Court Opinion

ID: 9754645
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:08:44.153044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:56.145421
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Judge:
This appeal concerns appellant’s denial of appellees’ claims for survivor’s and work loss benefits pursuant to the *30Pennsylvania No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act, 40 P.S. § 1009.101 et seq., (No-fault Act) arising from the untimely death of their son. Upon review, we find appellees’ $5,000 claim for survivor’s benefits barred by the applicable statute of limitations; however, we conclude that the work loss claim was timely filed and, accordingly, affirm the $15,000-work loss award.
The decedent, appellees’ son, was fatally injured in an automobile accident occurring on March 23, 1977. Decedent’s estate recovered $1,500 for funeral expenses from appellant, decedent’s insurer. On May 30, 1979, appellees, individually and as administrators of decedent’s estate, brought suit against appellant and on October 2, 1979, filed a complaint alleging entitlement to survivor’s and work loss benefits under the No-fault Act. Appellant filed on December 14, 1979 a motion for summary judgment based on the No-fault statute of limitations but, subsequent to a hearing, the lower court denied appellant’s motion. Following a non-jury trial, the lower court on June 26, 1981, awarded appellees $5,000 in survivor’s benefits and $15,000 in work loss benefits, plus interest. Appellant’s exceptions to the order were argued before and denied by the lower court en banc. This appeal followed.
Initially, appellant is correct in arguing, and appellees effectively concede, that appellees’ claim for survivor’s benefits is barred by § 106(c)(2) of the No-fault Act. In Sachritz v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., 500 Pa. 167, 455 A.2d 101 (1982), our Supreme Court held that “§ 106(c)(2) covers no-fault benefits, including funeral expenses which, like wrongful death damages, are designed to compensate the insured’s survivors for the loss they suffer by his death. . . .” Id., 500 Pa. at 174, 455 A.2d at 105. 40 P.S. § 1009.106(c)(2) provides, in pertinent part:
If survivor’s benefits have been paid to any survivor, an action for further survivor’s benefits by either the same or another claimant may be commenced not later than two years after the last payment of benefits.
*31In the instant case, appellees recovered $1,500 for funeral expenses by check dated April 21, 1977, and cashed on or about April 27, 1977. Appellees’ action for additional survivor’s benefits under the No-fault Act was not commenced until May 31, 1979, clearly more than two years after the estate’s recovery for funeral expenses. Accordingly, we agree with appellant that appellees’ current claim for survivor’s benefits is unquestionably barred by the No-fault statute of limitations.
Appellant contends also that appellees are similarly barred by the statute of limitations from collecting work loss benefits due to decedent’s estate. Section 106(c)(1) provides the applicable statute of limitations for actions seeking benefits intended to compensate the insured or his estate. Sachritz v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., supra. Additionally, because only funeral benefits, arising from loss caused by death, have been paid in the instant case, the first sentence of § 106(c)(1) establishes the appropriate time limitation for appellees’ action:
If no-fault benefits have not been paid for loss arising otherwise than from death, an action therefor may be commenced not later than two years after the victim suffers the loss and either knowing or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, that the loss was caused by the accident, or not later than four years after the accident, whichever is earlier.
40 P.S. § 1009.106(c)(1) (emphasis added). We must next consider when the “loss” is suffered in order to determine the commencement of the two-year statute of limitations in a case seeking “post-mortem” work loss benefits. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recently addressed and answered this question in Kamperis v. Nationwide Insurance Co., 503 Pa. 536, 469 A.2d 1382 (1983). In Kamperis, after receiving only funeral expenses from decedent’s employer’s insurer, plaintiffs commenced an action for work loss benefits against decedent’s own insurer. The Superior Court reversed the trial court’s $15,000 award, finding the *32action barred by § 106(c)(1) because it was filed more than two years after decedent’s fatal accident. Kamperis v. Nationwide Insurance Co., 313 Pa. 426, 459 A.2d 426 (1983), rev’d, 503 Pa. 536, 469 A.2d 1382 (1983). The Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court and concluded that:
The plain meaning of the Act is clear: work loss is economic detriment resulting from inability to work and earn a living, e.g., loss of a paycheck____ We hold the statute of limitations contemplates commencement of the period for bringing the action on the date the victim would next have expected to receive compensation for work he would have performed had the motor vehicle accident not occurred.
Kamperis v. Nationwide Insurance Co., 503 Pa. 536, at 541, 469 A.2d 1382, at 1384 (1983). However, noting that a victim sustains economic detriment every time he or she suffers the loss characterized above, the Court concluded that:
[W]here as here no-fault benefits have not been paid for loss arising otherwise than from death, and the work loss was known to have been caused by the accident, an action to recover work loss benefits under the Act may be commenced (a) within two years from any time the victim suffers work loss as a result of the accident... (b) within two years after the victim’s accrued work loss equals the amount recoverable under the Act for work loss, ... and (c) not. later than four years after the accident.
