Court Opinion

ID: 9635370
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:48:48.190961+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:25.707741
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in Judge Hester’s affirmance of the lower court’s Order, but write separately to amplify on the question of whether appellant “actually kn[e]w or [could] be charged with the knowledge of knowing [when] the[e] ‘loss’ occurred.” (at 1143).
The record indicates that on February 4, 1981 an evidentiary hearing was conducted for the specific purpose of determining if and when the appellant was in possession of sufficient information to place him on notice that a “loss” had occurred, so as to trigger the running of the two-year *95statute of limitations under Pennsylvania’s No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act.1 40 P.S. § 1009.106(c)(1).
Before examining what transpired at the February 4 hearing, it is necessary to set forth, initially, which party to the litigation had the burden of proof.
In civil cases, the burden of proof rests upon the party who asserts the affirmative of an issue. Also, if a negation or negative affirmation be so essential, the proof of such a negative lies on the party so affirming it. United States v. Gypsum Co. v. Birdsboro Steel Foundry & Machine Co., 160 Pa.Super. 548, 52 A.2d 344 (1947). In other words, one alleging a fact which is denied has the burden of establishing it. O’Neill v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 345 Pa. 232, 26 A.2d 898 (1942); Hillman Transp. Co. v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, 268 Pa. 547, 112 A. 108 (1920).
Conversely, the phrase “burden of going forward with the evidence” is generally used to designate the obligation resting upon a party to meet with evidence a prima facie case created against him by the party who has the burden of proof. See Henes v. McGovern, 317 Pa. 302, 309-311, 176 A. 503 (1935). Although the burden of producing evidence may shift, the burden of proof, in the sense of establishing the truth of a given proposition or issue, never shifts during the course of the trial. Henes v. McGovern, supra; Kleiner, Jack and Rome, Edwin P., Trial Handbook for Pennsylvania Lawyers, § 81 (1980).
Thus, the burden of proof in the strict sense of the term, that is, the ultimate burden of establishing the truth of a given proposition of fact essential to a cause of action or defense, “ ‘rests upon the party who as determined by the pleadings or the nature of the case asserts the affirmative of an issue, * * *. One alleging a fact which is denied has the burden of establishing it. * * * The affirmative of an issue, as thus used, includes any negative proposition which the person asserting the affirmative may have to show.’ ” *96(Citations omitted) 0 ’Neill v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., supra, 345 Pa. at 237-239, 26 A.2d at 902.
Instantly, an examination of the pleadings2 evidences that appellant denied having knowledge or reason to know that he had incurred a “loss” compensable under the No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act until January or February of 1978, as compared to the date of the accident on January 13, 1976, for which he was attempting to recover “work-loss” benefits. On the other hand, the appellee averred that appellant’s claim was barred by the No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act’s two-year statute of limitations, inasmuch as the notice of a claim was filed more than two years after the appellant knew or had reason to know that he had sustained a “loss” as a result of the accident on January 13, 1976.
Therefore, we have a situation in which the party plaintiff asserted a “negative affirmation,” i.e., that he was unaware until some two years after the accident that the driver of the vehicle in which he was injured had only collision insurance and no coverage for “payment of basic loss benefits pursuant to the Pennsylvania No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act, 40 P.S. § 1009.101, et seq.” (Appellant’s “Answer To Motion For Summary Judgment Or Partial Summary Judgment,” Point 1) Consequently, as stated earlier, the party, which is the appellant here, asserting a “negative affirmation,” has the burden of proving such a negative. See O’Neill v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., supra; United States Gypsum Co. v. Birdsboro Steel Foundry & Machine Co., supra. As a result, at the February 4 evidentiary hearing to resolve the statute of limitations question, appellant had the burden of proving that he lacked sufficient information to cause the two-year statute of limitations to commence running prior to January or February of 1978 — this is the time-frame within which appellant discovered that the driver’s insurance carrier (The *97Pflueger Agency), from which he anticipated the recoupment of his “work loss benefits and allowable (medical) expense benefits” (see appellant’s “Complaint,” Point 7), did not provide such coverage to the insured. Inextricably tied to the resolution of this question, given the particular facts here, is the determination of whether appellant failed to act with reasonable diligence in ascertaining the identity of the no-fault insurance carrier of the driver and the extent of coverage provided for under the policy of insurance.
