The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s 2009 legal Opinion upheld the household exclusion in an Erie Insurance Company car insurance policy resulting in a denial of an underinsured motorist (UIM) claim. There was a motor vehicle collision in Allegheny County PA. The injured victim received the negligent driver’s insurance policy limit, as well as the underinsured motorist coverage limit for the vehicle he was driving.
His PA underinsured motorist attorney also made a UIM claim against an Erie policy covering 3 other vehicles he owned. Erie refused to make an underinsured motorist payment because of the language which excluded UIM coverage if he was hurt while occupying a vehicle he owned that was not insured under that Erie policy. The Allegheny County Court, the PA Superior Court and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania all ruled in Erie’s favor and denied the additional underinsured motorist claim. Erie Ins. Exchange v. Baker, 972 A.2d 507 (PA 2009)
