Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Seitz

677 A.2d 129, 110 Md. App. 355, 1996 Md. App. LEXIS 81
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 3, 1996
Docket1477, Sept. Term, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 677 A.2d 129 (Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Seitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Seitz, 677 A.2d 129, 110 Md. App. 355, 1996 Md. App. LEXIS 81 (Md. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

HOLLANDER, Judge.

Edward Seitz, appellee, was seriously injured when two vehicles collided, one of which was insured by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, appellant, and the other of which was insured by Allstate Insurance Company. In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether one or both insurers are obligated to pay Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) benefits to Seitz. Nationwide argues that only Allstate is liable, even though Allstate’s PIP policy limit is considerably less than the limit in Nationwide’s policy. Seitz asserts that he is entitled to recover the larger policy amount, either from Nationwide alone or from both insurers. We agree with the Circuit Court for Montgomery County that Seitz is entitled to recover from both Nationwide and Allstate, in an amount not to exceed Nationwide’s policy limit. 1

The facts are undisputed. On December 25, 1993, Seitz was driving his vehicle on Dorsey Road in Anne Arundel County when he was struck from behind by a vehicle owned by Richard Ward and driven by Eric Ward (“the Ward vehicle”). *358 Seitz was insured under a motor vehicle insurance policy issued to him by Allstate Insurance Company, which contained a provision for PIP benefits in the amount of $2,500. The Ward vehicle was insured by Nationwide, and the applicable policy contained a provision for PIP benefits in the amount of $10,000.

After the collision, Seitz stepped out of his vehicle to assess the damage. Shortly thereafter, a third vehicle, owned and operated by Michelle Foster, struck the Ward vehicle from behind and propelled it into Seitz. The Foster vehicle was also insured under a policy issued by Allstate; it contained a provision for PIP benefits in the amount of $2,500. Seitz was injured and incurred medical expenses well in excess of $10,-000.

Seitz filed a declaratory judgment action in the circuit court to determine the rights and responsibilities of Nationwide and Allstate with respect to the PIP endorsements for the Ward and Foster vehicles. Seitz did not argue that he is entitled to the aggregate maximum coverage from both carriers, i.e., $12,500. Instead, Seitz contended that he was entitled to a total of $10,000, either from Nationwide alone or from both Nationwide and Allstate, because $10,000 constitutes the larger of the two PIP policy limits. 2

After a hearing, the circuit court found that both Nationwide and Allstate were liable to Seitz. At Nationwide’s request, when the court determined that Nationwide was obligated to pay, the circuit court applied the “other insurance” clause in the Nationwide PIP endorsement. It then determined that Nationwide was liable in the amount of $8,000 and that Allstate was liable in the amount of $2,000. 3 The “other insurance” clause provided:

*359 In the event the injured person has other optional Personal Injury Protection insurance available and applicable to the accident, the maximum recovery under all such insurance shall not exceed the amount which would have been payable under the provisions of the insurance providing the highest dollar limit, and the Company [Nationwide] shall not be liable for a greater proportion of any loss to which this coverage applies than the limit of liability hereunder bears to the sum of the applicable limits of this coverage and all other such insurance. [4]

Nationwide now appeals, and presents a single question for our consideration:

Whether payment of a PIP claim must be made by both the insurer of a vehicle that strikes another vehicle, propelling it into a pedestrian and the insurer of the vehicle that is struck and propelled into a pedestrian, rather than only the insurer of the vehicle striking another vehicle and propelling it into a pedestrian?

DISCUSSION

The issue presented requires us to analyze various interlocking provisions of Article 48A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957, 1994 Repl.Vol. and Supp.1995). 5 Article 48A, § 539(a) requires that all motor vehicle insurance policies *360 issued in this State “provide coverage for the medical, hospital, and disability benefits set forth in this section,” unless the insured makes a valid waiver of the coverage. The coverage required by § 539 is colloquially referred to as “Personal Injury Protection” or “PIP coverage.” PIP coverage is entirely “no-fault” insurance. Section 540(a)(1) provides that PIP benefits “shall be payable without regard to ... [t]he fault or nonfault of the named insured or the recipient in causing or contributing to the accident.”

When the Foster vehicle struck the Ward vehicle and propelled the Ward vehicle into Seitz, an “accident” occurred within the meaning of § 538. Section 538 defines “accident” as “any occurrence involving a motor vehicle, other than an occurrence caused intentionally by or at the direction of the insured, from which damage to any property or injury to any person results.” Moreover, § 539(b) enumerates the persons protected by PIP coverage. Among these individuals are “[pjedestrians injured in an accident in which the insured motor vehicle is involved.” § 539(b)(3). The parties agree that Seitz, who had exited his vehicle after the first accident, was a “pedestrian” when he was struck during the next accident. See Tucker v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., 308 Md. 69, 78, 517 A.2d 730 (1986) (General Assembly “intended to include as a ‘pedestrian’ under § 539 all persons not occupying, entering, or alighting from a motor or other covered vehicle without regard to whether, when struck, they were actually travelling on foot, standing in a stationary position, sitting, or ... within some structure”). Further, since the Ward vehicle was the object that struck and injured Seitz, it was clearly “involved” in the accident within the meaning of § 539(b)(3). Thus, under that statute, Seitz, as a pedestrian, was among the designated individuals covered by the PIP endorsements of both the Nationwide and Allstate policies. Seitz was, within the terms of the statute, a “[p]edestrian injured in an accident in which the insured motor vehicle was involved.”

Section 543(a) prohibits duplicative recovery of PIP benefits.' It provides, in pertinent part: “Notwithstanding any *361 other provision of this subtitle, no person shall recover benefits under the coverage described in [§ 539] of this subtitle from more than one motor vehicle liability policy or insurer on either a duplicative or supplemental basis.” Other subsections of § 543 govern the coordination of policies when more than one PIP policy might provide coverage for a particular insured. Moreover, § 543(b)(1) states, in relevant part: “As to any person injured in any accident while occupying a motor vehicle for which the coverage described under § 539 of this subtitle is in effect, and as to any person injured by such a motor vehicle as a pedestrian

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Bluebook (online)
677 A.2d 129, 110 Md. App. 355, 1996 Md. App. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nationwide-mutual-insurance-v-seitz-mdctspecapp-1996.