St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. v. Cassens Transport Co.

86 F. App'x 869
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 26, 2004
DocketNo. 02-3970
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 86 F. App'x 869 (St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. v. Cassens Transport Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. v. Cassens Transport Co., 86 F. App'x 869 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

COHN, District Judge.

This is an insurance case involving a fatal car accident on the Ohio turnpike. The deceased, Brenda Wyman, was insured by plaintiff-appellant St. Paul Fire Insurance Co. (“St.Paul”) through her employer. St. Paul paid two million dollars to her estate as underinsured motorist benefits. St. Paul then sued defendants-appellees Cassens Transport Co. and Jerry Lynn Turner (collectively, “Cassens”) seeking contribution. The district court granted Cassens’ motion to dismiss on the grounds that Ohio law does not provide for a right of contribution under the circumstances. St. Paul appeals and seeks certification of two questions to the Ohio Supreme Court. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision of the district court and decline to certify the questions to the Ohio Supreme Court.

I. BACKGROUND

On January 17, 2000, Wyman was involved in a fatal car accident on the Ohio Turnpike. She was driving eastbound on the turnpike when she was struck from behind by a car driven by Samuel Searcy. The impact caused Wyman’s vehicle to crash into a tractor-trailer illegally parked on the shoulder. The tractor-trailer was owned by Cassens and had been parked there by its employee, Jerry Lynn Turner. The combined collisions resulted in Wyman’s death.

Searcy was insured by State Farm. State Farm paid Wyman’s estate ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), the full policy limit. At the time of the accident, Wyman was covered by St. Paul, through her employment at Salem Community Hospital, for up to ten million dollars ($10,000,-000.00) in commercial automobile liability with uninsured and underinsured coverage. Wyman’s estate submitted a claim for underinsured benefits to St. Paul.

St. Paul eventually settled with Wyman’s estate for two million dollars ($2,000,000.00). Wyman’s estate released St. Paul. Searcy. Cassens, and Turner of liability.

According to St. Paul’s complaint, the probate court did not approve the settlement until September 19, 2001. In its brief, however, St. Paul says that the settlement was not finally approved until October 1, 2001.

St. Paul then sued Cassens for contribution, claiming that Turner, as an employee of Cassens, was negligent per se for violating Ohio law by parking on the shoulder without an emergency and under respondeat superior, Cassens is deemed negligent.

Cassens filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that St. Paul’s claim is merely a subrogation claim masquerading as a contribution claim and that a claim for subrogation is time barred. Cassens also argued that even if a claim was timely. St. Paul failed to state a claim because it was not a joint tortfeasor and neither its insured (Salem Community Hospital) nor its insured employee (Wyman) was a joint tortfeasor.

The district court found that although a subrogation claim would be time barred. St. Paul was asserting a contribution claim. The district court concluded that under Ohio’s statutory and case law, the right of contribution exists only among joint tortfeasors and since St. Paul was not a tortfeasor, it had no claim for contribution.

II. ANALYSIS

This Court reviews a district court’s dismissal of a complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) de novo and must “construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff ... and determine whether the [871]*871plaintiff undoubtedly can prove no set of facts in support of the claims that would entitle relief.” Grindstaff v. Green, 133 F.3d 416, 421 (6th Cir.1998) (citation omitted). See Montgomery v. Huntington Bank and Silver Shadow Recovery, Inc., 346 F.3d 693, 697-98 (6th Cir.2003).

The parties agree that Ohio law controls the issues on appeal. The Ohio uninsured/underinsured motorist statutes provide in relevant part:

In the event of a payment to any person under the coverages offered under this section and subject to the terms and conditions of such coverages, the insurer making payment to the extent thereof is entitled to the proceeds of any settlement or judgment resulting from the exercise of any rights of recovery of such person against any person or organization legally responsible for the bodily injury or death for which such payment is made, including any amount recoverable from an insurer which is or becomes the subject of insolvency proceedings, through such proceedings or in any other lawful manner.

Ohio Rev, Code § 3937.18(E). Thus, an insurer providing uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits is entitled to recover the proceeds of any judgment obtained by its insured as a result of injury or death to the extent it has paid benefits to the insured.

Ohio law also provides for recovery among tortfeasors:

[I]f two or more persons are jointly and severally liable in tort for the same injury or loss of person or property or for the same wrongful death, there is a right of contribution among them even though judgment has not been recovered against all or any of them. The right of contribution exists only in favor of a tortfeasor who has paid more than that tortfeasor’s proportionate share of the common liability, and that tortfeasor’s total recovery is limited to the amount paid by that tortfeasor in excess of that tortfeasor’s proportionate share. No tortfeasor is compelled to make contribution beyond that tortfeasor’s own proportionate share of the common liability.

Ohio Rev.Code § 2307.31(A).

With respect to a liability insurer and contribution:

A liability insurer that by payment has discharged in full or in part of the liability of a tortfeasor and has thereby discharged in full its obligation as insurer is subrogated to the tortfeasor’s right of contribution to the extent of the amount it has paid in excess of the tortfeasor’s proportionate share of the common liability. This division does not limit or impair any right of subrogation arising from any other relationship.

Ohio Rev.Code § 2307.31(C).

The district court examined these statutes and concluded that an insurer who makes a contribution claim must have paid benefits on behalf of a tortfeasor because the contribution statutes allow only a tortfeasor to make a claim for contribution to the extent that the tortfeasor has paid more than its share of liability. We agree. Because St. Paul is not a tortfeasor, and neither are its insureds. Salem Community Hospital or Wyman, it does not have a claim for contribution against Cassens and Turner. Ohio Rev.Code § 2307.31(A) and (C) clearly speak in terms of a tortfeasor’s right of contribution. As to a liability insurer, like St. Paul, it has a right of contribution only where it has paid out on the liability of a tortfeasor.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 F. App'x 869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-paul-fire-marine-ins-v-cassens-transport-co-ca6-2004.