Henry v. Benyo

• Decision Date: 13 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. 24015.,24015.
• Citation: 506 S.E.2d 615,203 W.Va. 172
• Parties: William J. HENRY and Ruth Ann Henry, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. James K. BENYO, Defendant Below, Appellee, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Appellant.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

506 S.E.2d 615

203 W.Va. 172

William J. HENRY and Ruth Ann Henry, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees, v. James K. BENYO, Defendant Below, Appellee, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Appellant.

No. 24015.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted January 13, 1998.

Decided July 13, 1998.

Mary H. Sanders, Huddleston, Bolen, Beatty, Porter & Copen, Charleston, West Virginia, for the Appellant.

Joseph J. John, John Law Offices, John J. Pizzuti, Camilletti, Sacco & Pizzuti, Wheeling, West Virginia, for the Appellees, William J. Henry and Ruth Ann Henry.

DAVIS, Chief Justice:

The appellant herein, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company [hereinafter USF & G], appeals the decision of the Circuit Court of Ohio County, entered December 2, 1996, denying USF & G's motion for declaratory judgment. Prior to USF & G's motion, the plaintiffs below and appellees herein, William J. Henry [hereinafter Henry] and Ruth Ann Henry, filed a civil action against the defendant below and appellee herein, James K. Benyo [hereinafter Benyo], wherein Henry sought to recover damages resulting from his motor vehicle accident with Benyo. In refusing to award USF & G declaratory judgment, the circuit court determined that, even though Henry had collected workers' compensation benefits for his injuries resulting from his motor vehicle accident with Benyo, Henry also could seek underinsured motorist benefits, provided his judgment against Benyo activated such coverage, from Henry's employer's motor vehicle insurance carrier, USF & G, which insured the vehicle Henry had been operating at the time of the accident. Upon a review of the parties' arguments, the record evidence, and the pertinent authorities, we affirm the decision of the Circuit Court of Ohio County.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The facts underlying this appeal are not in dispute. In October, 1995, the plaintiff below, William J. Henry, was employed by Savage Construction Company. Savage provided work-related injury coverage to its employees by subscribing to the West Virginia Workers' Compensation fund. On October 25, 1995, Henry was operating a crane, owned by Savage, in the course of his employment. A policy of motor vehicle insurance, which Savage had purchased from USF & G, was in effect with regard to this particular crane. While driving the crane, Henry was involved in a motor vehicle accident with the defendant below, James K. Benyo. Benyo was not an employee of Savage and had no connections with this company.

As a result of the accident, Henry sustained numerous injuries for which he requested and received workers' compensation benefits. In addition, Henry and his wife, Ruth Ann Henry, filed a lawsuit against Benyo, in the Circuit Court of Ohio County, seeking additional compensation for injuries arising from the accident. In conjunction with the lawsuit, Henry provided notice both to Savage and to the appellant herein, USF & G, that he may seek to recover underinsured motorist benefits under his employer's motor vehicle insurance policy with USF & G if his judgment against Benyo exceeded the limits of Benyo's automobile insurance coverage.

USF & G then filed a motion for declaratory judgment challenging Henry's right to receive underinsured motorist benefits from his employer's insurance policy given his receipt of workers' compensation benefits for the same injury.¹ Following a hearing, the circuit court, by order entered December 2, 1996, denied USF & G's motion and determined that Henry would be permitted to recover the disputed underinsured motorist benefits from his employer's insurance policy. The court first noted the relevancy of Wisman v. Rhodes & Shamblin Stone, Inc., 191 W.Va. 542, 447 S.E.2d 5 (1994), to the instant case, but recognized that the precise issue before it had not been addressed in the Wisman decision. The court then explained that

[e]ven though plaintiff was working within the scope and course of his employment at the time of the accident and notwithstanding W.Va.Code § 23-2-6, the Court is of the opinion that underinsured motorist benefits from plaintiff's employer's policy of insurance may be triggered to provide coverage for the vehicle in which plaintiff was driving at the time of the subject accident because plaintiff was injured as a result of a third-party, not a fellow employee.

