Muller v. State Farm Mutual Insurance

31 Pa. D. & C.3d 87, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 343
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedApril 9, 1984
Docketno. 1326 Civil 1981
StatusPublished

This text of 31 Pa. D. & C.3d 87 (Muller v. State Farm Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Muller v. State Farm Mutual Insurance, 31 Pa. D. & C.3d 87, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 343 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

HOFFER, J.,

Plaintiff, Franciscus Muller, a Maryland resident, was involved in an automobile accident in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pa. He subsequently applied for benefits due under his policy with defendant, State Farm Mutual Insurance Company. Although various sums were paid, plaintiff claims entitlement to additional amounts provided under the Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act. Plaintiff also applied [88]*88for basic loss benefits under the Assigned Claims Plan of the Act. This application then was sent to defendant Insurance Company of North America, which has failed to make payment of any benefit. Both defendants have moved for summary judgment contending that plaintiff is entitled only to those benefits provided by Maryland statute.

These motions present two issues for our resolution: (1) whether the Insurance Commissioner’s regulation defining “state no-fault plan” is valid and, if so, (2) whether Maryland’s act fits within the definition, thus requiring plaintiff to recover under Maryland Law.

Pennsylvania’s No-fault Act includes a provision that was intended to settle any conflicts of law problems involving automobile accidents. That provision states:

(c) Applicable Law. —
(1) The,basic loss benefits available to any victim . . . shall be determined pursuant to the provisions of the state no-fault plan for motor vehicle insurance in effect in the state of domicile of the victim on the date when the motor vehicle accident resulting in injury occurs. If there is no such state no-fault plan in effect. . . then basic loss benefits available to any victim shall be determined pursuant to the provisions of the state no-fault plan for motor vehicle insurance, if any, in effect in the state in which the accident resulting in injury occurs.

Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act of July 19, 1974, P.L. 489, No. 176, 40 Pa. C.S. §1009.110(c)(1) (pkt. part 1983-84) (hereinafter No-fault Act).

The Insurance Commissioner subsequently adopted a regulation interpreting this provision and set forth in 31 Pa. Code §66.41 (Shepards 1980). That regulation, now in issue, provides:

[89]*89(b)(2) A ‘state no-fault plan’ is defined to be a plan which contains the following elements:
(i) compulsory or mandatory automobile insurance,
(ii) first party benefits, and
(iii) a restriction on the right to bring action for noneconomic detriment, or a relevant change in the evidentiary rules of practice and proof with respect to these actions.

Because Maryland’s act

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Related

Dussia v. Barger
351 A.2d 667 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Commonwealth v. Cherney
312 A.2d 38 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1973)
White v. Concord Mutual Insurance
442 A.2d 713 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Toter v. Knight
420 A.2d 676 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 Pa. D. & C.3d 87, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/muller-v-state-farm-mutual-insurance-pactcomplcumber-1984.