Pennsylvania's justices on Wednesday declined to take a more expansive view of a statute dictating when auto insurance customers can waive stacking benefits. In a unanimous 12-page opinion, the Supreme Court determined that deleting a vehicle from an insurance policy does not create the same renewed chance to waive stacking that adding coverage for an additional car does. The case is Franks v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2023 Pa. LEXIS 525 (Pa. 2023).

"It's certainly going to limit the ability of claimants to recover, and it shifts the burden from the insurance companies onto those claimants to comply with the law," said James Hockenberry, a partner with the Law Office of Leon Aussprung who represented the plaintiffs.

The ruling rejected the argument from plaintiffs Robert and Kelly Franks that removing a vehicle from their policy constituted a "purchase." Therefore, the plaintiffs argued, their previous waiver of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage stacking no longer applied under Pennsylvania's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law.