I note with particular interest the following statement by appellant’s hearing counsel, who was different from counsel initially hired by appellant, as reflective of the fact that counsel was acutely aware of his burden of proof at the proceeding:
“Our position is this, that the statute in this instance does not begin to run against Mr. Zubris until the time when he knew or reasonable [sic] should have known, either himself or through his counsel, that the person in whose automobile he was riding did not have the no-fault insurance, the PIP benefits which it is assumed all drivers in Pennsylvania carry pursuant to the state statute. And that’s ... For purposes of this hearing I have Mr. Zubris here just to testify ...
My offer of proof is this, Judge: ... [Mr. Zubris] believed, I think you would hear, that Mr. Wallace[ — the driver of the vehicle in which Mr. Zubris was a passenger —] had the appropriate insurance, and he, Mr. Zubris, consulted Mr. Krasno [ — the attorney first hired by Mr. Zubris — ], as did Mr. Wallace subsequently, as a result of this accident, and Mr. Krasno would then testify as to his efforts concerning the determination whether there was insurance. And he would testify as to his contact with the Pflueger Agency. And it is our position for this case that not having been told until early 1978, January or February of ’78, that there was no no-fault insurance, so far as Mr. Wallace was concerned, the claim against the Pennsylvania Assigned Claim Plan begin [sic] to run at that moment in time, because of the Assigned Claims *98Plan’s function as a fall-back insurer for someone who does not have insurance.
# # * # * *
Under the law of Pennsylvania we’re all supposed to have insurance in order to operate an automobile. One kind of insurance we’re supposed to have is no-fault insurance, and, therefore, it seems to me that a person, be he lawyer or layman, is entitled to rely upon a driver’s compliance with the law; that is that the driver will have insurance. And it’s only when you know or reasonably should have known that that person is not complying with the law; that is, does not have insurance, that the statute then begins to run as against this fail-back insurer, this reserve, if you will, which is denominated the Pennsylvania Assigned Claims Plan. That’s the legal thesis I’m operating on in this case.” (Emphasis added) (RR. 8-10)
Having set forth some of the procedural matters relevant to the case at bar and appellant’s counsel’s awareness of his particular burden of proof, we can now turn to the evidentiary hearing to decide if appellant, in fact, met his burden.
The witnesses presented by counsel in his effort to establish when Mr. Zubris or original counsel “knew or reasonably] should have known ... that the person in whose automobile [appellant] was riding did not have the no-fault insurance,” consisted of Mr. Zubris, prior counsel (Mr. Krasno) and the vice-president of the driver’s insurance company (Mr. Gosch).
At the hearing, Mr. Zubris testified that after the accident he hired Attorney Krasno “around in January” of 1976. Shortly thereafter, the attorney had the appellant and the driver (Mr. Wallace) of the vehicle meet in his office to discuss the case. At this time, according to appellant, Mr. Wallace “said that he had insurance.” (RR. 36) Albeit appellant had no sound basis for believing that Mr. Wallace had complete insurance coverage, nevertheless, the preceding statement led appellant to “figure[] that he had it [ — i.e., insurance to pay appellant’s medical bills].” Ibid. *99Additionally, appellant made reference to the fact that he did not find it unusual that a year had elapsed and his hospital bills had yet to be paid by the driver’s insurance company.
Attorney Krasno’s version confirmed Zubris’ accounting that he was hired in late January of 1976, and, concerning the meeting with Mr. Wallace, the witness remarked, “He indicated to me that he had full insurance coverage.” (RR. 43) However, Krasno qualified his testimony by stating that Mr. Wallace was not asked “whether he had collision and liability and PIP____” Ibid. Next, we see that when appellant’s hearing counsel asked Attorney Krasno, “Please tell Judge McCloskey what you did and as best you’re able to tell us about when you did it?” the witness answered:
“There were a number of telephone calls through, well, the beginning of 1976, I don’t recall the exact date, to the Pflueger Agency. I advised him that I represented Mr. Wallace and Mr. Zubris, that Mr. Zubris, apparently, did not have insurance and he would need to know the nature of the insurance held by Mr. Wallace. On each occasion, until sometime in early 1978, I was told, ‘Yes, Mr. Wallace has insurance with us, we’re not sure of the nature of it, we’ll have to get it together for you and let you know what kind of insurance he has.’ ” (RR. 43-44)
Despite Krasno’s representation of both the claimant and the insured, he failed to ascertain that Mr. Wallace did not have complete no-fault insurance until “about March of 1978,” some two years after the accident. (RR. 45) The reasons given by Attorney Krasno for not securing such information sooner than he did was because he “relied on both the [Pfleuger Agency’s] representations and the representations of Mr. Wallace []” concerning the scope of the insurance coverage.