In conclusion, the circuit court instructed that USF & G could seek a "full and final resolution of the declaratory judgment issue" before this Court and stayed all remaining matters pending the outcome of such an appeal. From this order, USF & G appeals to this Court.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This appeal is presented to this Court following the circuit court's denial of USF & G's motion for declaratory judgment. Declaratory judgment actions are permitted in order "to avoid the expense and delay which might otherwise result, and [to] secur[e] in advance a determination of legal questions which, if pursued, can be given the force and effect of a judgment or decree without the long and tedious delay which might accompany other types of litigation." Imgrund v. Yarborough, 199 W.Va. 187, 189-90, 483 S.E.2d 533, 535-36 (1997) (emphasis in original) (internal quotations and citations omitted). Given the legal question context within which motions for declaratory judgment are decided, "[a] circuit court's entry of a declaratory judgment is reviewed de novo." Syl. pt. 3, Cox v. Amick, 195 W.Va. 608, 466 S.E.2d 459 (1995).

III. DISCUSSION

The sole issue presented by the parties to the instant appeal is whether an employee, who has been injured in a work-related motor vehicle accident involving a third-party nonemployee, may recover underinsured motorist benefits from his/her employer's motor vehicle insurance policy where the employee has received workers' compensation benefits for the same resultant injuries.

Opposing Henry's attempts to recover underinsured motorist benefits under Savage's motor vehicle insurance policy, USF & G advances two primary arguments. First, USF & G asserts that the provisions granting employers immunity from suit for injuries covered by workers' compensation extends to shield employers from liability for underinsured motorist benefits, under their policies of motor vehicle insurance, where workers' compensation coverage encompasses the accident activating such underinsured motorist benefits. In support of this argument, USF & G cites the immunity provisions of the workers' compensation statutes, contained in W.Va.Code § 23-2-6 (1991) (Repl.Vol.1994). Further buttressing this contention, USF & G relies upon this Court's prior decision in Wisman v. Rhodes & Shamblin Stone, Inc., 191 W.Va. 542, 447 S.E.2d 5 (1994), wherein we determined, in Syllabus point 2, that the immunity provided to employers and coemployees by workers' compensation prohibits an employee, who has been injured in a work-related motor vehicle accident involving a coemployee and who has received workers' compensation benefits for his/her resultant injuries, from seeking additional benefits under his/her employer's underinsured motorist insurance coverage.² Additionally, USF & G tenders an unpublished decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. In Vandall v. Dunham, the court determined that an employee, who was injured in a work-related motor vehicle accident with a third-party nonemployee and who had received workers' compensation benefits for his injuries, could not recover underinsured motorist benefits under his employer's motor vehicle insurance policy. No. 5:96-0550, 1997 WL 150092 (S.D.W.Va. Mar.26, 1997).

The second theory by which USF & G contends Henry's recovery of underinsured motorist benefits from Savage's insurance is precluded focuses upon the language contained in Savage's motor vehicle insurance policy. In this regard, USF & G represents that, because Henry cannot maintain a cause of action against Savage in recovery for his injuries resulting from his accident with Benyo, he likewise is not "legally entitled to recover" underinsured motorist benefits under Savage's insurance policy.

By contrast, Henry maintains that he is entitled to collect underinsured motorist benefits under Savage's motor vehicle insurance policy. He disputes the contention of USF & G that his recovery of underinsured benefits through Savage's insurance coverage would abrogate the workers' compensation immunity provisions which operate to insulate Savage from liability for the underlying motor vehicle accident. Instead, Henry maintains that Benyo, not Savage, is the party liable to Henry for the injuries he sustained as a result of the accident, and, consequently, he is not seeking to hold Savage liable in this regard. Moreover, Henry suggests that, once he has obtained a judgment against Benyo sufficient to activate Savage's underinsured motorist coverage, his collection efforts would be pursued against USF & G and not against Savage. Furthermore, Henry distinguishes this Court's decision in Wisman based upon the difference between the factual scenario addressed in that case and the context within which the case sub judice has arisen. Henry interprets Wisman as precluding an employee's recovery of underinsured motorist benefits from his/her employer's motor vehicle insurance coverage only when the underlying accident involved the employee and his/her coemployee, based upon the immunity provisions set forth in the workers' compensation statutes. As the accident giving rise to the instant appeal involved a nonemployee third-party, the basic rationale of Wisman has no application. Thus, Henry states that he is not precluded from seeking underinsured motorist benefits from Savage's USF & G policy.

Finally, Henry also addresses whether he is "legally entitled to recover" the underinsured motorist benefits in question. Contrary to USF & G's policy language argument, Henry...