Before this court is defendants’ motion for summary judgment, which raises the same issues raised in defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. We addressed defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings by order and memorandum opinion dated December 13, 2000, in which we granted judgment on the pleadings to Count m (unfair trade practices) and denied judgment to Counts I (declaratory judgment) and II (bad faith). Judgment was denied to Counts I and II because the record before us was incomplete. Defendants filed the instant motion for summary judgment and argue that the record has been supplemented and all necessary information is now before the court to make a determination in their favor on all counts.
Defendants argue that the imposition of the statute to a policy delivered four years before the statute was enacted violates Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution, and Article I, Section 17 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which provide that no law may impair the obligation of contracts. Plaintiffs attempt to side-step defendants’ constitutional argument by asserting that Mrs. Yoder’s insurance policy was renewed after the statute was enacted, and such re
We are now revisiting this issue with the information that was not presented to us at the time the motion for judgment on the pleadings was decided. Specifically, plaintiffs responded to defendants’ request for admissions, and admitted that “[tjhere was no increase in renewal premium rates for policy no. 142814 between the date of the enactment of 40 P.S. §991.1108 in 1992 and plaintiff’s, Jean F. Yoder, requirement for nursing home care in 1998.” Defendants’ request for admissions, no. 9.
Plaintiffs responded to defendants’ motion for summary judgment by asserting that although a changed premium cannot form the basis that there was a “new” contract in this case, an issue of whether any change,
Plaintiffs also argued in the alternative that a novation occurred when American Travellers Life Insurance Company became Conseco Senior Health Insurance Company and Conseco Inc. Plaintiffs argued that the novation constituted a “new” contract and as a result, the Prior Institutionalization Statute applied to the policy as a matter of law after the novation. Plaintiffs’ argument is rebutted, however, because defendants attached the authorized affidavit of Mark Shaw, senior vice president of Conseco Services LLC to its motion for summary judgment. Mr. Shaw’s affidavit states that Conseco Senior Health Insurance Company is the same entity as American Travellers Life Insurance Company and there was never any assignment or assumption of the policy or any other policy of insurance originally issued under the name of American Travellers Life Insurance Company. Based on Mr. Shaw’s affidavit it is clear that the American Travellers Life Insurance Company changed its name only. A novation did not occur and a “new” contract was not created that would apply the Prior Institutionalization Statute to Mrs. Yoder’s insurance policy.
As a result of the additional information provided to this court in conjunction with defendants’ motion for summary judgment, we find that there is no genuine is
ORDER
And now, January 24,2002, upon consideration of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs’ supplemental brief relating to defendants’ motion for summary judgment and defendants’ reply brief, and for the reasons set forth in the opinion attached hereto, it is hereby ordered that said motion is granted, and judgment in the above matter is entered in favor of defendants.
. The insurance policy provided on its coverage page, “[t]his policy is guaranteed renewable .... It may be kept in force by the timely payment of premiums. We cannot cancel this policy as long as you pay the premiums.”
