Werkman v. Erie Insurance Exchange

629 A.2d 1042, 427 Pa. Super. 621, 1993 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2616
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 12, 1993
DocketNo. 00849
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 629 A.2d 1042 (Werkman v. Erie Insurance Exchange) 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
Werkman v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 629 A.2d 1042, 427 Pa. Super. 621, 1993 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2616 (Pa. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

POPOVICH, Judge:

This is an appeal from the order entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County on April 14, 1992. The question presented on appeal is whether two individuals involved in an automobile accident with an uninsured motorist [623]*623can “stack” uninsured motorist benefits under one insurance policy covering three vehicles, given that 1) the individuals were class one insureds and 2) the policy covers two personal vehicles and one commercial vehicle. We hold that they can stack uninsured motorist coverage and, accordingly, affirm the order of the trial court.

The facts are undisputed. On July 22, 1989, appellees’ motorcycle was struck by an automobile operated by an uninsured motorist. Appellees sustained severe injuries as a result of the accident. At the time of the accident, appellees resided with appellee-husband’s father, Charles Werkman (hereinafter “father”). Father was the insurance policy holder of an automobile insurance policy called Pioneer Commercial Auto Policy written by the Erie Insurance Exchange. The policy provided coverage for two personal vehicles and one commercial vehicle. The commercial vehicle was a dump truck that was used by father for the maintenance of his home and trailer park. Vehicles such as father’s dump truck are designated by Erie Insurance as commercial vehicles when the vehicles are over a certain weight or are used in business applications. Father used the dump truck for both business and personal purposes. However, the dump truck, because of its weight, was designated as a commercial vehicle. The two personal automobiles were also covered under the commercial policy. Father paid three separate premiums for uninsured motorist coverage provided by a single policy covering three vehicles.

Appellees claimed uninsured motorist coverage related to all three vehicles insured on the Pioneer Commercial Auto Policy under principles of stacking. Erie Insurance conceded the applicability of stacking of the personal vehicles, but denied that the commercial vehicle could be considered for purposes of stacking.

Appellees brought a declaratory judgment action, seeking a ruling for the allowance of stacking of coverage for the commercial vehicle. The trial court ruled that according to Pennsylvania case law, appellees were not permitted to stack [624]*624uninsured motorist coverage of a commercial vehicle covered under a combined personal/commercial automobile policy. Appellees filed a post-trial motion, wherein appellees sought reconsideration of the decision of the trial court. The trial court determined that it made an error in its original ruling in favor of appellant. The court stated that the error had been made because the court “analyzed the situation from the point of view of characterizing the policy, rather than reading the policy and determining its contractual import.” Trial Court Opinion, April 14, 1992, p. 1.

Before reviewing the language of the insurance contract, we address appellant’s contention that Pennsylvania law prohibits the stacking of uninsured motorist coverage of a commercial vehicle.

This court stated in Boyle v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 310 Pa.Super. 10, 21, 456 A.2d 156, 162 (1983), that the “purpose of the uninsured motorist law has been frequently and consistently interpreted by our courts as providing protection to innocent victims of uninsured drivers,” and that Pennsylvania statutes were “designed to give monetary protection to that ever changing and tragically large group of persons who while lawfully using the highways themselves suffer grave injuries through the negligent use of those highways by others.” Harleysville Mutual Casualty Co. v. Blumling, 429 Pa. 389, 395, 241 A.2d 112, 115 (1968). In cases in which the loss exceeds the limits of the uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits under one policy, the insured may recover from or stack other available policies up to their individual limits or to the amount of the actual loss. Id. Stacking allows the insured to get the full benefit of premiums he or she paid. Jeffrey v. Erie Ins. Exchange, 423 Pa.Super. 483, 621 A.2d 635, 645 (1993).

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed the subject of uninsured motorist coverage involving commercial fleet policies in Utica Mutual Ins. Co. v. Contrisciane, 504 Pa. 328, 473 A.2d 1005 (1984). In that case, the executrix of decedent’s estate filed an action claiming entitlement to uninsured motorist benefits under a commercial fleet policy and a personal [625]*625automobile insurance policy. In Utica, our Supreme Court divided insureds into three classes:

(a) The named insured and any designated insured and, while residents of the same household, the spouse and relatives of either,
(b) any other person while occupying an insured highway vehicle; and
(c) any person with respect to damages he is entitled to recover because of bodily injury to which this insurance applies sustained by an insured under (a) or (b) above.

Id. at 338, 473 A.2d at 1012. Our Supreme Court ruled, in Utica, that the decedent was a “class two” insured because he was merely a passenger of the vehicle insured under the commercial fleet policy. In ruling that the estate was not allowed to stack the coverage under the fleet policy, the court reasoned that since the decedent had asserted nothing more than “class two” coverage, his entitlement arose from his temporary status as an occupant, rather than from his being a specifically intended beneficiary of the insurance policy. In its decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court specifically left for another day the “question of whether a ‘class one’ insured may stack coverages under a fleet policy.” Id. 473 A.2d at 1010-1011, n. 4.

This court was faced with that issue in Miller v. Royal Ins. Co., 354 Pa.Super. 20, 510 A.2d 1257 (1986), aff'd per curiam, 517 Pa. 306, 535 A.2d 1049 (1988), wherein the court ruled that although the injured party was a class one insured, the classification was irrelevant in light of its determination that coverage under a fleet policy may not be stacked. The reasoning of the court in Miller, was followed in Thompson v. Royal Ins., 361 Pa.Super. 78, 521 A.2d 936 (1988), appeal denied, 520 Pa. 590, 551 A.2d 216 (1988), and this court refused to allow stacking under a commercial fleet policy.

Finally, in a case similar to the present case, this court ruled that stacking of commercial vehicles under a commercial fleet policy was not permitted but concluded that stacking would be, permitted for the five private passenger autos cov[626]*626ered by the same business auto policy. Lastooka v. Aetna Ins. Co., 380 Pa.Super. 408, 552 A.2d 254, allocatur granted, 522 Pa. 613, 563 A.2d 498 (1989). The fleet policy involved in

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629 A.2d 1042, 427 Pa. Super. 621, 1993 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/werkman-v-erie-insurance-exchange-pasuperct-1993.