Opinion ID: 403345
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: additional conditions

Text: 12 F. Arbitration. 13 If any person making claim hereunder and the company do not agree that such person is legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured highway vehicle because of bodily injury to the insured, or do not agree as to the amount of payment which may be owing under this insurance, then, upon written demand of either, the matter or matters upon which such person and the company do not agree shall be settled by arbitration, which shall be conducted in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association unless other means of conducting the arbitration are agreed to between the insured and the company, and judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrators may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Such person and the company each agree to consider itself bound and to be bound by any award made by the arbitrators pursuant to this insurance. 14 In response to Fireman's motion, DuFresne asserted that he had no way of knowing either (1) that the policy proffered by Fireman's was in fact the policy issued to DuFresne's employer or (2) that Watson was in fact insured by Nationwide. His refusal to admit these propositions as facts led the district court to deny summary judgment in favor of Fireman's and to suggest that Fireman's might renew its motion after attempting to fill in these factual gaps through discovery or affidavits. Fireman's Insurance Co. of Newark, N. J. v. DuFresne, 513 F.Supp. 675, 677 & n.3 (E.D.Pa.1981). 15 Fireman's responded by submitting four affidavits. Three of these-by the Ring Detective Agency's general manager, by a Fireman's claims adjuster, and by a claims representative for Ring's insurance broker-were accompanied by a copy of an automobile liability insurance policy containing the above-cited provisions issued to Ring by Fireman's. Each affiant swore that, to his or her own personal knowledge, the attached copy was a true and correct copy of Fireman's policy issued to Ring. The fourth affidavit was a statement by a Nationwide claims adjuster who swore: 16 (O)n February 5, 1980 Nationwide paid $25,000.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond DuFresne in settlement of Mr. DuFresne's bodily injury claim arising out of an automobile collision with Nationwide's insured Tanye Watson which collision occurred on June 21, 1977 in the State of Delaware. The $25,000.00 payment represents the policy limits. 17 Despite these affidavits, the district court denied Fireman's renewed motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that DuFresne's continued refusal to admit the facts alleged in the affidavits represented, in these circumstances, a continuing genuine factual dispute inappropriate for disposition through a Rule 56 motion. The court further concluded that, in view of this factual dispute and Pennsylvania law concerning arbitration of such disputes, a DuFresne motion for summary judgment requesting dismissal of Fireman's action and requiring Fireman's to submit DuFresne's uninsured motorist claim to arbitration should be granted. Fireman's Insurance Co. of Newark, N. J. v. DuFresne, 523 F.Supp. 863, No. 80-3409 (E.D.Pa.1981).