Jones v. Travelers Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 22 August 1986
• Citation: 514 A.2d 576,356 Pa.Super. 213
• Parties: Steven JONES, Appellant, v. The TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY and Metro Transportation Company t/a Yellow Cab and Northwestern National Insurance Company.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 576

514 A.2d 576

356 Pa.Super. 213

Steven JONES, Appellant, v. The TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY and Metro Transportation Company t/a Yellow Cab and Northwestern National Insurance Company.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 6, 1986.

Filed Aug. 22, 1986.

T. Jonathan Hankin, Philadelphia, for appellant.

A. Richard Feldman, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, BECK, and JOHNSON, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

Appellant Steven Jones filed a complaint in assumpsit against appellee Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers) alleging that on January 18, 1982 he had been injured in a collision with an uninsured motorist while riding as a passenger in a taxicab owned and operated by Metro Transportation Company, t/a Yellow Cab Company ("Yellow Cab"). Jones alleged that he was himself uninsured, and that he had filed claims for both basic loss benefits ¹ and uninsured motorist benefits ² with the Pennsylvania Assigned Claims Plan ("Plan"). ³ This appeal involves only Jones's claim for uninsured motorist benefits.

The complaint further stated that the Plan had designated Travelers as the servicing insurance company for payment of Jones's basic loss benefits. In addition, the complaint asserted that Travelers denied Jones's claim for uninsured motorist benefits.

In its answer to Jones's complaint Travelers in New Matter denied liability for the uninsured motorist benefits and stated that if anyone was liable for such benefits it would be either Yellow Cab as a self-insurer, or Northwestern National Insurance Company ("Northwestern"), the company Travelers apparently understood to be Yellow Cab's No-fault carrier.

Travelers then filed an additional defendant complaint against Northwestern and Yellow Cab, alleging that one of the two was solely liable for Jones's uninsured motorist benefits. Yellow Cab and Northwestern filed a joint Answer and New Matter stating that 1) Guaranty National Insurance Company ("Guaranty") was Yellow Cab's insurer; and 2) that Yellow Cab had exercised its right to reject uninsured motorist coverage in its policy of insurance with Guaranty pursuant to Section (a) of the Uninsured Motorist Act. See 40 P.S. § 2000(a)(2).

The case proceeded to compulsory arbitration where the arbitrators found in favor of Jones and against Yellow Cab in the amount of $5,000.00, and found Travelers and Northwestern not liable. Yellow Cab then appealed the arbitrator's decision to the trial court. Travelers filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. The court granted the motion and issued an order dismissing Travelers from the case and holding Yellow Cab solely liable to Jones for any uninsured motorist benefits to which he might be entitled. This appeal followed.

The sole issue before us is whether the trial court properly granted judgment on the pleadings after determining as a matter of law that Travelers, as the designated assigned claims carrier, was not liable for Jones's uninsured motorist benefits. ⁴

Initially we note that to determine the propriety of awarding judgment on the pleadings, we must accept as true all well-pleaded statements of fact of the party against whom the motion is granted and consider against him only those facts that he specifically admits. West Penn Administration Inc. v. Pittsburgh National Bank, 289 Pa.Super. 460, 467, 433 A.2d 896, 900 (1981) (citations omitted); Zelik v. Daily News Publishing Co., 288 Pa.Super. 277, 431 A.2d 1046 (1981); see also Wojciechowski v. Murray, 345 Pa.Super. 138, 497 A.2d 1342 (1985). The parties cannot be deemed to admit either conclusions of law or unjustified inferences. Sinn v. Burd, 486 Pa. 146, 404 A.2d 672 (1979); West Penn, 289 Pa.Super. at 467, 433 A.2d at 900.

We will affirm the grant of such a motion only when the moving party's right to succeed is certain and the case is so free from doubt that the trial would clearly be a fruitless exercise. Gallo v. J.C. Penney Casualty Insurance Co., 328 Pa.Super. 267, 476 A.2d 1322 (1984); see also Bata v. Central-Penn National Bank of Philadelphia, 423 Pa. 373, 224 A.2d 174 (1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1007, 87 S.Ct. 1348, 18 L.Ed.2d 433 (1967); Wojciechowski, 345 Pa.Super. at 139, 497 A.2d at 1343. In conducting this inquiry, the court should confine its consideration to the pleadings and documents attached thereto. Gallo, 328 Pa.Super. at 270, 476 A.2d at 1324. ⁵

Under the standards governing motions for judgments on the pleadings the trial court in this case could consider only the factual allegations made in Jones's complaint because these were the only facts specifically admitted by him. ⁶ See, e.g., Aughenbaugh v. North American Refractories Co., 426 Pa. 211, 231 A.2d 173 (1967); Wojciechowski, 345 Pa.Super. at 139, 497 A.2d at 1343; Gallo, 328 Pa.Super. at 270, 476 A.2d at 1324; Zelik, 288 Pa.Super. at 278, 431 A.2d at 1047; Enoch v. Food Fair Stores, 232 Pa.Super. 1, 331 A.2d 912 (1974). Consequently, the court could not take into account the facts and conclusions of law asserted by Travelers in its Answer and New Matter or those contained in the pleadings exchanged between Travelers and the additional defendants.

