Court Opinion

ID: 9649333
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:49:10.823088+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:09.752235
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
I join in the majority opinion, but I wish to add that the result reached therein is, in my view, mandated not only by the contract provisions of this specific policy but also by the Uninsured Motor Vehicles Statute, Act of August 14, 1963, P. L. 909, 40 P.S. §2000. An uninsured motorist is one who is without effective insurance coverage and is thus incapable of satisfying the minimum liability imposed by the Legislature. Clearly the Legislature did not intend to restrict the benefits of the Uninsured Motor Vehicle Act to those eases where the tortfeasor lacks insurance at the moment of injury or where his insurance carrier denies recovery, since realistically, one injured by a tortfeasor whose carrier is or has become insolvent prior to the satisfaction of his claim is just as unprotected as is the person injured by a tortfeasor who has no insurance at all.
Thus, I read the statute to mean that when the defendant’s insurance company, for whatever reason, fails to assume its responsibility under the contract existing between the company and the tortfeasor, that tortfeasor, so far as both the statute and the injured person are concerned, is an uninsured motorist. In either circumstance, the injured person’s insurance carrier must provide substitute coverage; if it were otherwise the obvious legislative purpose would not be fulfilled.
*340Mr. Justice Musmanno and Mr. Justice Eagen join in this concurring opinion.