Pisano v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

24 Pa. D. & C.3d 292, 1982 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 304
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedMarch 31, 1982
Docketno. G.D. 80-30046
StatusPublished

This text of 24 Pa. D. & C.3d 292 (Pisano v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pisano v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 24 Pa. D. & C.3d 292, 1982 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 304 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1982).

Opinion

FINKELHOR, J.,

This action, in assumpsit, comes before the court, en banc, on the motion of plaintiff Irene Pisano, executrix of the Estate of Vincent Pisano, deceased, for summary judgment on her claim for work-loss benefits, interest and attorney’s fees under the Pennsylvania No-fault Act, 40 P.S. Supp. 1009.101, against defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. The major issue in dispute is whether the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Heffner v. Allstate Ins. Co., 491 Pa. 447, 421 A. 2d 629 (1980), granting work-loss benefits to the sur[294]*294vivors of a deceased victim under Section 202 of the No-fault Act is retroactive or prospective.1

On February 29,1979, Vincent Pisano, plaintiffs husband, was killed in a two-car accident on Route 65 in Rochester Township, Beaver County, Pa. Decedent was insured under an automobile liability policy issued by defendant State Farm and covered No-fault benefits, including wage loss claims in the maximum amount of $15,000. Irene Pisano was appointed executrix of Vincent Pisano’s Estate on April 23, 1979, by the Register of Wills of Beaver County.

On March 19, 1979, Irene Pisano applied for No-fault benefits on a form provided by defendant insurance carrier2 and included authorizations for medical and wage information. On or about April 2, 1979, defendant received wage verification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, decedent’s employer, that he was employed as a field accountant from 1950 to the date of his death and received a biweekly wage of $785.25. (Plaintiffs Deposition Exhibit #5) Defendant was also supplied with a death certificate and information on outside employment.

On or about March 26, 1979, defendant paid to Irene Pisano funeral expenses in the amount of $1,500 and, on or about April 11, 1979, $75 for [295]*295medical expenses and $5,000 for survivor’s loss. No payment was made for wage loss nor was this claim specifically denied.

At an uncertain date, plaintiff retained counsel to secure the wage loss claim and counsel was informed by defendant that action on said benefit was deferred pending the decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Heffner v. Allstate Ins. Co.,3 on the eligibility of the survivors of a deceased victim to recover wage loss benefits.

In her motion for summary judgment, plaintiff alleges that, on October 1, 1980 (after the Supreme Court decision in Heffner, supra), a demand was made for wage loss benefits in the amount of $15,000. When said demand was not paid, suit was filed December 5, 1980, for wage loss, and interest “from and after October 1, 1980 at 18 percent per annum together with reasonable attorney fees and expenses.” The instant motion for summary judgment was filed January 27, 1982, and submitted on briefs.

It is well established that summary judgment will be granted only in the clearest of cases: Hankin v. Mintz, 419 A. 2d 588, 276 Pa. Superior Ct. 538 419 A. 2d 588, (1980). The pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions, together with affidavits, must show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law: Pa.R.C.P. §1035; Bollinger v. Palmerton Area Communities Endeavor, Inc., 241 Pa. Superior Ct. [296]*296341, 361 A. 2d 676 (1976); Goodrich-Amram, 2d §1035.1.

It is plaintiffs position that (1) Heffner is retroactive; (2) reasonable proof of loss was submitted to support the wage claim and payment is therefore overdue; (3) plaintiff is entitled to both interest and attorney’s fees; and (4) there are no disputed issues of fact.

It is defendant’s position that (1) reasonable proof of loss has not been submitted; (2) Heffner does not apply retroactively to deaths that pre-date the Superior Court decision (April 12, 1979), or the Supreme Court decision (September 1980); (3) because the denial of work-loss benefits was reasonable, plaintiff is not entitled to attorney’s fees; and (4) a set off is required against work-loss benefits for the amount paid as survivor’s loss to plaintiff.

The Effect of the Heffner Decision

There is no dispute that the two appellate decision in Heffner, supra, ruled that survivors of a deceased victim have a claim for wage loss benefits under Section 202 of the No-fault Act.

Work loss is defined in § 103 of the Act as “loss of gross income of a victim, as calculated pursuant to the provisions of §205.”

Section 205 provides:

“(a) Regularly employed. — The work loss of a victim whose income prior to the injury was realized in regular increments shall be calculated by:
“(1) determining his probable weekly income by dividing his probable annual income by fifty-two; and
“(2) multiplying that quantity by the number of workweeks, or fraction thereof, the victim sustains loss of income during the accrual period.”

[297]*297The recovery is analogous to the survival action recovery of loss of earning power from the date of death, but without deduction for personal maintenance.

Defendant contends that the Heffner decision is not retroactive and as plaintiffs decedent died approximately two months before the Superior Court decision, plaintiffs claim for wage loss is not viable.4 Defendant alleges that the premium rates, approved by the Insurance Commissioner, were not calculated to include wage loss claims of deceased victims and that a retroactive application would be prejudicial and inequitable.

Pennsylvania applies the criteria set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97 (1971) on the retroactivity of judicial decisions as follows:

“In our cases dealing with the non-retroactivity question, we have generally considered three separate factors. First, the decision to be applied non-re troactively must establish a new principle of law, either by overruling clear past precedent on which litigants may have relied .... or by deciding an issue of first impression whose resolution was not clearly foreshadowed . . . Second, it has been stressed that ‘we must . . . weigh the merits and demerits in each case by looking to the prior history of the rule in question . . . ’ Finally, we have weighed the inequity imposed by retroactive application ...” 404 U.S. at 106-07.

However, applying Chevron logic, the Superior Court in Daniels v. State Farm Mutual Ins. Co., 423 A. 2d 1284, 283 Pa. Superior Ct. 336 (1980), held that the Heffner decisions which gave work loss [298]*298benefits to survivors was retroactive to the date of the No-fault Act’s enactment as follows:

“Ordinarily a decision announcing a change in the law will be applied to cases pending on direct appeal. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed. 2d 601 (1965); Commonwealth v. Williams, 232 Pa. Superior Ct. 339, 331 A. 2d 875 (1974). However, Heffner did not change the law; it rather decided an issue of statutory construction not previously decided by an appellate court.

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Related

Linkletter v. Walker
381 U.S. 618 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson
404 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Hayes v. Erie Insurance Exchange
425 A.2d 419 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)
Daniels v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
423 A.2d 1284 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Bollinger v. Palmerton Area Communities Endeavor, Inc.
361 A.2d 676 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Heffner v. Allstate Insurance
401 A.2d 1160 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
Allstate Insurance v. Heffner
421 A.2d 629 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Manley
421 A.2d 636 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Hankin v. Mintz
419 A.2d 588 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Buradus v. General Cement Products Co.
52 A.2d 205 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1947)
Harry C. Erb, Inc. v. Shell Construction Co.
213 A.2d 383 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)
Commonwealth v. Williams
331 A.2d 875 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
24 Pa. D. & C.3d 292, 1982 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pisano-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-pactcomplallegh-1982.