St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Liberty Mutual Insurance

32 Pa. D. & C.3d 11, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 339
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedSeptember 20, 1984
Docketno. 1573 Civil 1983
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Pa. D. & C.3d 11 (St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Liberty Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County 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 Insurance v. Liberty Mutual Insurance, 32 Pa. D. & C.3d 11, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 339 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

BAYLEY, J.,

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Nora Humphreys is a resident of Batesville, Arkansas, and at all times relevant to this proceeding was employed as a truck driver and working in the course of that employment for the Rising Fast Trucking Company, also of Batesville. On March 8, 1982, Humphreys was delivering goods on the property of Alloy Rod Division of Chemetron Corp. in Hanover, York County, Pa. While the trailer of her tractor trailer unit was being unloaded at the Alloy Rod facility, Humphreys attempted to leave the unit. With one foot on the trailer ladder, and the other foot on the parking lot, she slipped and fell, receiving some severe injuries to her leg and other [13]*13parts of her body. Subsequent to the accident Humphreys was placed on workmen’s compensation and received wage loss and medical benefits from St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company which was the workmen’s compensation carrier for Rising Fast Trucking Co. St. Paul conducts business and has an office located in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pa.

As a result of the payment by St. Paul of workmen’s compensation benefits to Humphreys, it has demanded reimbursement from the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, the insurance carrier for Alloy Rod. Liberty Mutual conducts business and has an office in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Pa.

Liberty Mutual has denied liability to St. Paul and raised the defense of the Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act, Act of July 19, 1974, P.L. 489, 40 P.S. §1009.101 et seq. It avers that the Pennsylvania No-fault Act removes any subrogation right of petitioner St. Paul to the first $15,000 of work loss benefits that may be paid to Humphreys. Liberty Mutual maintains that the “alighting from” terminology found in the definition of the terms “maintenance or use,” in §1009.103 of the act, invokes no-fault coverage, and if no-fault coverage is applicable, St. Paul has no right to subrogation pursuant to §1009.111 of the act.

St Paul has filed a petition for a declaratory judgment pursuant to 42 Pa. C.S. §7531 et seq. Service of the petition has been made against respondent Liberty Mutual Insurance at its Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County office. Service has also been made on the other respondents and appearances entered on their behalf.

Cross-motions for summary judgment have been filed based upon the aforesaid facts, which have been stipulated to by the parties.

[14]*14DISCUSSION

A Pennsylvania court may, in a proceeding where declaratory relief is sought, render a declaratory judgment where the judgment or decree will terminate the controversy or remove an uncertainty. 42 Pa. C.S. §7536. Under the act, any person whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, may have determined any question of construction arising under the statute and obtain a declaration of his rights, status or other legal relations to it. 42 Pa. C.S. §7533. We have subject matter jurisdiction as a result of petitioner St. Paul and respondent Liberty Mutual doing business and having offices located in Cumberland County, Pa. All parties in interest have been joined, served, entered an appearance and been heard in this case. Since all requirements under the act have been met we accept jurisdiction as a matter of judicial discretion. Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co. v. Philadelphia Transp. Co., 435 Pa. 316, 255 A.2d 516 (1969).

If the Pennsylvania No-fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act applies to this accident, Nora Humphreys, even though an out of state domiciliary, is entitled to basic loss benefits under the Pennsylvania Act. 40 P.S. §1009.110(c). Arkansas, the state of her domicile, does not require automobile insurance or restrict the right to bring a tort action for non-economic detriment in motor vehicle accident cases. Ark. Statutes §66.4018. For a state insurance plan to be considered no-fault such that it supersedes the Pennsylvania No-fault Statute, it must require automobile insurance, provide first party benefits and restrict tort liability for non-economic detriment or relevantly change the evidentiary rules relating to tort liability. 31 Pa. Code §66.41(b)(2). We conclude that the Arkansas Insurance Statute is not a no-[15]*15fault plan as defined by Pennsylvania law and regulations and accordingly Pennsylvania No-fault basic loss benefits are available to Nora Humphreys if her accident falls within the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle No-fault Insurance Act.

The act defines “victim” as follows:

“Victim means an individual who suffers injury arising out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle. 40 Pa. C.S. §1009.103.

The phrase “maintenance or use of a motor vehicle” is defined as:

“Maintenance or use of a motor vehicle means maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a vehicle, including, incident to its maintenance or use as a vehicle, occupying, entering into, or alighting from it. Maintenance or use of a motor vehicle does not include:

(A) Conduct within the course of a business of repairing, servicing or otherwise maintaining motor vehicles unless the conduct occurs off the business premises; or

(B) Conduct in the course of loading or unloading a motor vehicle unless the conduct occurs while occupying, entering into or alighting from it. (Emphasis added).

In Tyler v. Insurance Company of North America, 311 Pa. Super. 25, 457 A.2d 95 (1983), plaintiff had stepped off of a bus and taken three or four steps toward the shoulder of the highway at which time she was struck by a motorcycle. The court held that plaintiff was a “victim” not only because she was struck by the motorcycle, but also because she was alighting from the bus at the time of the accident. The court found that a person who is alighting from a vehicle continues to occupy the vehicle and to be an occupant “until he severs all connections with it.” The court defined the point of severance in that [16]*16case as the time when the person becomes highway oriented rather than vehicle oriented.

There is no question that Humphreys fell while alighting from her truck at a time when she had not severed all her connection with it. She was still in physical contact with the vehicle and in the process of making her last step from the vehicle to the ground. As such she was alighting from it as the phrase is used in the act’s definition of “maintenance or use of a motor vehicle. ”

The facts of this case can be distinguished from Dull v. Employers Mut. Cas. Co., 278 Pa. Super. 569, 420 A.2d 688 (1980). In Dull, appellant drove his automobile with a boat attached to the roof, to a lake. Upon arriving he parked his car, got out, and began to remove the boat from the car roof. As he was standing behind the car unloading the boat he fell because of the condition of the land and sustained injuries. The Superior Court held that the appellant did not meet the statutory definition of a “victim” because he “. . .

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Related

Yoder v. Dressler
505 F. Supp. 111 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1981)
Tyler v. Insurance Co. of North America
457 A.2d 95 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Monaghan v. PA. MFRS.'ASS'N INS. CO.
447 A.2d 1037 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Dull v. Employers Mutual Casualty Co.
420 A.2d 688 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Harleysville Mutual Insurance v. Philadelphia Transportation Co.
255 A.2d 516 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1969)
Rhoads v. Heberling
451 A.2d 1378 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Camacho v. Nationwide Insurance
460 A.2d 353 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Vespaziani v. Insana
462 A.2d 669 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)

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32 Pa. D. & C.3d 11, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-paul-fire-marine-insurance-v-liberty-mutual-insurance-pactcomplcumber-1984.