Court Opinion

ID: 9544380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:55:10.201198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:54.275006
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING PRESIDING JUSTICE ROMITI delivered the opinion of the court:  Defendant has filed a petition for rehearing contending that this court decided the issue on a ground not raised by plaintiff in its brief; that plaintiff had simply argued that the factual issue of whether there was contact should have been determined by the trial court. While plaintiff’s brief is not as clear as it might be, an examination of it does not support defendant’s contention. Plaintiff in its brief contended, inter alia, that there was no contact, that the coverage question was a legal issue to be decided in a court of law, that the interpretation of the contract was for the judicial system and that any contrary result would be unconstitutional because the issues were legal issues for decision by the judiciary. As telling is the fact that we have found no contention in defendant’s brief that there were specific factual issues to be decided as to whether there was actual contact with the hit-and-run vehicle. Not once in its brief did it enumerate any factual issues involving coverage which it believed should be arbitrated. To the contrary it sought to support the trial court’s ruling that all issues “both factual and legal, including the coverage issue of whether an impact occurred” must be submitted to arbitration. Absent specific factual allegations in defendant’s pleading in the trial court contravening plaintiff’s contentions of no contact, the sole coverage issue was one of law and appropriately decided by this court regardless of the construction of the amendment to the statute. Finally we note that the defendant has not sought remand to amend his pleading to allege such contact. JOHNSON and JIGANTI, JJ., concur.