Based on the allegations contained in appellant Jones's complaint, we find that the trial court properly concluded as a matter of law that Travelers as an assignee under the Plan could not be made to bear the cost of Jones's uninsured motorist benefits. The law governing the issue is not, as appellant claims, indeterminate. The complaint stated that Jones had been a passenger in a Yellow Cab when he was injured in the collision with the uninsured motorist. As we will elaborate upon below, when a common carrier such as Yellow Cab is involved in an uninsured motorist claim, the Uninsured Motorist Act and the regulations governing common carriers ⁷ clearly dictate the following: either the common carrier's insurer must provide uninsured motorist coverage, or, the common carrier itself must be presumed to have adopted the status of a self-insurer, thereby choosing to commit its own funds for the payment of benefits to its passengers injured at the hands of uninsured motorists. The imposition of liability on either entity would preclude an obligation on the part of the Assigned Claims Plan insurer to afford uninsured motorist benefits. See Fairbanks v. Travelers Insurance Co., 337 Pa.Super. 39, 46 n. 7; 486 A.2d 469, 472 n. 7 (1984).

The Uninsured Motorist Act is based on public policy considerations:

No motor vehicle liability policy of insurance insuring against loss resulting from liability imposed by law for bodily injury or death suffered by any person arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this State with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this State, unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto in limits for bodily injury or death ... for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death resulting therefrom....

40 P.S. § 2000(a) (emphasis added).

As our courts have often stated, the Act's scope is broad and its purpose is remedial: "to afford financial recompense to persons who receive injuries ... solely through the negligence of motorists, who, because they are uninsured and not financially responsible cannot be made to satisfy a judgment." Johnson v. Concord Mutual Insurance Co., 450 Pa. 614, 619, 300 A.2d 61, 64 (1973) (citation omitted); Patrick v. Cherokee Insurance Co., 354 Pa.Super. 427, 512 A.2d 24, 26 (1986); see also Modesta, 503 Pa. at 437, 469 A.2d at 1019. In this way, the Act provides "monetary protection to that ever changing and tragically large group of persons who while lawfully using the highways themselves suffer grave injuries...." Johnson v. Concord, 450 Pa. at 619, 300 A.2d at 64 (citation omitted); Boyle v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Co., 310 Pa.Super. 10, 21, 456 A.2d 156, 162 (1983). Because of its public policy concerns, we must construe the Act liberally to enable it to achieve its purpose. Johnson v. Concord, 450 Pa. at 619, 300 A.2d at 64; Patrick, 312 A.2d at 26; Novoseller v. Royal Globe Insurance Co, 317 Pa.Super. 217, 463 A.2d 1163 (1983).

The Uninsured Motorist Act attempts to achieve its aims by specifically mandating uninsured motorist coverage in all "motor vehicle liability polic[ies] of insurance." 40 P.S. § 2000(a) (emphasis added). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has expanded the expressed scope of the statute to include those owners of motor vehicles who under law are allowed to self-insure and therefore have no "policy of insurance." ⁸ Thus, a motor vehicle owner's obligation to provide uninsured motorist benefits is not tied to the actual purchase of such coverage in an insurance policy. Modesta, 503 Pa. at 441, 469 A.2d at 1022. Despite its mandate of uninsured motorist coverage in all policies of insurance, the Uninsured Motorist Act allows common carriers like Yellow Cab to reject uninsured motorist coverage in conjunction with their policies in certain limited circumstances:

(2) An ... operator of any ... motor vehicle operated for the carriage of ... passengers for hire ... shall have the right to reject such coverage in writing, in which event, such coverage need not be provided....

40 P.S. § 2000(a)(2), construed in Johnson v. Concord, 450 Pa. at 614, 300 A.2d at 61; Patrick, 512 A.2d at 26-27.

The Uninsured Motorist Act therefore delineates three categories of common carriers: 1) those who like SEPTA are authorized to self-insure for all their liability needs; 2) those who accept uninsured motorist coverage in their policies of insurance and pay the premiums for it; and 3) those who reject uninsured motorist coverage in their insurance policies. Appellant Jones argues that when a common carrier rejects uninsured...