State Automobile Insurance v. Pasquale

113 Ohio St. 3d 11
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 21, 2007
DocketNo. 2005-2047
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 113 Ohio St. 3d 11 (State Automobile Insurance v. Pasquale) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Automobile Insurance v. Pasquale, 113 Ohio St. 3d 11 (Ohio 2007).

Opinions

Moyer, C.J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, State Automobile Insurance Company (“State Auto”), appeals from the judgment of the Court of Appeals for Lake County that reversed the summary judgment in favor of appellant granted by the Lake County Court of Common Pleas. For the following reasons, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals.

{¶ 2} Matthew Pasquale, son of Russell and Toni Pasquale, was struck by a motorcycle driven by Robert Gersten and later died of the injuries sustained in the collision. Gersten was riding his motorcycle, a motocross bike, on a dirt track created and owned by Russell Pasquale. The dirt track contained a series of jumps and dirt mounds. Gersten was making a jump when he struck Matthew Pasquale, who was playing on the downhill side of the jump, apparently unbeknownst to Gersten.

{¶ 3} The Pasquales carried two insurance policies from State Auto: a personal automobile policy and a business automobile policy. The personal automobile policy was issued to named insureds Russell and Toni Pasquale and provided uninsured- and underinsured-motorist (“UM”) coverage with limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. The business automobile policy was issued [12]*12to Russell Pasquale, d.b.a. Pasquale Landscaping, and provided UM coverage with a single limit of $300,000.

{¶4} Following the accident, the Pasquales received $12,500 from Gersten’s carrier with State Auto’s consent. State Auto reserved its right to contest any claim for UM coverage under its policies.

{¶ 5} The parties stipulated to the facts of the accident and to the terms of the insurance policies. The parties further stipulated that the motocross bike was an “off-highway motorcycle as the term is defined by R.C. 4519.01(1)” and that the claim at issue is governed by R.C. 3937.18 as amended by Am.Sub.H.B. No. 261, 147 Ohio Laws, Part II, 2372, eff. Sept. 3,1997 (“H.B. 261”).

{¶ 6} The Pasquales submitted a UM claim to State Auto under both policies. State Auto denied the claims and filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment seeking a determination whether the Pasquales were entitled to UM coverage under either policy. In support of its argument, State Auto relied on a provision in both of the Pasquales’ policies precluding recovery: the provision expressly restricted the definition of “uninsured motor vehicle” (defined to include underinsured motor vehicles) to exclude vehicles “[djesigned for use mainly off public roads while not on public roads.”

{¶ 7} The Pasquales opposed State Auto’s motion for summary judgment and filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The Pasquales did not dispute that the motorcycle was an off-road vehicle but argued that the off-road-vehicle exclusion in the State Auto insurance policies was an invalid restriction of UM coverage as required by R.C. 3937.18 as amended by H.B. 261.1

{¶ 8} The trial court granted State Auto’s motion for summary judgment and denied the Pasquales’ motion. In awarding summary judgment to State Auto, the trial court held that motor-vehicle liability policies need not cover any vehicles except motor vehicles operated on highways. The trial court reviewed the purpose of the UM statute: “ ‘[T]he financial responsibility laws and the UIM statute are related in purpose and * * * the General Assembly intended them both to apply only to policies that insure against liability arising from the ownership or operation of “vehicles” that can be used for transportation on the highway.’ ” State Auto. Ins. Co. v. Pasquale (Dec. 12, 2003), Lake C.P. No. 02 CV 001655, quoting Delli Bovi v. Pacific Indemn. Co. (1999), 85 Ohio St.3d 343, 345, 708 N.E.2d 693.

[13]*13{¶ 9} The trial court concluded, “Since liability insurance need only cover motor vehicles operated on highways and, since uninsured motorist coverage is intended to provide reciprocal or the mutual equivalent of automobile liability coverage and because motor vehicles that are not intended to be operated on highways need not be covered by liability insurance, excluding such vehicles from UM/UIM coverage does not violate the public policy behind R.C. 3937.18.”

{¶ 10} In a split decision reversing the trial court, the court of appeals held that the trial court erred when it relied on the purpose of the UM statute as articulated in Davidson v. Motorists Mut. Ins. Co. (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 262, 269, 744 N.E.2d 713, because the Davidson court was interpreting an earlier version of R.C. 3937.18, which was no longer controlling law. State Auto. Ins. Co. v. Pasquale, 163 Ohio App.3d 381, 2005-Ohio-4897, 837 N.E.2d 1249, at ¶70.

{¶ 11} In 1997, H.B. 261 amended R.C. 3937.18 and set forth specific circumstances in which UM coverage could be excluded. The court of appeals held that the exclusion in the State Auto insurance policies was invalid because the exclusion failed to “fall into one of the specified ‘excludable’ categories set forth under R.C. 3937.18(J) as it was written at the time of H.B. 261.” State Auto. Ins. Co., 163 Ohio App.3d 381, 2005-Ohio-4897, 837 N.E.2d 1249, at ¶ 53.

{¶ 12} The court of appeals also held that the motocross bike driven by Gersten did not meet the requirements for exclusion under R.C. 3937.18(E). Id. at ¶ 61. R.C. 3937.18(E) defined four classes of vehicles that could be excluded from UM coverage and did not include “off-highway motorcycle.” Therefore, because the exclusions found in R.C. 3937.18(J) and (E) did not expressly exclude off-road vehicles from UM coverage, the court of appeals found the exclusion in the State Auto policies to be invalid.

{¶ 13} The question presented is whether an express exclusion of off-road vehicles from UM coverage in an automobile liability insurance policy is valid under R.C. 3937.18 as amended by H.B. 261. We conclude that UM coverage under R.C. 3937.18 as amended by H.B. 261 does not apply to motor vehicles designed for off-road use. Therefore, a provision in an insurance policy excluding vehicles “designed for use mainly off public roads while not on public roads” from UM coverage is valid under R.C. 3937.18 as amended by H.B. 261.

{¶ 14} We first consider the statutory definitions of “motor vehicle” and “off-highway motorcycle.”

{¶ 15} While H.B. 261 was in effect, R.C. 4501.01(B) provided the general definition of a “motor vehicle” for nine chapters of R.C. Title 45 and for the penal laws:

{¶ 16} “(B) ‘Motor vehicle’ means any vehicle, including manufactured homes and recreational vehicles, that is propelled or drawn by power other than [14]*14muscular power or power collected from overhead electric trolley wires * * *.” 1997 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 210, 147 Ohio Laws, Part 1, 725.

{¶ 17} There followed a list of exceptions, which did not specifically include off-road vehicles or “off-highway motorcycle.”

{¶ 18} “Off-highway motorcycle” was specifically defined in R.C. 4519.01 when the definition was added to the statute by Am.Sub.H.B. No. 611, 147 Ohio Laws, Part III, 4772, 4795, effective July 1, 1999. Although the definition is not controlling, the parties have stipulated that Gersten’s motocross bike was an “off-highway motorcycle” as that term is defined by R.C.

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Bluebook (online)
113 Ohio St. 3d 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-automobile-insurance-v-pasquale-ohio-2007.