## Facts

- Julius and Bertha Schreiber held a fire insurance policy issued by Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mutual Insurance Company.
- The policy included a one-year limitation-of-suit clause requiring any action to be brought within 12 months after the inception of the loss.
- On November 12, 1975, the Schreibers alleged a loss of personal property caused by an internal heater explosion.
- They notified the insurer on November 15, 1975, and provided an accounting of the loss on November 28, 1975.
- On February 2, 1978 (about 26 months after the loss), the Schreibers sued in assumpsit, alleging the insurer failed to reimburse them under the policy.
- The insurer denied liability, asserting the Schreibers failed to prove their losses and damages, and pled the one-year limitation-of-suit clause as a bar.

## Issues

1. Whether a statutorily required one-year limitation-of-suit clause in a fire insurance policy bars an insured’s action filed more than one year after the loss absent a showing of prejudice to the insurer.

## Decision

- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed judgment on the pleadings for the insurer.
- The court held the one-year limitation-of-suit clause was valid and enforceable.
- The insureds’ action filed 26 months after the loss was time-barred.
- The insurer was not required to show prejudice from the insureds’ delay for the contractual limitation to apply.

## Legal Principles

- Parties may contract to shorten the time to bring suit, so long as the agreed limitation period is not manifestly unreasonable.
- A limitation-of-suit clause in a fire policy that tracks Pennsylvania’s statutorily prescribed standard policy form is enforceable as written.
- Prejudice analysis applicable to certain notice or cooperation provisions does not apply to a limitation-of-suit clause that functions as a contractually shortened limitations period.
- When the pleadings establish that suit was filed outside the contractual limitations period, judgment on the pleadings may be appropriate.

## Conclusion

A one-year limitation-of-suit clause in a Pennsylvania fire insurance policy bars an insured’s claim filed after the contractual period expires, and the insurer need not prove prejudice resulting from the delay.


Schreiber v. Pa. Lumberman’s Mut. Ins. Co., 498 Pa. 21, 444 A.2d 647 (Pa. 1982)