Added: May 21, 2008

This case arose out of a dispute between the city of Dayton, appellee, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, appellant. Mark Gams, a senior partner of Gallagher, Gams, Pryor, Tallan & Littrell, represented State Farm in the case.

The case required the Ohio Supreme Court to decide which party is primarily liable for the alleged negligence of a city of Dayton employee who, while driving a city vehicle, apparently caused an accident that injured the plaintiff. To answer this question, the Court had to interpret former Ohio Revised Code Section 3937.18(K)(3), 148 Ohio Laws, Part V, 11380, 11383-11384, which excluded a motor vehicle \"self-insured within the meaning of the financial responsibility law of the state\" as uninsured or underinsured as that term is used in R.C. 3937.18.

The Ohio Supreme Court held, consistent with the position taken by Mark Gams, that a political subdivision is self-insured for purposes of former R.C. 3937.18(K)(3) if it qualifies as a self-insurer under R.C. Chapter 4509, although it is not required to obtain a certificate of self-insurance.

The Decision of the Ohio Supreme Court was a reversal of the Second District Court of Appeals. This case is important to Ohio residents and insurers because if the Court had not ruled as it did all non-emergency motor vehicle accidents involving a political subdivision very likely would have become uninsured motorists claims.