Amanda Pusl was injured in a car wreck through the negligent driving of Matthew Means. After a two-day trial, a jury awarded Pusl $100,000 in damages for her injuries. Before trial, Pusl had already received $75,000 for these injuries from her own underinsured motorist insurance company, State Farm. $75,000 was the limit of Pusl’s underinsured motorist coverage with State Farm.
As requested by Means’ attorney, the trial judge subtracted the $75,000 from the $100,000 jury verdict, reducing it to $25,000. Pusl filed an appeal.
On appeal, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, clearly misreading the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, sustained the trial judge’s decision. Section 1722 of the Financial Responsibility Law prevents an injured plaintiff from recovering from a negligent defendant money paid as first-party benefits (typically payment for medical expenses or lost wages), workers’ compensation or benefits similar to first-party benefits. The Superior Court incorrectly concluded that underinsured motorist benefits fall within this section. Underinsured motorist benefits, in fact, are treated separately in a different subchapter of the law. The end result was that Means and his automobile insurance company got the benefit of the $75,000 paid by State Farm, not Pusl.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recently denied Pusl’s request to take a further appeal. Therefore, this poorly reasoned decision by the Superior Court remains the law in Pennsylvania. It will have a wide ranging affect on future plaintiffs who have claims against both a negligent driver and an underinsured motorist insurance company.
For more information on underinsured and uninsured motorist claims, check out my Car, Truck and Motorcycle Accident Practice Area on this website.
