Cecere v. Aetna Insurance

766 A.2d 696, 145 N.H. 660, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 3
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedJanuary 16, 2001
DocketNo. 97-882
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 766 A.2d 696 (Cecere v. Aetna 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
Cecere v. Aetna Insurance, 766 A.2d 696, 145 N.H. 660, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 3 (N.H. 2001).

Opinions

BRODERICK, J.

The defendant, Aetna Insurance Company, appeals an order of the Superior Court (Dalianis, J.) voiding the underinsured motorist (UM) limits in its garage liability policy and compelling arbitration. We reverse.

The plaintiff, Beth Cecere, was injured in an accident on October 5, 1992, while driving an automobile owned by H.J. Nassar Motor Company (Nassar) of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her husband, Lou Cecere, was employed by Nassar, a Massachusetts corporation engaged in the business of selling and servicing new and used automobiles. At the time of the accident, the plaintiff and her husband lived in Derry.

The automobile used by the plaintiff was a demonstration model registered to Nassar in Massachusetts, and bore dealer license plates from that State. As part of Nassar’s stock in trade, it could [661]*661have been sold by Nassar at any time. In accordance with his employment agreement with Nassar, Mr. Cecere was permitted to use the vehicle only in connection with his job and for limited personal purposes. In fact, he used the vehicle to commute to work and kept the automobile at his home in Derry each night. Several other Nassar employees who lived in New Hampshire were also permitted to use company-owned automobiles for travel to and from work.

At the time of the accident, the automobile was insured under a “Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Policy, Garage Liability” policy issued to Nassar by the defendant. The policy provided liability coverage in the amount of $1 million and underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $100,000 for each injured occupant, to a maximum of $300,000 per accident. Before the accident, the defendant or its agent knew that Mr. Cecere kept the ear at his home in Derry each night.

On October 5, 1992, the plaintiff was using the automobile in New Hampshire to perform a personal errand when she was hit by a driver who carried liability coverage in the amount of $100,000. She sued the operator and recovered the policy limit. Because the liability limit of the tortfeasor was identical to the UM limit provided under the Nassar policy, the defendant denied the plaintiff UM benefits.

In May 1995, the plaintiff filed an action to compel arbitration, claiming that RSA 264:15, I (1993) voided the UM limit in Nassar’s policy and increased it to the policy’s liability limit of $1,000,000. Following a hearing, the superior court ordered arbitration. It ruled that the parties had not expressly chosen Massachusetts law to govern their contract, and that under a common law choice-of-law analysis, New Hampshire law controlled because the insured motor vehicle was garaged here. See Green Mt. Ins. Co. v. George, 138 N.H. 10, 13, 634 A.2d 1011, 1013 (1993). It also ruled that RSA 264:15, I, voided the UM liability limit in Nassar’s policy because the statute applies to insurance policies on motor vehicles principally garaged in New Hampshire.

On appeal, the defendant argues that the parties elected to be governed by Massachusetts law, as evidenced by numerous references to Massachusetts law in the policy. Alternatively, the defendant contends that a choice-of-law analysis favors Massachusetts law because the principal location of the insured risk is Massachusetts. Finally, it argues that even if New Hampshire law controls the policy, RSA 264:15, I, does not void its UM provision because that statute applies only to insurance policies issued under the provi[662]*662sions of New Hampshire’s insurance regulatory scheme, RSA 264:14 (1993).

We first examine whether the insurance policy is expressly governed by Massachusetts law. See Mathena v. Granite State Ins. Co., 129 N.H. 249, 251, 525 A.2d 284, 285 (1987). It is well established that

in the absence of an express choice of law validly made by the parties, the contract is to be governed, both as to validity and performance, by the law of the state with which the contract has its most significant relationship .... The principal location of the insured risk is the contact that is given the greatest weight in determining the state whose local law is to govern . . . the rights created thereby.

Id. (quotations omitted). “Particularly in the context of insurance contracts, we have found that the State which is the principal location of the insured risk bears the most significant relationship to the contract, in the absence of an express choice of law by the parties.” Glowski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 134 N.H. 196, 198, 589 A.2d 593, 595 (1991) (quotation omitted). This rule articulates “the fundamental contract policy of giving effect to the intention of the parties and their reasonably justified expectations,” Consolidated Mut. Cas. Co. v. Radio Foods Co., 108 N.H. 494, 496-97, 240 A.2d 47, 49 (1968) (quotation omitted), and promotes predictability of results, which is of foremost concern in contracts cases, see Glowski, 134 N.H. at 198, 589 A.2d at 595.

In this case, the policy makes multiple references to Massachusetts law. For example, the policy states that the defendant “will pay on behalf of the insured, in accordance with the ‘Massachusetts Compulsory Automobile Liability Security Act,’ Chapter 346 of the Acts of 1925 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and all Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto . . . .” It does not, however, expressly select Massachusetts law to govern its terms. See Consolidated, 108 N.H. at 496, 240 A.2d at 48-49. The law which governs the policy, therefore, is determined by application of the choice-of-law doctrine. See Glowski, 134 N.H. at 198, 589 A.2d at 595. Nassar’s insurance policy is a garage policy, which is “designed primarily to afford protection against liability which might arise out of the operation of a . . . garage, including risks from the operation of automobiles in the course of the business . . . .” Allstate Insurance Co. v. Roberts, 109 N.H. 108, 111, 244 A.2d 199, 202 (1968) (quotation omitted).

[663]*663[A] garage liability policy furnishes more types of coverage than most liability forms. It is one of the most complex, and perhaps least understood, liability forms in use today. Its complexity is largely attributable to the breadth of coverage, that is, it embraces a multiplicity of hazards which otherwise are written under separate policies.

Peerless Ins. Co. v. Gould, 103 N.H. 134, 137, 166 A.2d 462, 464 (1960) (quotation and brackets omitted). Accordingly, the entire garage operation, including a subset of risks from automobile operation, must be examined when considering the principal location of the insured risk.

In this case, the principal location of the insured risk is Massachusetts. The Nassar dealership, the site of the vast majority of automobiles insured under its policy, conducted operations only in that State. Moreover, its insurance policy is designed to insure bodily injury or property damage resulting from activities located primarily upon the garage site.

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766 A.2d 696, 145 N.H. 660, 2001 N.H. LEXIS 3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cecere-v-aetna-insurance-nh-2001.