Rivello v. NEW JERSEY AUTO. FULL INS.

638 A.2d 253, 432 Pa. Super. 336
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 15, 1994
StatusPublished

This text of 638 A.2d 253 (Rivello v. NEW JERSEY AUTO. FULL INS.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rivello v. NEW JERSEY AUTO. FULL INS., 638 A.2d 253, 432 Pa. Super. 336 (Pa. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

432 Pa. Superior Ct. 336 (1994)
638 A.2d 253

Ernest RIVELLO, Appellant,
v.
NEW JERSEY AUTOMOBILE FULL INSURANCE UNDERWRITING ASSOCIATION and Electronic Data Systems and HCM Claim Management Corporation and Terry Seningen and Charles Weatherby.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 5, 1993.
Filed March 15, 1994.

*339 Allen L. Feingold, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Dennis Veneziale, Philadelphia, for appellees.

Before POPOVICH, JOHNSON and HOFFMAN, JJ.

HOFFMAN, Judge.

This is an appeal from the July 23, 1992 entry of judgment in favor of appellees, New Jersey Automobile Full Insurance Underwriting Association (hereinafter "JUA"), Electronic Data Systems (hereinafter "EDS"), HCM Claim Management Corporation (hereinafter "HCM"), Terry Seningen and Charles Weatherby, following the trial court's June 25, 1992 order sustaining appellees' preliminary objections and dismissing appellant's, Ernest Rivello, complaint for lack of in personam jurisdiction over appellees. Appellant presents the following question for our review:

Whether personal jurisdiction may be asserted within the Commonwealth over a nonresident insurer which tortiously adjusts a loss incurred within the Commonwealth?

Appellant's Brief at 3. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

The relevant facts, as stated by the trial court, are as follows:

On or about November 2, 1990, [appellant] was involved in an automobile collision in the vicinity of Third and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, PA. On February 27, 1991, [appellant], a resident of New Jersey, Filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County [against appellees *340 JUA and EDS] to recover damages to his vehicle under an automobile insurance policy issued by [EDS], the servicing agent for [JUA]. [Appellant] claimed that [JUA and EDS] improperly refused to honor [appellant's] claim arising out of his accident in Philadelphia and therefore owed [appellant] coverage and punitive damages for having denied coverage.
[JUA and EDS] filed preliminary objections to the complaint before [the trial court] arguing that since all parties were residents of New Jersey, and the policy was issued under the authority of New Jersey law, there had been alleged no connection with Pennsylvania sufficient to allow Pennsylvania's courts to acquire in personam jurisdiction over [JUA and EDS]. [The trial court], in its order of June 5, 1991 sustained [JUA and EDS'] preliminary objections and dismissed [appellant's] claim for lack of in personam jurisdiction over [JUA and EDS]. That order was affirmed on appeal by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on September 16, 1992. [See Rivello v. N.J. Auto. Full Ins., 419 Pa.Super. 235, 615 A.2d 342 (1992).]
On March 26, 1992, [appellant] filed another complaint against JUA and EDS in which [appellant] also joined [HCM], a servicing company, and individual employees of HCM, Terry Seningen and Charles Weatherby as defendants.[1] This claim arises out of the same incident as the February 27, 1991 claim, that being the November 2, 1990 automobile collision. All three newly joined defendants are located or have listed as their addresses locations in New Jersey.
This Court issued an order on June 2, 1992 sustaining [appellees'] preliminary objections and dismissing [appellant's] complaint for lack of in personam jurisdiction.

Trial Court Opinion, May 20, 1993, at 2. This timely appeal followed.

Initially, we note that "when preliminary objections, if sustained, would result in the dismissal of an action, such objections *341 should be sustained only in cases which are clear and free from doubt." Barber v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp., 317 Pa.Super. 285, 302-303, 464 A.2d 323, 332 (1983) (citation omitted), cert. denied, Charter Consolidated, Ltd. v. Barber, 467 U.S. 1205, 104 S.Ct. 2387, 81 L.Ed.2d 346 (1984). In addition, "when deciding a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction[,] the court must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Id. at 303, 464 A.2d at 332 (citation omitted). However, once the moving party has supported his objection to jurisdiction, the burden of proof shifts to the party asserting jurisdiction. Scoggins v. Scoggins, 382 Pa.Super. 507, 514, 555 A.2d 1314, 1318 (1989). With these standards in mind, we will proceed to the merits of this appeal.

Pennsylvania courts may exercise two types of personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants:

Jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant may be based either upon the specific acts of the defendant which gave rise to the cause of action, or upon the defendant's general activity within the forum state.

Skinner v. Flymo, 351 Pa.Super. 234, 239, 505 A.2d 616, 619 (1986) (citations omitted). In Pennsylvania, general jurisdiction is conferred by 42 Pa.C.S. § 5301 which provides, in pertinent part:

(a) General rule. — The existence of any of the following relationships between a person and this Commonwealth shall constitute a sufficient basis of jurisdiction to enable the tribunals of this Commonwealth to exercise general personal jurisdiction over such person . . . and to enable such tribunals to render personal orders against such person or representative:
.....
(2) Corporations. —
.....
*342 (iii) The carrying on of a continuous and systematic part of its general business within this Commonwealth.

Id.

In his brief, appellant points out that as JUA conducts business in Pennsylvania by virtue of its defense of actions brought against its insured and as JUA has many claims pending arising from accidents in Philadelphia, JUA has sufficient minimum contacts with Pennsylvania to establish personal jurisdiction. However, in Rivello v. N.J. Auto. Full Ins., 419 Pa.Super. 235, 615 A.2d 342 (1992), appeal denied, 534 Pa. 640, 626 A.2d 1158 (1993), this court held that "as a statutory creature of the New Jersey legislature which created it to provide automobile insurance to those New Jersey citizens unable to obtain coverage for private carriers[,] . . . [JUA] d[oes] not have the minimum contacts with Pennsylvania to subject it to the personal jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania courts." Id. at 237, 626 A.2d at 343 (citing Colmon v. Maryland Auto. Ins. Fund, 393 Pa.Super. 313, 574 A.2d 628 (1990), appeal denied, 527 Pa. 591, 588 A.2d 912 (1990)). Accordingly, it is clear that Pennsylvania does not have any general personal jurisdiction over JUA.

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Related

Bloom v. DuBois Regional Medical Center
597 A.2d 671 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Scoggins v. Scoggins
555 A.2d 1314 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Jacobs v. Lakewood Aircraft Service, Inc.
493 F. Supp. 46 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1980)
Barber v. Pittsburgh Corning Corp.
464 A.2d 323 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Bash v. Bell Telephone Co.
601 A.2d 825 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Colmon v. Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund
574 A.2d 628 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
Skinner v. Flymo, Inc.
505 A.2d 616 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Rivello v. New Jersey Automobile Full Insurance Underwriting Ass'n
638 A.2d 253 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Rivello v. New Jersey Automobile Full Insurance Underwriting Ass'n
615 A.2d 342 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Charter Consolidated, Ltd. v. Barber
467 U.S. 1205 (Supreme Court, 1984)

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