A THIRD PARTY CANNOT CREATE A DUTY TO DEFEND SIMPLY BY PLEADING THE DEFENDANT HAD INSURANCE COVERAGE, WHERE THE FACTS AND CONTROLLING POLICY LANGUAGE SHOW NO COVERAGE (Philadelphia Federal)
The insured’s boyfriend was at a family reunion with his daughter. The boyfriend was listed as an additional driver on the policy. His daughter went to retrieve some items from the insured’s car, and decided to move the car, resulting in injury to the underlying plaintiff.
The injured plaintiff sued the daughter, who claimed she was an insured. The insurer disagreed, and refused to defend or indemnify the daughter on the basis she was not an insured under the policy. The injured plaintiff, as assignee, sued for breach of contract and bad faith after settling with the daughter.
After a close look at the facts, the court agreed that the daughter was not an insured or a permissive user. Thus, the insurer had no duty of any kind to her. Further, no bad faith claim could exist where the person denied coverage was not an insured.
The assignee-plaintiff argued that the insurer still had a duty to defend because he had alleged facts in the underlying tort complaint implying she was an insured. Therefore, on the theory that the four corners of the complaint controls the duty to defend, the allegation that the defendant was an insured overcame the actual facts and policy language under which she was not insured.
The court found this issue had never been decided by Pennsylvania’s courts, and so the judge had to predict what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would do. He found “the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would hold that an insurer is not required to defend someone it has determined is not an insured under the policy even if a subsequent third-party complaint suggests the person is an insured.” The complaint does not control because “the duty to defend stems directly from the insurance policy and should not apply where there is no possibility of coverage.” The court also cited case law from other jurisdictions supporting its conclusion.
The court granted summary judgment. Plaintiff appealed the following day.
Date of Decision: January 10, 2019
Myers v. Geico Casualty Co., U. S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania CIVIL ACTION No. 17-3933, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5093 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 10, 2019) (Rice, M.J.)
