Orsen v. General Accident & Life Assurance Corp.

36 Pa. D. & C.3d 411, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 311
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County
DecidedOctober 21, 1985
Docketno. 226 of 1984
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. D. & C.3d 411 (Orsen v. General Accident & Life Assurance Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orsen v. General Accident & Life Assurance Corp., 36 Pa. D. & C.3d 411, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 311 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

KUNSELMAÑ, J.,

The parties’ cross motions for summary judgment raise the question of whether a victim who is otherwise entitled'to receive work loss benefits under the No-fault Act (now repealed) is precluded from recovering-such benefit because she subsequently, applied for and received unemployment compensation benefits. We hold that she is not so precluded and therefore grant her motion for summary judgment.

The parties- have agreed upon the facts and so summary judgment may be entered if appropriate to do so. Pa. R.C.P. 1035(b), Dowlin v. Coatsville School District, 22 Pa. Commw. 433, 350 A.2d 190, (1975).

Plaintiff, Elena M. Orsen, sustained injuries in an automobile accident which occurred on February 28, 1982. The injuries resulted in an-almost complete loss of sight in the left eye which causes glare, discomfort and decreased depth perception. At the time of the accident she was employed full time as a clerk-typist at an annual salary of $13,077. Her injuries rendered her totally disabled from performing the duties of her employment.

Her employer had a wage continuation plan under which she continued to receive her full salary each month until May 24, 1982, in the total amount of $3,120.67, and one-half her salary each month thereafter until November 30, 1982 in the total amount of $3,269.28. During the initial period of [413]*413the wage continuation plan, defendant paid her no work loss benefits. After May 24, 1982, defendant paid her monthly partial work loss benefits through November 30, 1982 in the total amount of $2,833.35.

- In November 1982, her employer closed its plant, terminated all employees, and instructed them to apply for unemployment compensation benefits. Plaintiff applied for such benefits and received them from November 16, 1982 through November 12, 1983 in the total amount of $7,156. Defendant discontinued payment of work loss benefits to plaintiff in November 1982 and has refused to resume payment of such benefits.-

Her suit is for the Work loss benefits, interest thereon at the statutory rate of 18 percent, and counsel fees.

WORK LOSS BENEFITS

Defendant argues that, since plaintiff had to be available for and capable of employment in order to receive unemployment compensation benefits, she is not entitled to work loss benefits. In the alternative, defendant argues that, if plaintiff is entitled to. additional work loss benefits, it is entitled to a credit for the amount of unemployment compensation received by plaintiff.

Defendant’s position with regard to plaintiffs right to receive work loss benefits is based upon its perception that, a person must meet the eligibility requirements of both work loss benefits and unemployment benefits at the same time, and that the eligibility requirements for each are mutually inconsistent. Defendant’s perception that the eligibility requirements are inconsistent is wrong.

The relevant eligibility requirements of the Unemployment Compensation Law are set out in Arti[414]*414ele IV, section 401, as amended. That section provides, in part, that “compensation shall be payable to any employee who is or becomes unemployed, and who ... Is able to work and available for suitable work. . . ”43 P.S.§901(d)(l). From case law, it is obvious that the phrase “able to work” does not mean “able to perform the most recent or customary work” as defendant’s argument suggests. Instead; it means “able to perform some type of work.” See Sturdevant Unemployment Compensation Case, 158 Pa. Super. 548, 45 A.2d 898 (1946); Ziemba v. Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 16 Pa. Commw. 615, 330 A.2d 566 (1975).

The eligibility requirements of the Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act, Act of July 19, 1974, P.L. 489, (now repealed) for work loss benefits are found in several sections. Section 103 defined “loss” as “accrued economic detriment resulting from injury arising out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle consisting of, ... , work loss, ...” The same section defined “work loss” as including “loss of gross income of a victim, as calculated pursuant to the provisions of section 205 of this Act. ”

Section 205 required the work loss for a person who was regularly employed to be calculated by:

“(1) determining his probable weekly income by dividing his probable ánnual income by 52; and (2) multiplying that quantity by the number of work weeks, . . . ,' the victim sustains loss of -income during the accrual period.

‘Probable annual income,’ was definéd in section 205 as ‘twelve times the monthly gross income earned by the victim from work in the month preceding the month in which the accident resulting in injury occurs, . . . ’ ” (Emphasis added.)

[415]*415A fair reading of these provisions establishes the eligibility requirements for work loss to be: (1) injury sustained in an automobile accident; (2) resulting in loss of income from the most recent or customary work. In fact, our Supreme Court has equated work loss to loss of a paycheck. See Kamperis v. Nationwide Insurance Company, 503 Pa. 536, 469 A.2d 1382 (1983). Because of this, and because a person is eligible for unemployment compensation if he is able to perform some work, the two requirements are not inconsistent.

We are likewise not persuaded by other arguments contained in defendant’s brief. Defendant argues that, by enacting the No-fault Act, the.legislature did not intend for a victim to earn more than he would have earned if not for the accident; that to allow plaintiff to receive both work loss and unemployment compensation benefits would permit “double dipping”; and that, since the legislature provided for a deduction of income earned from substitute work, it did not intend work loss benefits to be available for “double dipping.”

Defendant has not brought to our attention a provision of the act which allows a deduction for income from substitute work and we have found none. We do find a section which provides for certain deductions in calculating net loss. These are limited to: (1) certain Social Security benefits; (2) Workmen’s Compensation; (3) any state — required temporary non-occupational disability insurance; and, (4) other benefits “received by or available to an individual because of the injury from any government, . . . .” Section 206(a). Unemployment Compensation benefits are not included in any of the first three and cannot be included in the fourth because they are not received due to an injury.

[416]*416If the legislature intended to allow the deduction of unemployment compensation benefits from work loss to prevent “double dipping”, it could easily have said so as it did in the case of Workmen’s Compensation. See Steppling v. Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance Company, 328 Pa. Super. 419, 477 A.2d 515 (1984).

For the same reason, we conclude that defendant is not entitled to apply the Unemployment Compen-. sation benefits as a set-off to the work loss benefits.

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Related

Fandray v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance
459 A.2d 801 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Matter of Estate of Hobson
456 A.2d 800 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1982)
Kamperis v. Nationwide Insurance
469 A.2d 1382 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Allstate Insurance v. Heffner
421 A.2d 629 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Hartleb v. Ohio Casualty Insurance
451 A.2d 506 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Sturdevant Unemployment Compensation Case
45 A.2d 898 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1945)
Ziemba v. Commonwealth, Unemployment Compensation Board of Review
330 A.2d 566 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Dowlin v. Coatesville Area School District
350 A.2d 190 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. D. & C.3d 411, 1985 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orsen-v-general-accident-life-assurance-corp-pactcomplbeaver-1985.