Bell v. Liberty Mutual Insurance

776 A.2d 1260, 146 N.H. 190, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 55
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedMarch 26, 2001
DocketNo. 98-460
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 776 A.2d 1260 (Bell v. Liberty Mutual 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
Bell v. Liberty Mutual Insurance, 776 A.2d 1260, 146 N.H. 190, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 55 (N.H. 2001).

Opinion

HORTON, J.,

retired, specially assigned under RSA 490:3. The plaintiff, Norma Bell, appeals the Superior Court’s (Mohl, J.) order on her petition for the award of damages against the defendant, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. We affirm.

The following facts were recited by the trial court as alleged by the plaintiff, or appear in the record before us. On December 29, 1992, the plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident with an uninsured driver. The plaintiff was insured by the defendant under a policy with $100,000 of uninsured motorist coverage. The plaintiff filed a claim for uninsured motorist benefits on January 27, 1995. The plaintiff alleged that after repeated unsuccessful requests to the defendant to arbitrate her claim, she was forced to file, on April 3, 1996, a petition for specific performance to compel the defendant to arbitrate under her policy’s arbitration provision. The defendant failed to file a timely appearance and was defaulted on June 26,1996. The trial court continued the case for judgment and ordered the plaintiff to file a proposed decree. As the defendant failed to respond to the plaintiff’s proposed decree, it was approved by the superior court and judgment was entered pro confesso for the plaintiff on August 6, 1996 (the pro confesso decree).

The pro confesso decree appointed two arbitrators and directed them to select a third and hold an arbitration hearing. The order held that “[d]ue to the defendant’s conduct in this matter, the only issue before the Arbitration Panel shall be the full, fair and adequate damages sustained by the plaintiff as a result of the automobile accident of December 29, 1992.” The court also ordered that “[t]he plaintiff shall be awarded interest on the Arbitration Award from the date the Arbitration Panel finds that the defendant . . . received its first request for arbitration.” The court also directed the panel to award the plaintiff costs and ordered the defendant to pay the arbitration panel’s fees. Finally, the court retained jurisdiction to entertain requests by the plaintiff for further relief after the arbitration award. The defendant’s motion for reconsideration and modification of the pro confesso decree was denied.

On December 14, 1996, the arbitration panel awarded damages of $250,000 for the plaintiff’s injuries in the automobile accident. The panel recognized the policy’s limit of $100,000 per injury, but awarded full damages pursuant to the court’s pro confesso decree, [192]*192“reserving to the parties all issues arising therefrom.” The panel did not award interest or costs, or make a finding as to the date arbitration was first demanded, based on representations that counsel would try to resolve those issues or resubmit them to the panel later.

The defendant moved to vacate the arbitration award. The court denied the motion in part and granted it in part, ruling that the extent of the defendant’s liability was the policy limit of $100,000, which the defendant had already paid to the plaintiff.

On July 31, 1997, the plaintiff filed a specification and petition for the award of damages. She sought: (1) the remainder of the arbitration award in excess of $100,000; (2) interest from September 15, 1995, which she represented was the date formal demand for arbitration was made; (3) attorney’s fees and costs; and (4) actual, double or treble damages pursuant to RSA 358-A:10 (1995). The defendant objected to the scope of the damages sought.

The trial court held that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover damages in excess of the policy limit. The court construed the plaintiff’s earlier petition for specific performance as alleging claims under the unfair insurance trade practices statute, see RSA ch. 417; under the Consumer Protection Act, see RSA ch. 358-A; and for bad faith breach of contract, see Jarvis v. Prudential Ins. Co., 122 N.H. 648 (1982). The court ruled that: (1) the plaintiff could not bring a private cause of action under RSA chapter 417 because there had not first been a finding of a violation or a cease and desist order by the insurance commissioner; (2) the plaintiff’s consumer protection claim failed because the defendant’s alleged unfair conduct did not meet the “rascality” test of Barrows v. Boles, 141 N.H. 382 (1996); and (3) the plaintiff could not recover for bad faith breach of insurance contract because the court found that the defendant had not acted unreasonably and for calculated gain, and because the record did not support an award of Jarvis damages. The court awarded the plaintiff interest on the $100,000 policy limit from March 1, 1996, to the date the defendant paid the policy limit to the plaintiff.

