Kelly v. Nationwide Ins. Co.

• Citation: 606 A.2d 470,414 Pa.Super. 6
• Parties: Clara KELLY, Appellant, v. NATIONWIDE INSURANCE COMPANY.
• Decision Date: 02 April 1992
• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Page 470

606 A.2d 470

414 Pa.Super. 6

Clara KELLY, Appellant, v. NATIONWIDE INSURANCE COMPANY.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Dec. 19, 1991.

Filed April 2, 1992.

Rose A. McGowan, Moscow, for appellant.

Joseph A. Ramser, Scranton, for appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, FORD ELLIOTT and HOFFMAN, JJ.

CAVANAUGH, Judge.

This is an appeal from the lower court's May 9, 1991 order granting the motion of Nationwide Insurance Company ("appellee") for judgment on the pleadings against Clara Kelly ("appellant"). Appellant's Complaint sought to have the lower court declare that an automobile policy exclusion that prevented vehicles insured under the liability coverage of the policy from being considered as an underinsured vehicle violated public policy. We agree with the lower court that such a policy exclusion does not violate public policy. We affirm.

The facts are as follows. Both appellant and her husband, Edward J. Kelly, are named policyholders on a single Nationwide Automobile Insurance policy which covers two cars, a 1985 Chrysler and a 1979 Plymouth. On July 7, 1989, appellant, suffered a severe arm injury while a passenger in the Chrysler when her husband, the driver, lost control of it during a heavy rainstorm on Interstate Route 84 and crashed into a concrete structure. Subsequent to the accident, appellee has paid the appellant fifty thousand ($50,000) dollars, the maximum amount of liability coverage on the 1985 Chrysler.

After payment, appellant demanded from the appellee benefits under the underinsurance coverage of the same policy. Appellant asserted that while the liability limits on the accident vehicle (the Chrysler) had been recovered, underinsurance benefits were available from the appellee on the 1979 Plymouth (the non-accident vehicle). Nationwide rejected this demand, noting that its policy excluded from the definition of "underinsured motor vehicle" any vehicle insured under the liability coverage of the policy. ¹ Appellant filed a declaratory judgment action in the Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County, seeking an order that the exclusion contained in the policy is void against public policy and legislative intent. Appellee filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings. After the submission of briefs and oral argument, the lower court entered an order granting a judgment on the pleadings. This appeal followed.

A motion for judgment on the pleadings should be granted only where the pleadings demonstrate that no genuine issue of fact exists, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Pa.R.C.P. 1034; Giddings v. Tartler, 130 Pa.Cmwlth. 175, 177, 567 A.2d 766, 767 (1989). Thus, "[i]n reviewing a trial court's decision to grant judgment on the pleadings, the scope of review of the appellate court is plenary; the reviewing court must determine if the action of the trial court was based on a clear error of law or whether there were facts disclosed by the pleadings which should properly go to the jury." Vogel v. Berkley, 354 Pa.Super. 291, 296, 511 A.2d 878, 880 (1986), quoted in Keystone Automated Equip. v. Reliance, 369 Pa.Super. 472, 475, 535 A.2d 648, 649 (1988), alloc. den., 519 Pa. 654, 546 A.2d 59. An appellate court must accept as true all well-pleaded facts of the party against whom the motion is made, while considering against him only those facts which he specifically admits. Jones v. Travelers Ins. Co., 356 Pa.Super. 213, 217, 514 A.2d 576, 578 (1986); West Penn Administration, Inc. v. Pittsburgh National Bank, 289 Pa.Super. 460, 467, 433 A.2d 896, 900 (1981). Neither party can be deemed to have admitted either conclusions of law or unjustified inferences. Sinn v. Burd, 486 Pa. 146, 149, 404 A.2d 672, 674 (1979); Jones, supra, 356 Pa.Super. at 217, 514 A.2d at 578. Moreover, in conducting its inquiry, the court should confine itself to the pleadings themselves and any documents or exhibits properly attached to them. Jones, supra, 356 Pa. Superior Ct. at 217, 514 A.2d at 578; Gallo v. J.C. Penney Casualty Ins. Co., 328 Pa.Super. 267, 270, 476 A.2d 1322, 1324 (1984). It may not consider inadmissible evidence in determining a motion for judgment on the pleadings. 6 Pennsylvania Standard Practice 2d § 31:19 at 172. Only when the moving party's case is clear and free from doubt such that a trial would prove fruitless will an appellate court affirm a motion for judgment on the pleadings. Jones, supra, 356 Pa.Super. at 217, 514 A.2d at 578; Gallo, supra, 328 Pa.Super. at 270, 476 A.2d at 1324.

