Boulette v. Safety Insurance

26 Mass. L. Rptr. 481
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedJune 19, 2009
DocketNo. 062615A
StatusPublished

This text of 26 Mass. L. Rptr. 481 (Boulette v. Safety Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boulette v. Safety Insurance, 26 Mass. L. Rptr. 481 (Mass. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Lemire, James R., J.

This is an action, pursuant to G.L.c. 251, in which the plaintiff, Scott C. Boulette (“Boulette”), seeks to compel the defendant, Safety Insurance Company (“Safety”), to submit to arbitration for a determination as to whether Boulette is entitled to underinsurance benefits for damages he suffered in an automobile accident. Safely has filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment as to the rights and obligations of the parties under the subject insurance policy and asks that the Court stay appointment of an arbitrator pending resolution of its counterclaim. The matter is now before the Court on Boulette’s motion for partial summary judgment and Safety’s cross motion for partial summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, Boulette’s motion is DENIED. Safety’s cross motion is ALLOWED.

BACKGROUND

On December 31, 2001, Boulette suffered serious injuries when the vehicle that he was operating, which was owned by Computer Design, Inc. (“Computer Design”), was struck from behind by another vehicle owned by Lome A. Thompson and operated by William B. Thompson. The Thompsons’ vehicle was insured by Premier Insurance Company and provided liability coverage up to $100,000.00 per person and $300,000.00 per accident. Boulette settled his underlying tort claims against the Thompsons and Premier Insurance Company for less than the amount of his claimed injuries.

[482]*482The vehicle that Boulette had been operating was insured by Safety under a “Commercial Auto Policy” (“the Safety policy”) for the period from November 28, 2001, through November 28, 2002. Computer Design was the named insured. Boulette was the owner of Computer Design, as well as its president, treasurer and sole shareholder. He was listed on the Safety policy as a driver. The Safety policy provided underinsured motorists coverage up to $250,000.00 per insured person and $500,000.00 per accident.

At the time of the accident, Boulette personally owned and insured an antique 1964 Chevrolet Corvair. A policy covering the vehicle was issued by Metropolitan Property & Casualty Company and. named Boulette and his wife as insureds. The Metropolitan policy was in effect from February 21, 2001, through February 21, 2002, and, as such, was in effect on the date of Boulette’s accident. Boulette alleges that he purchased the Metropolitan coverage for the Corvair solely so that it could be registered as an antique and towed to his new residence. Despite his stated intent not to drive it, Boulette purchased optional bodily injury and medical payments coverage for the Corvair. He did not purchase the optional underinsurance coverage.

Boulette now seeks underinsurance coverage on the Computer Design auto policy under a provision that provides coverage to Computer Design and “anyone else while ‘occupying’ a covered ‘auto’ [under the Computer Design policy].” The sentence immediately following that provision states, “We will not pay damages to or for anyone else who has a Massachusetts auto policy of his or her own, or who is covered by a Massachusetts auto policy of any ‘household member’ providing underinsured auto coverage.”

Under the “Underinsured Motorists Coverage” endorsement incorporated in the Safety policy, there is an arbitration provision, which provides: “If we and an insured disagree whether the insured is legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an ‘underinsured motor vehicle’ or do not agree as to the amount of damages, either party may make a written demand for arbitration. However, in no event may a demand for arbitration constitute first notice of claim. We must be given sufficient notice of claim to conduct a reasonable investigation and attempt settlement before arbitration can be used.”

Boulette seeks to compel arbitration on the basis that the parties have been unable to reach agreement as to the amount of damages, if any, that Boulette is entitled to recover under the underinsured motorists coverage provisions of the Safely policy. Safely contends that Boulette is not an insured under the terms of the policy’s underinsured motorists coverage and, accordingly, that he is not entitled to avail himself of the policy’s arbitration provisions. It is not clear whether Boulette has complied with the arbitration provision’s requirement of written demand prior to filing his complaint.

DISCUSSION

I. Boulette’s motion to compel arbitration

Boulette moves, pursuant to G.L.c. 251, §2(a), to compel Safely to proceed to arbitration based on the aforementioned provision in the “Underinsured Motorists Coverage” endorsement incorporated in the Safety policy. The statute provides that, if the opposing party in an action to compel arbitration denies the existence of an agreement to arbitrate, “the court shall proceed summarily to the determination of the issue so raised and shall, if it finds for the applicant, order arbitration; otherwise, the application shall be denied.” Id. Safety contends that Boulette is not entitled to arbitration under the policy.

The arbitration provision at issue is simply an iteration of the statutory requirement that “(an under-insurance] policy or endorsement or rider shall provide that determination as to whether the insured or his legal representative is legally entitled to recover such damages, and if so the amount thereof, shall be made by agreement between the insured or such representative and the insurer or, if they fail to agree, by arbitration.” G.L.c. 175, §11 ID. The provision mirrors the one at issue in Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company v. Malacaria, 40 Mass.App.Ct. 184 (1996). There, the Appeals Court said:

In plain terms, this provision commits to arbitration the determination whether an injured party such as Nancy Malacaria can recover damages under the policy from the operator of another vehicle, and, if so, the amount of the damages. These matters typically involve factual determinations of relative or comparative fault, and the extent of injuries proximately caused by the other motorist’s fault. By contrast, the provision does not contemplate that legal questions involving the insurer’s possible liability to the insured under the policy will be determined through arbitration. Hence, we do not think that Lumbermens was contractually bound by its policy to submit to arbitration a coverage question, such as the one here presented.

Id. at 188-89.

Similarly, this case involves a coverage question, not a determination of relative fault or damages. Taken in context, the clause that provides for arbitration where the parties “do not agree as to the amount of damages” operates in conjunction with the clause that provides for arbitration where the insurer and insured “disagree whether the insured is legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an ‘underinsured motor vehicle.’ ” Therefore, the only sensible reading of the provision is that either party may request arbitration where there is a dispute as to the amount of damages that the insured is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle. Because this dispute [483]*483does not arise from a disagreement as to whether Boulette may recover from the Thompsons, as the owner/operator of the underinsured vehicle, but rather over whether Boulette is entitled to underinsurance coverage under the Safety policy, the Court finds that the narrow arbitration provision does not apply.

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Related

Smart v. Safety Insurance
419 Mass. 144 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1994)
Dullea v. Safety Insurance
674 N.E.2d 630 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1997)
Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. Malacaria
662 N.E.2d 241 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1996)
Mercadante v. Worcester Insurance
816 N.E.2d 145 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 Mass. L. Rptr. 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boulette-v-safety-insurance-masssuperct-2009.