On appeal, the plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in: (1) failing to find that a violation of the unfair insurance trade practices statute establishes a violation of the Consumer Protection Act; (2) finding that the defendant was not liable for bad faith; (3) holding that the plaintiff’s demand for arbitration was not effective until it was “hostile”; and (4) failing to find that the facts in the plaintiff’s petition conclusively established wrongful conduct under the theories alleged in the petition.

[193]*193The plaintiff’s first argument raises the threshold issue of whether the Consumer Protection Act applies to the insurance industry. The defendant contends that insurance transactions fall under RSA 358-A:3, I (Supp. 2000), which exempts from the Consumer Protection Act “[t]rade or commerce otherwise permitted under laws as administered by any regulatory board or officer acting under statutory authority of this state or of the United States.” We agree.

In Averill v. Cox, 145 N.H. 328, 331-32 (2000), we resolved a conflict in our case law over the interpretation of RSA 358-A.-3, I, reaffirming Rousseau v. Eshelman, 128 N.H. 564 (1986). We held that the exemption analysis under RSA 358-A:3, I, “focuses on whether a trade or commerce is subject to a regulatory board or officer authorized by statute.” Averill, 145 N.H. at 331-32. We noted, however:

[S]uch regulation must be comprehensive to fall within the purview of RSA 358-A:3, I. Mere licensing requirements, approval of plans or declarations, limited trade provisions, and consumer protection prohibitions would not qualify for protection under the so-called statutory exemption. Further, trade or commerce qualifies for protection only if it is governed by a statutorily authorized regulatory regime that protects consumers from the same deception, fraud, and unfair trade practices as intended by RSA chapter 358-A.

Id. at 332-33 (quotation and citation omitted).

The statutes regulating insurance in this State comprise Title XXXVII of the Revised Statutes Annotated, chapters 400-A through 420-J. Included therein is RSA chapter 417, entitled “Unfair Insurance Trade Practices,” the stated purpose of which is “to regulate trade practices in the business of insurance, ... by defining or providing for the determination of all such practices which constitute in this state unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices and by prohibiting the trade practices so defined or determined.” RSA 417:1 (1998). Chapter 417 empowers the insurance commissioner to investigate insurers to determine whether they have engaged in any unfair insurance trade practice, see RSA 417:5 (1998); to conduct hearings regarding any such suspected practice, see

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Empire Automotive Group, Inc.
35 A.3d 515 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2011)
Hunt v. Golden Rule Insurance
638 F.3d 83 (First Circuit, 2011)
Bourne v. Stewart Title et al.
2011 DNH 029 (D. New Hampshire, 2011)
Polley v. Harvard Pilgrim
2009 DNH 080 (D. New Hampshire, 2009)
Flaherty v. Dixey
965 A.2d 1150 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2009)
PROPERTY PORTFOLIO GROUP v. Town of Derry
913 A.2d 750 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2007)
Property Portfolio Group, LLC v. Town of Derry
913 A.2d 750 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2006)
Enterasys v. Gulf Insurance, et al.
2005 DNH 050P (D. New Hampshire, 2005)
Enterasys Networks, Inc. v. Gulf Insurance
364 F. Supp. 2d 28 (D. New Hampshire, 2005)
In re Bennett
855 A.2d 397 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2004)
Surge Resources v. Barrow Group et al
2003 DNH 041 (D. New Hampshire, 2003)
Environamics v. Ferguson Enter.
2001 DNH 175 (D. New Hampshire, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
776 A.2d 1260, 146 N.H. 190, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-liberty-mutual-insurance-nh-2001.