The next case on point, by analogy, is Woods v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, 531 Pa. 295, 612 A.2d 970 (1992). In this case, a motorcyclist was injured when crashing on a Pennsylvania state highway. Id. at 296, 612 A.2d at 970.

Pennsylvania offered the injured cyclist $65,000 to settle his claim. Id. The statutory cap for such an accident was $250,000. Id. The motorist sued the Commonwealth and recovered $ 1,500,000. The cyclist then sought delay damages. The Superior Court held that delay damages were indeed applicable and should be calculated on the amount of the jury verdict.

The case stated, “explanatory comments to Rule 238 provide that damages for delay are not to be awarded after the date of a defendant’s offer when the court determines that the offer was in the Ml amount available for payment. Thus, in the context of statutory cap cases, the obligation for the payment of delay damages would cease at the time the statutory cap was tendered.” Id. at 300, 612 A.2d at 972.

This case is analogous to the case at hand because all Prudential could offer were its policy limits, $ 100,000. Once this amount was tendered, the obligation for the payment of delay damages would cease. Plaintiffs, are not attacking the defendant’s estate, Prudential’s actions are the sole basis for the plaintiffs’ delay damage claim.

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Related

Hall v. Brown
526 A.2d 413 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Laudenberger v. Port Auth. of Allegheny
436 A.2d 147 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)
Berry v. Anderson
502 A.2d 717 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Dietrich v. J.I. Case Co.
568 A.2d 1272 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
KRYSMALSKI BY KRYSMALSKI v. Tarasovich
622 A.2d 298 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Woods v. Commonwealth Department of Transportation
612 A.2d 970 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Lilley v. Johns-Manville Corp.
596 A.2d 203 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Schrock v. Albert Einstein Medical Center
589 A.2d 1103 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Craig v. Magee Memorial Rehabilitation Center
515 A.2d 1350 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Woods v. Ellerbe
566 A.2d 1245 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
21 Pa. D. & C.4th 462, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-hellman-pactcomplperry-1993.