Appellant asserts two arguments before this court: (1) the lower court erred in granting judgment on the pleadings where the law is unclear as to whether a single automobile insurance policy, issued to a husband and wife but covering two cars, can contain an exclusion which would prevent recovery of underinsurance benefits in the situation sub judice and (2) the lower court erred in granting judgment on the pleadings where material issues of fact existed which indicated that the appellant's contractual relationship with appellee was that of a separate policyholder of the 1979 Plymouth. Both arguments are interrelated, and we address appellant's second argument first as its resolution will facilitate our discussion of the first argument.

Preliminarily, we note that appellant accepts that she and her husband were named policyholders on a single policy of insurance. Her Complaint assumes this fact, ² and seeks a Declaratory Judgment that the exclusion in the policy which prevents her from receiving the underinsured motorist benefits on the 1979 Plymouth is void as against public policy. The appellant seems to be arguing that we should pierce or disregard the words of the contract as a matter of either contract law or public policy to get to the underlying nature of the bargain, which, she feels, is that she was for all practical purposes insured "on" the 1979 Plymouth.

We address first appellant's claim that the trial court erred by granting judgment on the pleadings where material issues of fact existed as to whether appellant's contractual relationship with the appellee is as a policyholder on the 1979 Plymouth in her own right. The thrust of appellant's argument is that there was enough evidence to go to the finder of fact that the "real" nature of the contractual relation with the appellee is that she is the insured on the 1979 Plymouth and her husband separately is the insured on the 1984 Chrysler. The appellant makes much of the fact that the latest billing notice for the six month renewal premium reads as follows:

                                        "VEH/  MAKE/   YEAR    VEH/  MAKE/   YEAR
                                            1   PLYM     79       2   CHRY     85
                                       --------------------
                                               ----------------------------------
                                          LIMITS PREMIUM        LIMITS PREMIUM
                UNINSURED MOTORIST        $25,000 $18.90        $25,000 $18.90
                                   BI     $50,000               $50,000
                PREMIUM IS BASED ON
                 --    USE OF VEHICLE        PLEASURE              PLEASURE
                 --    RATED DRIVER       ADULT, FEMALE          ADULT, MALE
                ----------
                

Moreover, the appellant contends that the appellee has admitted in its Answer to averment six (6) of her Complaint that the appellant was the insured on the 1979 Plymouth.

The billing notice does not create an issue of fact as to the contractual relation of the parties. Appellant has not alleged that the billing notice was part of that policy, or that the contract is ambiguous. Rather, the whole tenor of appellant's Complaint and argument has been that the contract does not adequately express the contractual relation between the parties. Consequently the appellant must want us to consider the billing notice as extrinsic evidence as to the real meaning of the contract. ³ "When the words of the contract are unequivocal, it speaks for itself and a meaning cannot be given to it other than that expressed, and there is no need to refer to extrinsic aids or evidence to determine the intentions of the parties." Marcinak v. Southeastern Greene School Dist., 375 Pa.Super. 486, 544 A.2d 1025 (1988); Accord, East Crossroads Center, Inc. v. Mellon-Stuart Co., 416 Pa. 229, 230, 205 A.2d 865, 866 (1965). The appellant assumes as a given that the contract unequivocally states that appellant and her husband are policyholders on a single policy. Although her argument sounds in contract, appellant asks us to disregard the contract and discern the "real" or equitable relation of the parties as represented by the billing notice. This we cannot do, as we would be turning on its head contract analysis, which mandates that we will not consider extrinsic evidence where the contract is clear and unambiguous. As we may not consider inadmissible evidence in a motion for judgment on the pleadings, see supra, appellant's argument fails.

Alternatively, even if we were to consider the billing notice as part of the contract despite appellant's failure to allege it was part of the contract, we agree with the appellant that the billing notice speaks for itself: it explicitly states that the policyholder is "Edward J. & Clara Kelly." See Exhibit "A" of Plaintiff's Complaint. We note that the "granting of judgment on the pleadings may be appropriate in cases that turn on the construction of a written agreement." DiAndrea v. Reliance Savings and Loan Association, 310 Pa.Super. 537, 546, 456 A.2d 1066, 1070 (1983); Accord, Vogel, supra, 354 Pa.Super. at 296, 511 A.2d at 880. Even assuming that the billing notice can be considered part of the contract, we find that the billing notice does not create an ambiguity as to whether appellant is a policyholder in her own right. For the foregoing reasons, appellant's contention is meritless.

We also find that appellant's contention that appellee in its Answer admitted that appellant was the insured of the non-accident vehicle to be a meritless claim. Appellant contends...