Banfield v. Allstate Insurance

880 A.2d 373, 152 N.H. 491, 2005 N.H. LEXIS 125
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJuly 29, 2005
DocketNo. 2004-814
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 880 A.2d 373 (Banfield v. Allstate Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Banfield v. Allstate Insurance, 880 A.2d 373, 152 N.H. 491, 2005 N.H. LEXIS 125 (N.H. 2005).

Opinion

Broderick, C.J.

The petitioner, Donna Banfield, individually and as mother and next friend of her son, David Banfield, Jr., appeals a decision of the Superior Court (Morrill, J.) granting respondent Allstate Insurance Company’s (Allstate) motion for summary judgment and denying her cross-motion. We affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. On April 15,2001, David Banfield was a passenger on an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) that his friend, Adam Mecca, was driving on Derryfield Road in Derry. Adam lost control of the ATV, and David was thrown from the vehicle and injured. At the time of the accident, Adam’s mother, Rhea Mecca, owned the ATV and had a homeowner’s insurance policy issued by Allstate. Allstate denied coverage for David’s injuries, and the petitioner brought a declaratory judgment action against Allstate to compel it to provide coverage.

The policy contains the following relevant provisions:

Subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of this policy, Allstate will pay damages which an insured person becomes legally obligated to pay because of bodily injury or property damage arising from an occurrence to which this policy applies, and covered by this part of the policy.
We do not cover bodily injury or property damage arising out of the ... use ... of any motor vehicle____However, this exclusion does not apply to:
b) any motor vehicle designed principally for recreational use off public roads, unless that vehicle is owned by an insured person and is being used away from an insured premises[.]

In addition to the facts recited above, the parties stipulated that: (1) Rhea Mecca was an “insured person” under the policy; (2) the ATV was “designed principally for recreational use off public roads”; (3) the injury to David Banfield constituted an “occurrence” under the policy; (4) the “insured premises” for purposes of the policy was the Mecca residence located at 46 Kendall Pond Road in Derry; and (5) at the time of the accident, the ATV was not being operated on the “insured premises.”

In her cross-motion for summary judgment, the petitioner argued that the policy was a “motor vehicle liability policy” and, consequently, that the exclusion quoted above was void under New Hampshire law. After considering the undisputed facts and relevant provisions of the policy, the trial court denied the petitioner’s motion for summary judgment and [493]*493granted Allstate’s, ruling that Allstate was not obligated to provide coverage in connection with the accident:

The policy in this case is entitled “Allstate Deluxe Plus Homeowners Policy,” and its descriptions of coverage clearly show it to be a property insurance policy. Attempting to transform it into a “motor vehicle liability policy” so distorts its purposes and terms that it is inconceivable that a reasonable person in the position of the insured would ever believe that it was a motor vehicle liability policy.

The petitioner unsuccessfully moved for reconsideration, and this appeal followed.

In reviewing the trial court’s grant of summary judgment, we consider the affidavits and other evidence, and all inferences properly drawn from them, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. If there is no genuine issue of material fact, and if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the grant of summary judgment is proper. We review the trial court’s application of the law to the facts de novo. Marikar v. Peerless Ins. Co., 151 N.H. 395, 397 (2004).

The petitioner contends that “[because] the Allstate policy specifically affords liability coverage for its insured’s ATV, the policy must be treated as a motor vehicle liability policy for accidents in which the ATV is directly involved.” In support of this contention, she argues that the policy meets the definition of a “motor vehicle liability policy” under RSA 259:61 (Supp. 2004) because the policy “provide[s] liability coverage to its insured for use of a motor vehicle identifiable as covered under the policy.” We disagree.

We are the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of the statute considered as a whole. We first examine the language of the statute, and, where possible, we ascribe the plain and ordinary meaning to the words used. When the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, we need not look beyond it for further indication of legislative intent. Bedford Chapter-Citizens for a Sound Economy v. Sch. Admin. Unit #25, 151 N.H. 612, 614 (2004).

RSA 259:61, I (2004) defines “motor vehicle liability policy,” in pertinent part, as:

[A] policy of liability insurance which provides:

I. Indemnity for or protection to the insured and any person responsible to him for the operation of the insured’s motor vehicle ... who has obtained permission or control thereof with his express or implied consent, against loss by reason of the [494]*494liability to pay damages to others for ... bodily injuries ... accidentally sustained during the term of said policy by any person other than the insured ... to the amount or limit of at least $25,000 on account of injury to or death of any one person, and subject to such limit as respects injury or death of one person, of at least $50,000 on account of any one accident resulting in injury to or death of more than one person____

Thus, a “motor vehicle liability policy” is defined as a type of “policy” that provides certain protection. The term “policy,” however, is not defined in the statute. Accordingly, we construe the term according to its plain and ordinary meaning. Bedford Chapter-Citizens for a Sound Economy, 151 N.H. at 614. In the context of insurance, the term “policy” means: “a certificate of insurance : a writing whereby a contract of insurance is made: the document containing the contract made by an insurance company with a person whose property or life is insured : an annuity contract or certificate of an insurance company.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1754 (unabridged ed. 2002). The definition of the term “policy” refers to certificates, writings, contracts and documents, all of which indicate that “policy” refers to an entire contract of insurance, and not just one provision within such a contract. Thus, we must resolve whether Rhea Mecca’s policy, as a whole, must be construed as a “motor vehicle liability policy” for purposes of injuries or property damage arising from the insured’s use of an ATV under limited circumstances simply because the policy contains a provision that affords liability coverage in those instances.

The interpretation of insurance policy language is a question of law for this court to decide. We construe the language of an insurance policy as would a reasonable person in the position of the insured based on a more than casual reading of the policy as a whole. Policy terms are construed objectively, and where the terms of a policy are clear and unambiguous, we accord the language its natural and ordinary meaning. We need not examine the parties’ reasonable expectations of coverage when a policy is clear and unambiguous. Krigsman v. Progressive N. Ins. Co., 151 N.H. 643, 645 (2005).

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Bluebook (online)
880 A.2d 373, 152 N.H. 491, 2005 N.H. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/banfield-v-allstate-insurance-nh-2005.