Schappell v. Motorists Mutual Insurance

934 A.2d 1184, 594 Pa. 94, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 2444
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 20, 2007
Docket51 MAP 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 934 A.2d 1184 (Schappell v. Motorists Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schappell v. Motorists Mutual Insurance, 934 A.2d 1184, 594 Pa. 94, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 2444 (Pa. 2007).

Opinions

[97]*97 OPINION

Chief Justice, CAPPY.1

Appellant Edward Schappell, D.C. challenges the Superior Court’s determination that there is no private cause of action for interest accrued under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716. For the following reasons, we hold that there is a private cause of action for the statutorily prescribed interest. As such, the order of the Superior Court is reversed.

Appellant is a chiropractor who treats patients injured in automobile accidents. Pursuant to the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL), 75 Pa.C.S. § 1701 et seq., he timely submitted bills for payment to the Appellee insurers, Motorist Mutual Insurance Company, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and Geico Corporation. Appellees paid the bills outside of the thirty day window established for payment of benefits by 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716. Appellee insurers did not, however, remit the twelve percent interest prescribed by section 1716.

Appellant filed three class action complaints in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County against Appellees. The complaints asserted claims of unjust enrichment and violation of the MVFRL and sought to compel the payment of interest due under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716.

Appellees each brought motions for judgment on the pleadings, arguing that there is no private cause of action for interest alone provided by 75 Pa.C.S. § 1716 or any other section of the MVFRL. The court denied the motions, holding that the MVFRL does provide a private cause of action for interest only. The court further explained that interest owed on a provider’s bill becomes part of the bill itself. Collins v. Allstate Insurance Co., 426 Pa.Super. 197, 626 A.2d 1162 (1993). As such, there is clearly a cause of action for its recovery.

Following the court’s holding that the MVFRL provides a cause of action for interest and denial of their preliminary objections, Appellees petitioned the Superior Court for per[98]*98mission to file an interlocutory appeal pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 702(b). The court granted permission and consolidated the cases for appeal.

A majority of the Superior Court reversed, holding that the MVFRL does not provide a private right of action for interest. In doing so, it dismissed Appellant’s argument that 75 Pa.C.S. § 1797 provides the right of action for the interest accrued under section 1716. Schappell v. Motorists Mut. Ins. Co., 868 A.2d 1, 4 (Pa.Super.2004). According to the court, section 1716 provides a right to interest for overdue payments of benefits, whereas section 1797 provides a right of action for unpaid benefits. Schappell, 868 A.2d at 4. Overdue bills are not necessarily unpaid bills, they may just be late. Id. Thus, it concluded that the provisions of section 1797 creating a cause of action for unpaid bills does not extend to section 1716 to permit actions for the interest accrued on overdue bills. By way of further analysis, the court held that section 1716 does not appear to provide a private cause of action for interest alone. The Legislature explicitly provided a cause of action for unpaid bills in section 1797, it would have done so for section 1716 too, if that had been its intent. Finally, the Superior Court found that permitting actions, particularly class actions, for the minimal amounts of interest due under section 1716 would undermine the MVFRL’s goal of cost-containment. 868 A.2d at 5.

Judge Stephen McEwen filed a dissent arguing that section 1716 and section 1797 are unrelated and that the analysis of one should not color that of the other. Particularly, the dissent points out that section 1797 was primarily drafted to (1) establish the maximum permissible charges medical providers could bill for treating patients injured in motor vehicle accidents, and (2) to create an administrative system to efficiently adjudicate challenges by insurers to the reasonableness or necessity of healthcare professionals’ treatments, charges, products, or accommodations provided to individuals injured in motor vehicle accidents. Id. at 6-7. As such, Judge McEwen argues that any right of action accruing from § 1797 must be [99]*99interpreted narrowly within the framework of the section’s specific aims.

Rather than the indirect approach taken by the majority, the dissent would look directly at the language of Section 1716 itself. From this language, Judge McEwen contends, it is clear that the Legislature intended for a private cause of action to exist to vindicate the right to interest provided by the statute. Further, the dissent dismisses the contention of the majority that permitting actions for de minimis amounts of interest would undermine the purpose of the MVFRL. On the contrary, the dissent concludes that it would encourage compliance with the statute on behalf of the insurers.

Appellant filed a Petition for Allowance of Appeal, which this Court granted, limited to a single issue:

Whether under the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1701 et seq., a medical provider has a private right of action to recover interest on late-paid payments from insurance companies or are they restricted to an administrative remedy pursuant to 31 Pa.Code § 69.26?

Schappell v. Motorists Mut. Ins. Co., 583 Pa. 45, 874 A.2d 1149 (2005).

This is a case of statutory interpretation and thus presents a pure question of law. As such, our standard of review is de novo and our scope of review is plenary. Kvaerner Metals Division of Kvaerner U.S., Inc. v. Commercial Union Insurance Co., 589 Pa. 317, 908 A.2d 888, 897 (2006).

The limited grant asks, in addition to whether the MVFRL provides a private cause of action for interest on late payments, whether the provisions of 31 Pa.Code § 69.26 create an administrative remedy that must be exhausted before seeking a judicial remedy. This is actually a threshold question for our review of this case. If medical providers are required to exhaust administrative remedies under 31 Pa.Code § 69.26 before bringing a private cause of action for unpaid interest, Appellant has clearly failed to do so and it will thus be premature for this Court to determine whether the [100]*100MVFRL provides such a cause of action. As such, we will address the administrative remedy issue first.

In interpreting an administrative regulation, as in interpreting a statute, the plain language of the regulation is paramount. See Department of Public Welfare v. Forbes Health System, 492 Pa. 77, 422 A.2d 480, 482 (1980); Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia v. Department of Public Welfare, 153 Pa.Cmwlth. 634, 621 A.2d 1230, 1232 (1993). Thus, we will begin our analysis with the language of the regulation.

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Bluebook (online)
934 A.2d 1184, 594 Pa. 94, 2007 Pa. LEXIS 2444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schappell-v-motorists-mutual-insurance-pa-2007.