Toner v. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance

137 A.3d 583, 2016 Pa. Super. 69, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182, 2016 WL 1106993
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 21, 2016
Docket53 WDA 2015
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 137 A.3d 583 (Toner v. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance) 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
Toner v. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance, 137 A.3d 583, 2016 Pa. Super. 69, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182, 2016 WL 1106993 (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION BY

OTT, J.:

Christopher Toner appeals from the order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, on December 12, 2014, denying his motion for summary judgment and granting The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company’s (The Travelers) motion for summary judgment. In the underlying declaratory judgment action Toner sought a judicial determination whether The Travelers was required to provide Toner’s mother with a new waiver of stacking of uninsured/un-derinsured benefits (UM/UIM) form after she added vehicles to her- automobile insurance policy. The trial court determined The Travelers was not required to provide the form and Toner has filed this timely appeal. After a thorough review of the submissions of the parties, relevant law, and the certified record, we affirm.

Before we address the merits of this matter,- we recite out standards of review.

Our standard of review of an order granting summary judgment requires us to determine whether the trial'court abused its discretion oh' committed an error of law[,] and our scope of review is 'plenary.’ We view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party. Only where there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and it is clear that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law will summary judgment be entered. , ■

Silvagni v. Short, 113 A.3d 810, 812 (Pa.Super.2015) - (citation- omitted).

Our standard of review in a" declaratory judgment action is substantially similar.'

Our standard of review in a’ declaratory judgment-action is limited to determining' whether'-the. .-trial court clearly abused its discretion or -committed an error of law. ■ We may not substitute our judgment-for that of the.trial court if the court’s determination is supported by the evidence.

Erie Ins. Group v. Catania, 95 A.3d 320, 322 (Pa.Super.2014) (citation omitted).

“Additionally, we note that interpretation of an insurance policy presents a pure question of law, over which our standard of review is de novo.” Rourke v. Pennsylva[585]*585nia Nat. Mut. Cas. Ins. Co., 116 A.3d 87, 91 (Pa.Super.2015) (citation omitted).

We adopt the underlying facts and circumstances of this matter as related by the trial court in its Pa.R.A.P.1925(a) opinion, dated 2/9/2015.

The parties filed a Joint Statement of Stipulated Pacts. Attached thereto, as Exhibit A, is the insurance policy at issue. I adopt Stipulated Facts Nos. 2-16, 18-20, 22, 23 and 25.t1] Toner was listed as a driver on a policy owned by his mother (“insured”). The original policy covered only one vehicle. Insured waived stacking, but subsequently added two additional vehicles, one at a time. On neither occasion was she provided a new waiver form. Toner was severely injured in an accident while he was the passenger of an underinsured motorist. Travelers paid Toner UIM benefits in the maximum amount for one vehicle. Toner filed this Declaratory Judgment action contending insured should have been given new waiver forms and that Traveler’s [sic] failure to do so should result in the UIM benefits for each vehicle being stacked.
It is uncontested two additional vehicles were added .and each time a vehicle was added insured received new “AUTOMOBILE POLICY DECLARATIONS” pages. Both sets of new declaration pages state, under paragraph 2, that “... Vehicle had been added, coverage and vehicle/driver information have been changed. These declarations replace all prior automobile policy .declarations on the date on which this change is effective.” Paragraph 4, “Coverages, Limits of Liability and Premiums,” clearly states the UM/UIM coverage was non-stacked and referred to Endorsement A37021, which is the seven page section of the insured’s policy addressing Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage, both Stacked and Non-Stacked.
The after-acquired vehicle clause defines “Your covered auto” as a vehicle acquired during the • policy period which insured asks Travelers to cover within thirty days after insured becomes the owner. The issue before me was whether Travelers was required to give insured a new waiver form (relating to stacking UM/UIM. benefits) when she added the vehicles to her policy.

Trial Court Opinion, 2/9/2015, at 1-2.

Ultimately, relying largely on the Sack-ett trilogy2 of cases, which’ will be discussed, below, the trial court determined that The Travelers was not required to provide Toner with a new waiver of stacking form when she added cars to her single vehicle policy. The Sackett cases recognize that in general, the addition of a vehicle to an existing automobile insurance policy does not represent the purchase of new insurance, and so does not require the insurer to provide the insuréd With new UM/UIM stacking waiver forms. However, the courts must also look to the language of the “after acquired vehicle” clause to determine if that clause is finite in scope. If the clause is finite, the insurer will be required to provide the insured new UM/UIM waiver forms.

[586]*586Toner argues the trial eourt erred in conducting a Sackett analysis and presents a straightforward, and in many ways inviting, argument based largely on the statutory language found in 75 Pa.C.S. § 1738. Toner points out that Section 1738 states:

(a) Limit' for each vehicle. — When more than one vehicle is insured under one or more policies providing uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, the stated limit for uninsured or underinsured coverage shall apply separately to each vehicle so insured. The limits of- coverages available under this subchapter for an insured shall be the sum of the limits for each motor vehicle as to which the injured person is an insured,
(b) Waiver. — Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), a named insured may waive coverage providing stacking of uninsured or underinsured coverages in which case the limits of coverage available under the policy for an insured shall be the stated limits for the motor vehicle as to which the injured person is an insured.
(c) More than one vehicle. — Each named insured purchasing uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage for more than one vehicle under a policy shall be provided the opportunity to waive the stacked limits of coverage 'and instead purchase coverage as described in subsection (b). The premiums for an insured who exercises such waiver shall be re- < duced to reflect the different cost ' of such coverage.
[75 Pa.C.S. § 1738(a)-(c) (emphasis by Toner).]
The statute makes it perfectly clear and it can only be read one way:
(a) Whenever an insured purchases a multi-vehicle policy, which provides UM/UIM coverage, she automatically gets UM/UIM stacking:

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Newhook, K. v. Erie Insurance Exchange
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283 F. Supp. 3d 268 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2017)
Ewart v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
257 F. Supp. 3d 722 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2017)
Pergolese v. Standard Fire Insurance Co.
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Toner v. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance
137 A.3d 583 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016)
Toner, C. v. The Travelers Home
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2016

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 A.3d 583, 2016 Pa. Super. 69, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 182, 2016 WL 1106993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toner-v-travelers-home-marine-insurance-pasuperct-2016.