Court Opinion

ID: 9541820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:28:50.934026+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:04:57.164948
License: Public Domain

CERCONE, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I am in complete agreement with the majority that a bona fide purchaser for value of a stolen automobile has an *298insurable interest in the vehicle. I also agree with the majority that the purpose of an insurance contract requires an insurer who has accepted a premium and agreed to cover a particular risk to compensate an insured for a covered loss upon its occurrence. However, I must respectfully disagree with the determination by the majority that where such an insured sustains a single loss, she is entitled to a double recovery.
Reduced to fundamentals, property insurance is an agreement to indemnify against economic loss in a case where property is damaged or destroyed. Commonwealth ex rel. Schnader v. Fidelity Land Value Assur. Co., 312 Pa. 425, 167 A. 300 (1933); First Nat. Bank of Jessup v. Cappellini, 149 Pa.Super. 14, 26 A.2d 119 (1942). A policy of fire insurance is a contract of indemnity which does not pertain to the property as such, but rather covers the interest of the insured in the property. In re Gorman’s Estate, 321 Pa. 292, 295, 184 A. 86, 87 (1936). See Spires v. Hanover Fire Insurance Co., 364 Pa. 52, 70 A.2d 828 (1950), overruled on other grounds by Guy v. Liederbach, 501 Pa. 47, 459 A.2d 744 (1983). The object of the property insurance contract is not to provide a gain for the insured, but only to compensate him for an economic loss. Insurance Co. of North America v. Alberstadt, 383 Pa. 556, 119 A.2d 83 (1956). Thus, where there is no economic loss by virtue of recoupment against a third party, there is no right to an additional recovery against the insurance company. The fact that an insurance carrier may be in an apparently strong financial position and able to absorb a loss, does not justify creating liabilities. Rothman v. Fillette, 503 Pa. 259, 469 A.2d 543 (1983).
In the instant ease, the extent of the economic detriment suffered by appellant was contested. Therefore, the learned lower court was correct in admitting into evidence the monies received by appellant from Tornetta Pontiac in full recovery of her losses. The search for the truth of an issue requires that if evidence is logically probative, it should be received unless there is some distinct ground for *299refusing to hear it. See Clark v. Essex Wire Corp., 361 Pa. 60, 63 A.2d 35 (1949). A trial court’s paramount concern is to allow a jury to hear all evidence relevant to the issue being decided, excluding only that evidence which is unduly prejudicial. Payments from the tortfeasor to the injured party may, as a general rule, be shown in mitigation or reduction of any recovery. Christy v. Darr, 78 Pa.Commw. 354, 467 A.2d 1362 (1983). Appellant’s loss was directly at issue in the instant case, and any evidence presented relevant to that issue was admissible.
It is well settled that the ultimate measure of compensatory recovery is not affected by the form of action in which a plaintiff seeks his remedy. Hetzel v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 169 U.S. 26, 18 S.Ct. 255, 42 L.Ed. 648 (1898). Although a plaintiff may select a form of action when more than one is appropriate to the facts, he cannot, by so doing, change the measure of his recovery from that fixed by the settled law as flowing from the same facts. Although plaintiff may sue in two separate causes of action, he may only obtain one recovery for a single loss and this is so even though the recovery sought is against two different persons. See Rossi v. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co., 318 Pa.Super. 386, 465 A.2d 8 (1983). Evidence which bears on any material issue is relevant even though it also bears on a non-material issue. In the case of Orlando v. Herco, Inc., 351 Pa.Super. 144, 505 A.2d 308 (1986), evidence relating to the manner of preparation of allegedly unmerchantable food was challenged as irrelevant to an action for breach of warranty of merchantability. The plaintiff argued that the evidence related only to negligence, which was not an issue in the case and, therefore, should have been excluded. This court rejected plaintiff’s argument because the evidence pertained to a material issue, that being whether the food was fit for human consumption.
In the case sub judice, appellant argues that evidence of her recovery against Tornetta Pontiac is irrelevant because that recovery was based on tort and not on contract. Such reasoning is not valid because the important issue in the *300case was the precise extent of appellant’s economic loss through the destruction of her car. The judge, sitting as a jury, properly heard evidence on this matter and properly held appellant was not entitled to double recovery for a single loss.
For the above reasons, I would affirm the lower court.