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Plaintiff Janet Cox Vs Defendant Parviz F Hanjani In Medical Malpractice Case
In The Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Civil Trial Division: Janet Cox, Plantiff, Vs. Pennsylvania Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, Abington Memorial Hospital, Parviz F. Hanjani, M.D., Defendants
On or about June 5, 2002, Plaintiff Janet Cox commenced an action to recover damages from Abington and Dr. Hanjani for their alleged medical negligence. At the conclusion of trial, the jury returned a verdict in Plaintiff’s favor and awarded $1,539,803.50 in compensatory damages. The jury verdict was subsequently affirmed on appeal. The jury found Dr. Hanjani to be 20% responsible and Abington 80% responsible for Plaintiff’s damages. Both Abington and Dr. Hanjani were insured by PHICO Insurance Company (“PHICO”) under a policy of insurance issued during the pertinent policy period (the “Policy”). In the Policy, Abington was a named insured under the Institutional Professional Liability Coverage Part for medical malpractice claims; Dr. Hanjani was covered under the Physician and Surgeon Professional Liability Coverage Part. In an endorsement to the Policy, Dr. Hanjani also was specifically named as an insured and PHICO charged an additional premium of $10,807.00 based on Dr. Hanjani’s medical specialty. At all times pertinent hereto, Dr. Hanjani was an employee of Abington.
PHICO was declared insolvent and placed in liquidation by order of the Commonwealth Court on February 1, 2002 (the “Liquidation Order”). The Liquidation Order triggered the obligations of PPCIGA to the extent provided under the Pennsylvania Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association Act, 40 P.S. §§ 991.1801-991.1820 (the “Act”). In accordance with its obligations under the Act, on or about October 12, 2004, PPCIGA tendered a check to Plaintiff in the amount of $274,812.00, alleging that this amount represented PPCIGA’s limit of liability in the underlying medical malpractice claim, i.e., a statutory limit of $300,000.00 “per claimant”, minus any statutory setoff to which it was entitled. Plaintiff disagreed with this assessment, arguing that, at bar,PPCIGA’s actual liability limit under was $600,000.00, minus any statutory deductions. As a result, Plaintiff instituted the instant declaratory judgment action seeking a judicial determination that PPCIGA is obligated to pay on behalf of each of the defendants, Abington and Dr. Hanjani, in the underlying medical malpractice action. PPCIGA argues that its obligation is to pay $300,000.00 “per claimant” and that in a medical malpractice action, only the plaintiffs can be “claimants” under the Act. Based on this interpretation, PPCIGA claims that is was only obligated to make one $300,000.00 payment in the underlying action because there was only one plaintiff, Janet Cox. The parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment as to this issue.
AND NOW, this 27TH day of October 2005, upon consideration the parties’ Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment, the responses thereto, all other matters of record and in accordance with the Opinion being filed contemporaneously with this Order, it hereby is ORDERED and DECREED as follows: 1. The Motion of Defendant Pennsylvania Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association (“PPCIGA”) (Control No. 052697) is DENIED. 2. The Motion of Plaintiff Janet Cox and Defendants Abington Memorial Hospital (“Abington”) and Parviz Hanjani, M.D. (“Dr. Hanjani”) (Control No. 062370) is GRANTED. Specifically, it is the determination of this court that PPCIGA is obligated to make separate payments on behalf of each insured defendant, Abington and Dr. Hanjani, in the underlying medical malpractice action.
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