Rakhmil Ratush v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

While operating a taxi owned by Alexandria Cab Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, of which he was an officer, Rakhmil Ratush was involved in a motor vehicle accident in Philadelphia on October 12, 1989. The cab was insured under a self-insurance plan issued by I.F.T., Inc. Ratush did not make a claim for first party benefits under this plan. Instead, he sought to recover such benefits from Nationwide Insurance Company, which had issued a policy of insurance providing coverage for a vehicle owned by Ratushs wife. Nationwide denied coverage, and Ratush, therefore, filed the present action to recover first party benefits. The trial court, on petition by Nationwide, entered summary judgment, holding that there was no coverage by virtue of a policy provision which excluded coverage for a vehicle which was being "used to carry persons or property for a fee." Ratush appealed from the judgment.