Trinh v. Allstate Ins. Co., 48199-1-I.

• Decision Date: 14 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. 48199-1-I.,48199-1-I.
• Citation: 109 Wash. App. 927,37 P.3d 1259
• Parties: Lien TRINH, Appellant, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign corporation doing business in the State of Washington, Respondent.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

37 P.3d 1259

109 Wash. App. 927

Lien TRINH, Appellant, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign corporation doing business in the State of Washington, Respondent.

No. 48199-1-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

January 14, 2002.

Betsylew R. Miale-Gix, Adler Giersch, P.S., Seattle, for Appellant.

M. Colleen Barrett, Barrett & Worden, P.S., Seattle, for Respondent.

AGID, C.J.

Lien Trinh appeals the trial court's order granting Allstate Insurance Company's motion for summary judgment. Trinh watched her best friend die when he was hit by a drunk driver while helping Trinh change a flat tire on the side of the road. As a result, Trinh suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sought coverage under the uninsured motorist (UIM) provision of her automobile insurance policy. Allstate refused to cover Trinh's damages, contending that PTSD is not a "bodily injury," and thus falls outside her UIM coverage. The trial court agreed with Allstate, holding that because the UIM policy "provides no coverage for emotional distress that is not a result of physical injury," Trinh's PTSD claim is "not within the coverage afforded her under the insurance policy." We conclude that PTSD accompanied by physical manifestations falls within the definition of "bodily injury" under Trinh's UIM policy. Therefore, we reverse the summary judgment order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

The facts of this case are largely undisputed. In September 1996, Lien Trinh was driving north on Interstate 5 in Seattle when she got a flat tire. She pulled her car off the traveled portion of the highway at the Mercer Street exit and walked down the ramp to get help. Trinh found a telephone and called her best friend Norman (Pete) Drosdal. Drosdal and his friend, Robert Lee, picked up Trinh and returned to her car to change the tire. By the time they arrived back at Trinh's car, Washington State Trooper Lex Lindquist had come to the scene and parked his patrol car behind Trinh's vehicle. As Drosdal and Lee were trying to get the spare tire out of the trunk, a car driven by Vernon McHenry struck and killed Drosdal and injured Lee. Although Trinh was standing next to Drosdal when he was hit, the car did not hit her, and she did not seek medical treatment that night.

In the weeks following the accident, Trinh experienced frequent headaches and constantly felt sick to her stomach. She was unable to eat and vomited at least once a day. Over one year, she lost about 10 or 15 pounds. She also suffered hair loss, fragile fingernails, and skin breakouts. Her physical symptoms were accompanied by feelings of depression and anxiety, nightmares, insomnia, and chronic crying. She sought help from Dr. Hanan Berman, a clinical psychologist, about two weeks after the accident. Dr. Berman diagnosed Trinh with chronic PTSD "that was entirely and solely related to the September 26, 1996 accident on a far more probable than not basis."

The driver of the car that killed Drosdal was uninsured. Trinh had an automobile insurance policy with Allstate, which included both personal injury protection (PIP) and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UIM). Trinh filed a claim with Allstate under the PIP provision of her policy, which covered damages "when bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death is caused by an accident arising from the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle."¹ Allstate covered the PIP claim, paying for Trinh's treatment with Dr. Berman through May 1999 and for $256.78 in lost income, but it denied coverage for Trinh's PTSD damages under the UIM provision of the policy.

Trinh sued Allstate, seeking a declaration that she was entitled to benefits for damages related to her PTSD under the UIM provision of her Allstate policy. The trial court granted summary judgment for Allstate and this appeal followed.

ANALYSIS

Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.² On a motion for summary judgment, the trial court views all evidence and draws all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.³ On appeal we review summary judgment orders de novo.⁴

The issue in this case is whether the term "bodily injury" in a UIM provision of an insurance policy includes emotional injuries accompanied by physical manifestations. In Washington, insurance providers are required to provide UIM coverage

for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of underinsured motor vehicles, hit-and-run motor vehicles, and phantom vehicles because of bodily injury, death, or property damage, resulting therefrom....[⁵]

The Allstate policy involved in this case provided the required UIM coverage:

We will pay damages for bodily injury or property damage which an insured person is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle. Injury must be caused by accident and arise out of the ownership, maintenance or use of an underinsured motor vehicle. Bodily injury means bodily injury, sickness, disease or death....

