Snider v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Decision Date: 21 June 1973
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 71-79.
• Citation: 360 F. Supp. 929
• Parties: William SNIDER, Administrator of the Estate of Rex John Snider, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY a corporation, and the Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, a corporation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia

360 F. Supp. 929

William SNIDER, Administrator of the Estate of Rex John Snider, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY a corporation, and the Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, a corporation, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 71-79.

United States District Court, S. D. West Virginia, Charleston Division.

June 21, 1973.

Rudolph L. Di Trapano and Robert W. Lawson, III, of Di Trapano & Mitchell, Charleston, W. Va., for plaintiff.

Wilson Anderson, of Steptoe & Johnson, Charleston, W. Va., for defendant State Farm.

Winfield T. Shaffer and Charles Q. Gage, of Jackson, Kelly, Holt & O'Farrell, Charleston, W. Va., for defendant Aetna.

MEMORANDUM ORDER

K. K. HALL, District Judge.

In this action plaintiff seeks to recover $22,000, together with costs and interest, from the two defendant insurance carriers under provisions of their respective automobile liability insurance policies in effect on November 22, 1967, when plaintiff's decedent was fatally injured in an automobile accident involving an uninsured motorist. In an action in the Court of Common Pleas of Kanawha County, West Vriginia, plaintiff recovered a $30,000 judgment against the uninsured motorist on October 21, 1970. The judgment has become final but remains unsatisfied. In the state court action plaintiff asserts that process was served on the two insurers, defendants in the present action here. This procedure appears to be in compliance with West Virginia's uninsured motorist statute, West Virginia Code, § 33-6-31(d). Plaintiff states he has demanded payment from the two defendants on bases that the uninsured motorist insurance provisions of their respective automobile liability insurance policies, as here involved, impose liability on the insurers under provisions of the West Virginia uninsured motorist statute. Tulley v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 345 F.Supp. 1123 (S.D.W.Va. 1972).

Each of the defendants has moved to be dismissed from the action since its liability, if any, is limited to $10,000, less than the required jurisdictional amount under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). Defendant Aetna's position is that its policy limit is $10,000 with no additional medical coverage or other provisions calling for liability in excess of $10,000.^* Defendant State Farm's position is that, while its policy calls for the $10,000 uninsured motorist insurance coverage and medical payments, plaintiff's failure to timely and properly claim medical payments now precludes plaintiff's claim therefor and State Farm's liability, if any, is limited to $10,000, less than the jurisdictional amount.

Plaintiff's pending motion for summary judgment is based on the proposition that no genuine issue as to any material fact remains for determination and that plaintiff is entitled to judgment against both defendants as a matter of law.

Following a hearing on the three pending motions, the Court, by order entered May 21, 1973, denied State Farm's motion, pending development of factual issues raised thereby, and delayed action on Aetna's motion to dismiss and plaintiff's motion for summary judgment for further consideration after receipt of memoranda from counsel concerning the Court's jurisdiction of the claim against Aetna. Counsel have submitted their memoranda which have been carefully considered in the light of the record in the action.

At a hearing on plaintiff's earlier motion for summary judgment, held on May 11, 1971, it was the Court's understanding that the parties were to stipulate facts. At a hearing on March 30, 1972, stipulation of facts was again discussed. At a hearing on April 2, 1973, attention was focused primarily on questions of jurisdiction. A complaint and an amended complaint have been filed. Defendants have answered and Aetna has filed an amended answer to the amended complaint. Three motions are pending, as above detailed. Neither of the two insurance policies, providing the uninsured motorist insurance coverage here in issue, has been brought into the record.

Plaintiff's memorandum, primarily on the issue of the Court's jurisdiction of the claim against defendant Aetna, takes the position that jurisdiction exists for the three reasons: (1) The $10,000 liability of Aetna incident to the $30,000 judgment in the state court with interest from the date of the judgment; (2) The interrelationship between the two policies here involved creates and constitutes a single cause of action exceeding the jurisdictional amount; and (3) Jurisdiction sustained as to State Farm and the interrelationship of the two policies supports pendent jurisdiction over Aetna.

Without delving into other bases of jurisdiction at this time, the Court finds and concludes that lawfully accrued interest on the state court judgment, added to the uninsured motorist coverage liability of each of the defendants, establishes the Court's jurisdiction in this action as to each of the defendants. Each defendant's insurance contract contained the uninsured motorist coverage required by law, West Virginia Code, § 33-6-31 and § 17D-4-2. The statute, § 33-6-31(b), requires that each such policy "shall contain an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle." In the state court action plaintiff recovered a judgment for $30,000 on October 21, 1970, on account of the death for which recovery is here sought. As above noted, in the state court proceedings process was served on each of the defendant insurance carriers as provided in the statute, West Virginia Code, § 33-6-31(d). The valid, unsatisfied judgment establishes legal liability. Nothing else is required of the insured. W.Va.Code, § 33-6-31(g). Matthews v. Allstate Insurance Co., 194 F.Supp. 459 (D.C.E.D.Va.1961). Both insurance carriers declined to pay the amount of their legal liability. In this action to recover thereon, defendants question the Court's jurisdiction. The state court judgment remains unsatisfied. Under the law of West Virginia, W.Va.Code, § 56-6-29 and § 56-6-31, the judgment bears interest from the date of the judgment. This interest is not the interest identified in the phrase "exclusive of interest and costs" in 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), relating to jurisdiction based on amount in controversy and diversity of citizenship. Interest on the judgment which the insurers are obligated to pay is liability imposed by law. It is a part of the total liability on which the action is based. "Where the judgment in one action includes interest, the amount in controversy in a suit on the judgment is measured by the amount of that first judgment, including interest." Wright, Law of Federal Courts, § 35, at page 120 (1970). See Brown v. Webster, 156 U.S. 328, 15 S.Ct. 377, 39 L.Ed. 440 (1895). This will cause the obligation of each insurer to...