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Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 

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NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

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No. 14-2687

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MARIANNE GALLAGHER,

 Appellant 

v.

OHIO CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY

_____________

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

(D.C. Civil No. 13-cv-00168)

District Judge: Honorable Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro

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Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

January 16, 2015

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Before: HARDIMAN, SCIRICA and BARRY, Circuit Judges

(Opinion Filed: January 29, 2015)

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OPINION*

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BARRY, Circuit Judge

Appellant Marianne Gallagher appeals the order of the District Court granting 

 

*

 This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not 

constitute binding precedent. 

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summary judgment to her insurer, the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company (“Ohio 

Casualty”), on her claim for underinsured motorist benefits. We will affirm. 

I.

In March 2009, Gallagher was injured in an automobile accident when her vehicle 

was struck by another. Gallagher sued the other driver in Pennsylvania state court, 

seeking compensation for her injuries, and she sued her own insurer, Ohio Casualty, in 

federal court, seeking underinsured motorist (“UIM”) benefits.

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In the state court action, Gallagher and the other driver agreed to private, nonbinding arbitration, and, after an evidentiary hearing, the arbitrator determined that 

Gallagher was entitled to $41,715 in total damages. While Gallagher initially rejected 

this assessment of her damages, in August 2013 she agreed to settle in state court for that 

exact amount. As required under her Ohio Casualty policy, Gallagher notified the 

company of her intent to settle with the other driver for $41,715, and it advised that it had 

no objection to settlement. The settlement was paid by the other driver’s insurance 

company pursuant to that driver’s liability policy, which limited coverage at $100,000. 

In the federal action, Ohio Casualty moved for summary judgment, arguing that 

Gallagher was not entitled to UIM benefits and that collateral estoppel barred recovery. 

The District Court “decline[d] to apply the doctrine of collateral estoppel,” Gallagher v. 

Ohio Cas. Ins. Co., No. 13-cv-0168, 2014 WL 1386990, at *7 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 9, 2014), 

but granted summary judgment in favor of Ohio Casualty because Gallagher had failed to 

 

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In the federal complaint, Gallagher alleged that she was entitled to UIM benefits 

because the other driver “was found to be underinsured.” (App. at 29.)

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present any evidence to establish that the other driver was, in fact, underinsured—in other 

words, Gallagher failed to present evidence that her damages met or exceeded the limits 

of the other driver’s insurance coverage. This appeal followed.

II.

The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and we have 

jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Our review of a district court’s order granting 

summary judgment is plenary, and we apply the same standard as the District Court. 

Blunt v. Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 767 F.3d 247, 265 (3d Cir. 2014). Summary judgment 

is proper where the movant “shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact 

and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56.

We view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, drawing all 

reasonable inferences in that party’s favor. Blunt, 767 F.3d at 265. “However, where a 

non-moving party fails sufficiently to establish the existence of an essential element of its 

case on which it bears the burden of proof at trial, there is not a genuine dispute with 

respect to a material fact and thus the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of 

law.” Id.; see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986). The nonmoving 

party “cannot establish a genuine dispute as to a material fact by pointing to unsupported 

allegations in the pleadings.” Doe v. Luzerne Cnty., 660 F.3d 169, 175 (3d Cir. 2011).

III.

Pennsylvania’s Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law requires that motor 

vehicle liability insurance policies contain underinsured motorist coverage. 75 Pa. Cons. 

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Stat. Ann. § 1731. The purpose of such coverage is “to protect an insured driver from the 

risk that a negligent driver of another vehicle would cause injury to the insured but would 

not have adequate coverage to compensate for the insured’s injuries.” Boyle v. Erie Ins. 

Co., 441 Pa. Super. 103, 106, 656 A.2d 941, 942 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1995). Gallagher’s 

policy stated that Ohio Casualty would “pay compensatory damages which an insured is 

legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle,” 

where bodily injury is sustained by the insured and caused by an accident. (App. at 41 

(internal quotation marks omitted).) The policy defined “underinsured motor vehicle” as 

a vehicle “to which a bodily injury liability bond or policy applies at the time of the 

accident but the amount paid for bodily injury under that bond or policy to an insured is 

not enough to pay the full amount the insured is legally entitled to recover as damages.” 

(Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).)

On appeal, Gallagher contends that the District Court erred in concluding “that 

[she] was not entitled to pursue her UIM benefits from [Ohio Casualty] because she 

accepted a settlement amount less than the tortfeasor’s available liability limit.” 

(Appellant’s Br. at 3.) Her argument, however, mischaracterizes the Court’s reasoning. 

The Court did not hold that Gallagher’s claim failed because she accepted less than the 

full amount of the tortfeasor’s liability coverage; instead, it held that Gallagher could not 

survive summary judgment because she failed to present any evidence to support her 

allegation that the other driver was, in fact, underinsured. 

The parties agree that Pennsylvania law governs their dispute. In Boyle v. Erie 

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Insurance Co., the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that when an insured person 

“settle[s] [her] claim against the tortfeasor’s liability carrier for less than the policy 

limits,” the insured’s UIM carrier “[is] entitled to compute its payment to its injured 

insured[] as though the tortfeasor’s policy limits had been paid,” in effect allowing the 

carrier to “credit” the full amount of the tortfeasor’s coverage toward what it must pay in 

UIM benefits. 656 A.2d at 943. Thus, the insured “will not be allowed underinsured 

motorist benefits unless [his or her] damages exceed the maximum liability coverage 

provided by the liability carriers of other drivers involved in the accident.” Id. at 943-44. 

The parties do not dispute that the court’s holding in Boyle accurately states 

Pennsylvania law with respect to UIM benefits. See also Nationwide Ins. Co. v. 

Schneider, 599 Pa. 131, 142, 144, 960 A.2d 442, 448, 449 (Pa. 2008) (referring to the 

court’s rationale in Boyle as “well-settled,” and stating that Boyle represents a “seminal” 

decision).

Here, while Boyle makes clear that Gallagher’s right to UIM benefits is not 

extinguished by her decision to settle with the other driver for less than the full amount of 

that driver’s liability coverage, it also clearly indicates that she is entitled to UIM benefits 

only to the extent that her damages exceeded the limits of that coverage. See 656 A.2d at 

943-44. Gallagher has failed to present anything beyond mere allegations to suggest that 

her damages exceeded $100,000. On appeal, she contends that the allegations in her 

complaint that she sustained “serious” and “permanent” injuries, as well as medical 

expenses and lost wages, would provide sufficient basis for a jury to return a verdict in 

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her favor. (See Appellant’s Br. at 11-12.) As we have recognized, however, 

“unsupported allegations in the pleadings” are insufficient to establish a genuine issue of 

material fact. Doe, 660 F.3d at 175. Accordingly, the District Court correctly granted 

summary judgment to Ohio Casualty. See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 323 (holding that a 

moving party is entitled to summary judgment where the non-moving party “has failed to 

make a sufficient showing on an essential element of her case with respect to which she 

has the burden of proof”).

IV.

We will affirm the order of the District Court.

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