Trinh argues that her physically—manifested PTSD is a "bodily injury" and therefore her damages are compensable under the UIM provision of her insurance policy. We agree.

"Interpretation of an insurance contract is a question of law."⁶ We construe Trinh's insurance policy as a whole and interpret it "as an average insurance purchaser would understand" it.⁷ Ambiguous terms are resolved in favor of the insured.⁸ A term is ambiguous "if the language on its face is fairly susceptible to two different but reasonable interpretations."⁹

Washington follows the majority view that "`in the context of purely emotional injuries, without physical manifestations, the phrase "bodily injury" is not ambiguous. Its ordinary meaning connotes a physical problem.'"<sup>10</sup> In Daley v. Allstate Insurance Co.,<sup>11</sup> the Washington Supreme Court interpreted a UIM provision identical to the one in this case and held that "the term `bodily injury' does not encompass recovery for purely emotional injuries."¹² The plaintiff in Daley, a Benton County sheriff's deputy, was assisting a stranded motorcyclist when a car struck him and another officer at the scene. The other officer later died from his injuries, but Daley suffered only "relatively minor"¹³ bruises, swelling, and lacerations on his arm and leg.¹⁴ Over a year after the accident, Daley was diagnosed with depression and late-onset PTSD.¹⁵ Daley's emotional distress was attributable in part to "the guilt and emotional trauma related to witnessing [the other officer's] fatal injuries in addition to the emotional trauma of the accident itself."¹⁶ The court concluded that Daley's "purely emotional distress," which was unaccompanied by physical symptoms, did not qualify as a "bodily injury" under his UIM policy.¹⁷

But the Daley court expressly declined to decide whether emotional distress is covered by a UIM policy if it is accompanied by physical manifestations.¹⁸ This case presents the precise question that Daley left open. Unlike the plaintiff in Daley, Trinh alleges that her chronic PTSD has resulted in physical symptoms including headaches, nausea, sleeplessness, hair loss, weight loss, and fragile fingernails. No Washington case has decided whether emotional distress with physical manifestations constitutes "bodily injury" in the context of an insurance contract.

While other jurisdictions are divided on this issue, many courts have held that allegations of physically-manifested emotional distress fall within "bodily injury" coverage in the insurance context.¹⁹ A law review article observes that "[e]ven courts that have concluded that nonphysical harm does not constitute bodily injury have held otherwise when the emotional distress produces discernible physical symptoms."²⁰ And, many jurisdictions that deny "bodily injury" coverage for purely emotional injuries have indicated that there would be coverage if an emotional injury were accompanied by physical manifestations.²¹

Allstate relies on Dahlke v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co.²² There, the Iowa Supreme Court, construing a UIM policy, stated that "the term `bodily injury' is clear on its face and does not include the physical manifestations" of emotional distress.<sup>23</sup> In that case, the parent insureds filed claims against State Farm for the emotional distress they suffered when their son was struck and killed by an uninsured motorist.<sup>24</sup> The parents alleged their emotional distress, which included sleep disturbance, headaches, stomach problems, and low energy, constituted "bodily injury" under their uninsured motorist policy. The Iowa court disagreed, stating that "the term `bodily injury' is clear on its face and does not include the physical manifestations of the parents' loss here."²⁵

However in Pekin Insurance Co. v. Hugh,²⁶ the Iowa Supreme Court distinguished Dahlke as a loss of consortium case and held that there was a question of fact about whether family members who suffered emotional distress after witnessing a fatal automobile accident sustained "bodily injuries" under their UIM policy. Without expressly overruling Dahlke, the court stated that

[a]ny attempt to distinguish between `physical' and `psychological' injuries just clouds the issue. This is because the medical community now knows that `every emotional disturbance has a physical aspect and every physical disturbance has an emotional aspect.' Whether Hope and Aubrey have suffered compensable injuries should not therefore turn on any artificial and arbitrary classification such as `physical' or `psychological.'[²⁷] Like the family members in Pekin, and unlike the parents in Dahlke, Trinh actually witnessed the fatal accident that caused her PTSD. Therefore, Allstate's reliance on Dahlke is not persuasive,

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