In a "non-precedential" Memorandum decision in the case of
Fernandez v. Erie Insurance
Group, No. 1002 EDA 2016 (Pa. Super. 2017 Moulton, Ransom, Fitzgerald, J.J.)(mem. op. by Fitzgerald, J.), the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that a
UIM claim was not estopped by a previous arbitration award entered on the third
party portion of the case.
According to the Opinion, the tortfeasor Defendant had a
liability policy with a $50,000.00 limit.
The parties in the underlying third party matter proceeded to a binding
arbitration at which the arbitrator found in favor of the Plaintiff for
$87,000.00 and then molded the verdict down to the $50,000.00 liability
limits.
The Plaintiff later signed a Release and included a
handwritten note indicating that she expressly reserved the right to pursue her
UIM claims against the UIM carrier.
Thereafter, the Plaintiff filed a breach of contract and bad
faith claim against the UIM carrier.
The UIM carrier responded with a summary judgment motion asserting that
the arbitration award in the third party matter collaterally estopped the
Plaintiff from pursuing UIM benefits.
The UIM carrier also asked the court to grant the Plaintiff a total of
$37,000.00 of UIM benefits, i.e., the difference between the arbitration
finding and the molded award.
After the trial court granted the UIM carrier’s Motion for
Summary Judgment, the Plaintiff appealed.
On appeal, the Superior Court agreed that, under collateral estoppel
principles, the arbitration award was binding on the Plaintiff to the extent of
the arbitrator’s jurisdiction.
However,
the court stated that it could not tell whether the parties in the third party
case had imposed any limit on the arbitrator’s jurisdiction.
Accordingly, the court found that the case
should have been allowed to proceed to a jury to settle the jurisdictional
ambiguity.
As such, the Superior Court reversed the trial court’s
ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Anyone wishing to review a copy of this case may click this
LINK.
Source: Article:
“UIM Claim Not Estopped by Arbitration Award, Superior Court Rules,” By: Ben
Seal of the
Pennsylvania Law Weekly
(May 2, 2017).
To view other Tort Talk posts on the collateral estoppel issue, click HERE.