Blair v. Travelers Insurance

192 N.E. 467, 288 Mass. 285, 1934 Mass. LEXIS 1217
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedOctober 29, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 192 N.E. 467 (Blair v. Travelers Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blair v. Travelers Insurance, 192 N.E. 467, 288 Mass. 285, 1934 Mass. LEXIS 1217 (Mass. 1934).

Opinion

Pierce, J.

These two suits in equity are brought under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 214, § 3 (10), to reach and apply in satisfaction of judgments obtained in the Superior Court the alleged obligation of the defendant insurance company (hereinafter called the defendant) under a motor vehicle policy. The policy was issued to one Benzion Toren, owner of "an automobile alleged to have been used on the public highway by one Bernard Dion (the other defendant), or by one Bernard Perreault under the direct supervision of Bernard Dion, with the express or implied consent of said Benzion Toren. The defendant in its answer admitted its right to issue policies of insurance under the so called compulsory insurance law. St. 1925, c. 346. It further admitted that in 1931 previous to October 25, it entered into a contract of insurance with said Benzion Toren under the compulsory motor vehicle insurance law. It is not denied that the sedan owned by said Toren, bearing registration plates numbered 357915, covered by a certificate of insurance issued by the defendant, on October 25, 1931, was being operated or used by Bernard Dion or Bernard Perreault on a public highway known as the SouthbridgeDudley Road.

It appears in the testimony reported under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 214, § 24, and under Rule 76 of the Superior Court (1932), that said Dion and Perreault operated the automobile on the road and date in question in a manner which caused the death of one Daniel Garvey and physical injuries to the plaintiff Henrietta L. Blair. It also appears in said undisputed testimony that the administrator of Garvey and the plaintiff Blair brought individual actions of tort in the Superior Court and that each of them recovered judgment against the said Bernard Dion for a substantial sum of money and costs, and that the judgments remain unsatisfied.

G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 214, § 3 (10), provides for a suit in equity to reach and apply the obligation of an insurance company, under a motor vehicle liability policy, as defined in G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, § 34A, to a judgment debt which has not been satisfied within thirty days after the date it was [288]*288rendered. The material portion of said insurance act is as follows: “The following words, as used in sections thirty-four A to thirty-four J, inclusive, shall have the following meanings: . . . ‘Motor vehicle liability policy’, a policy of liability insurance which provides indemnity for or protection to the insured and any person responsible for the operation of the insured’s motor vehicle with his express'” or implied consent against loss by reason of the liability to pay damages to others for bodily injuries, including death at any time resulting therefrom, . . . sustained during the term of said policy by any person other than employees of the insured or of such other person responsible as aforesaid who are entitled to payments or benefits under the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty-two, and arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, control or use upon the ways of the commonwealth of such motor vehicle, to the amount or limit of at least five thousand dollars on account of injury to or death of any one person, and, subject to such limits as respects injury to or death of one person, of at least ten thousand dollars on account of any one accident resulting in injury to or death of more than one person . . . . ”

The defendant contends that the motor vehicle was not being operated by Dion at the time of the accident, and that if it was operated or used by him, such operation or use was without the express or implied consent of the insured. This position of the defendant presents the only live issue in the cases. The trial judge filed the following “Memoranda and Order for Decree.” “After hearing, the court finds that on the twenty-fifth day of October, 1931, Bernard Dion was operating a Dodge sedan owned by Benzion Toren, and bearing registration plates No. 357915, but that the operation, management and control of said automobile by said Bernard Dion, or by his companion, Bernard Perreault, at the time of the accident was without either the express or implied consent of the owner, Benzion Toren, and, therefore, the prayers of the plaintiff contained in the within bill are denied. It is hereby ordered that a decree be entered dismissing the within bill.” Thereafter final decrees were entered dismissing the bills. The cases [289]*289are before this court on the appeals of the plaintiffs from the final decrees.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 N.E. 467, 288 Mass. 285, 1934 Mass. LEXIS 1217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blair-v-travelers-insurance-mass-1934.