On cross-examination, Attorney Krasno reaffirmed the point that he had placed, personally, a series of phone calls to The Pflueger Agency and that on “more than one” occasion he had conversed with Mr. Wallace concerning the insurance in question. Notwithstanding the aforesaid, *100Krasno nowhere makes reference to any attempt on his part to secure either a copy of Wallace’s insurance policy or personally visiting the insurance agency to expedite the determination as to the exact nature and scope of Wallace’s insurance coverage. Rather, according to Attorney Krasno’s own version of what happened, his efforts to resolve the issue consisted of no more than conversing with Mr. Wallace and phoning the insurance agency on several occasions over the course of two years. This course of (inaction seems ill-advised in light of Krasno’s admission that he “d[idn’t] think Mr. Wallace understood his policy at anytime.” (RR. 52) Based on the course of events just recited, it is not unusual to find Attorney Krasno testifying that he was “surprised” to learn from The Pflueger Agency in March of 1978, which was after the two-year statute of limitations had run, that Mr. Wallace’s insurance 'did not encompass appellant’s claim for benefits.
The testimony of the insurance agency’s vice-president, Mr. Gosch, indicates that, as a regular course of business, records are made at the agency at about the same time as the incident they reflect. However, save for incoming and outgoing long distance calls, it was not the agency’s practice to document every phone call coming into the office. Therefore, the agency’s records (i.e., Mr. Wallace’s file folder produced at the hearing) did not reveal “any communications from Mr. Krasno with respect to the insurance coverage of Mr. Wallace[ ]” until March 13, 1980. (RR. 56 & 57) At that time, Mr. Gosch sent a letter to Attorney Krasno, in response to two phone calls he had with Krasno during the preceding week, telling “him about Mr. Wallace and his insurance coverage.” (RR. 57) In other words, the agency had no record of “Mr. Krasno’s telephone calls in 1976 or ’77 concerning whether Michael Wallace was an insured[.]” (RR. 59)
At the completion of Mr. Gosch’s testimony, the hearing was concluded.
*101Based on the aforementioned, I find that the court below was presented with sufficient evidence to grant appellee’s motion for summary judgment. See Pa.R.Civ.P. 1035.
I hasten to point out that I agree with Judge Hester that Krasno’s phone inquiries over the course of two years comes nowhere near to satisfying the “reasonable diligence standard,” thus we need not remand the instant case for the purpose of supplementing the record regarding what statements were made, if any, to Krasno by the agency’s employees and how he might have relied upon them to his detriment. As correctly noted by Judge Hester, the record is barren on this subject. However, it cannot be gainsaid that the presence of this void in the record is attributable to appellant’s failure to satisfy his burden of proof; a burden which did not shift during the course of the February I¡. hearing. See O’Neill v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., supra; Kleiner, Jack and Rome, Edwin P., Trial Handbook for Pennsylvania Lawyers, § 81 (1980). Thus, I am in accord with the ruling which will preclude, in effect, the appellant from having a “second chance” to prove his case. See Commonwealth v. Goldwire, 313 Pa. Super. 273, 278 n. 5, 459 A.2d 1225, 1228 n. 5 (1983).
Stated differently, since the record is sufficient to sustain the lower court’s ruling, I see no need to remand. This is not a case in which “[wjithout such evidence there is no way the lower court could have determined” the extent of Wallace’s insurance coverage. Compare Commonwealth ex rel. Novack v. Novack, 310 Pa.Super. 112, 117, 456 A.2d 208, 211 (1983). Quite the contrary, the record is supportive of the conclusion that appellant was lax in his efforts to resolve the insurance coverage question and fell prey to the two-year statute of limitations of Pennsylvania’s No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act.
Therefore, based on the aforesaid, I find no reason to take issue with this Court’s affirmance of the lower court’s Order.

. In particular, the hearing was “limited to the question of the timeliness of the suit which was brought [by the plaintiff-appellant Mark Zubris] against the Pennsylvania Assigned Claims Plan." (RR. 23)

. ' See, e.g., “Complaint," “Answer of Defendant Pennsylvania Assigned Claims Plan,” appellee’s "Motion For Summary Judgment or Partial Summary Judgment" and "Plaintiff’s Answer to Motion For Summary Judgment or Partial Summary Judgment.”