Id., 503 Pa. at 541, 469 A.2d at 1384. See Guiton v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., 503 Pa. 547, 469 A.2d 1388 (1983) (reaffirms limitation period for work loss claims outlined in Kamperis). Further, our Supreme Court has consistently maintained that loss is suffered as it is sustained. See, e.g., Murphy v. Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Co., 503 Pa. 528, 469 A.2d 1378 (1983) (loss suffered when covered medical service is rendered, not when benefits are denied). See also Platts v. Government Employees Insurance Co., *33301 Pa.Superior Ct. 379, 447 A.2d 1017 (1982) (loss sustained when medical services rendered).
In Kamperis, because of an insufficient record, the Supreme Court felt compelled to remand for the trial court’s determination of when decedent would have received his next paycheck or would have suffered the maximum $15,000 work loss. In the case at bar, however, the parties have stipulated that decedent, had he lived, would have earned in excess of $15,000 during the course of his lifetime. Because of that stipulation, we find it unnecessary to remand and conclude that appellees’ action for “post-mortem” work loss benefits was timely filed. According to Kamperis, therefore, decedent’s estate suffered a loss each time a paycheck was not received. The record here indicates that decedent earned approximately $125 per week while alive. At that rate, his estate would continue to sustain loss for at least two years after the accident, or until the maximum loss had accrued. Because appellees are entitled to bring suit for work loss benefits up until two years after the accrual of the maximum recoverable loss, but no longer than four years after the accident, and because decedent’s death occurred on March 23, 1977, and the action for work loss benefits was commenced on May 30, 1979, slightly more than two years after the accident, appellees’ action was timely under the Kamperis Court’s interpretation of § 106(c)(1).
Appellant would argue, however, that notwithstanding our conclusion that appellees’ action was timely filed, appellees must prove their dependency on decedent to recover “post-mortem” work loss benefits. We hold that dependency need not be proven for a recovery of work loss benefits. In Allstate Insurance Co. v. Heffner, 491 Pa. 447, 421 A.2d 629 (1980), our Supreme Court analogized no-fault work loss benefits to the tort Survival Acts, indicating that it is the estate of the deceased victim that is entitled to recover any benefits due. In Sachritz v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., supra, 500 Pa. at 168, 455 A.2d at 103, the Court furthered its *34analysis and characterized work loss benefits not as “survivor’s benefits designed to compensate certain designated persons for the damages they suffer as a result of the insured’s death ... but simply [as] continuing work loss benefits designed to compensate the decedent’s estate for the loss the insured himself suffered by having his earning power cut off by death. . . .” See also Freeze v. Donegal Mutual Insurance Co., 504 Pa. 218, 470 A.2d 958 (1983) (estate can collect work loss benefits due the insured). Thus, appellees effectively seek to collect decedent’s work loss benefits in their representative capacity as administrators of decedent’s estate, not as decedent’s statutory survivors. See also Kirsch v. Nationwide Insurance Co., 532 F.Supp. 766 (W.D.Pa.1982) (dependency does not have to be demonstrated to recover work loss benefits under the Pennsylvania No-fault Act) and Daniels v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 283 Pa.Superior Ct. 336, 423 A.2d 1284 (1980) (court cited with apparent approval Hand v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 2 Kan. App.2d 253, 577 P.2d 1202 (1978), wherein the court noted that Kansas statutory phrase, “ ‘loss of an injured person’s monthly earnings after his or her death’ refers to the loss of earning power occasioned by the death of the insured and is not measured by the actual loss of the survivors.”). We are, therefore, convinced that the distinction drawn by the Supreme Court in Heffner and Sachriz between the source of work loss and survivor’s benefits indicates that while dependency must be proven by a parent to recover survivor’s benefits, see Chesler v. Government Employees Insurance Co., 503 Pa. 292, 469 A.2d 560 (1983),* it need not be proven to recover work loss benefits due to the decedent’s estate.
*35Accordingly, we find, in light of the parties’ stipulation, that the lower court correctly awarded the maximum amountof work loss benefits to decedent’s estate.
Affirmed in part and reversed in part.
JOHNSON, J. filed a concurring and dissenting opinion.

 In Chesler, supra, the Supreme Court held that "section 103 of the Act, 40 P.S. § 1009.103, requires a ‘child, parent, brother [or] sister’ of a deceased victim of an automobile accident to show dependency on the victim as a condition of eligibility for survivor’s benefits." Slip op. at 2 (emphasis added). The Court did not mention or imply that dependency must be similarly demonstrated to recover work loss benefits.