Superior Court 4/28/08 - RANDY GLOVER v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY AND BRUNO KRZACZEK

RANDY GLOVER v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY AND BRUNO KRZACZEK
No. 1070 EDA 2007 2008 PA Super 110 Atlantic: n/a Filed: 5/28/2008
Appeal from the Order entered April 10, 2007 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Civil, No. 000015 August Term, 2006
Before: LALLY-GREEN, KLEIN, JJ. and McEWEN, P.J.E.
Opinion by: KLEIN, J.
Randy Glover appeals from the order entered April 10, 2007 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County granting summary judgment to defendants Bruno Krzaczek and State Farm Insurance. Glover filed suit against Krzaczek claiming Krzaczek was driving a car that struck Glover, who was a pedestrian at the time. Glover sued State Farm, Krzaczek’s insurer, for failure to fully pay first party benefits. The trial court granted summary judgment based upon the statute of limitations – specifically, Glover brought suit against Krzaczek, personally, after Krzaczek had died. The proper party should have been the Estate of Krzaczek. Because the estate and the person are separate entities and Glover never sued the estate, the trial court found the statute of limitations had run and dismissed all claims. After a thorough review of the submissions by the parties, the official record and relevant law, we affirm the summary judgment granted in favor of Krzaczek, but reverse the summary judgment granted in favor of State Farm because the statute of limitations for a claim involving first party benefits is four years. See 75 Pa.C.S. § 1721(a). Thus, the statute of limitations has not run as to State Farm. A full discussion follows.
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