Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance v. Choukas

711 N.E.2d 933, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 196, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 692
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedJune 25, 1999
DocketNo. 96-P-1395
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 711 N.E.2d 933 (Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance v. Choukas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance v. Choukas, 711 N.E.2d 933, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 196, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 692 (Mass. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Smith, J.

On August 19, 1990, James Choukas was a passenger in a vehicle owned and operated by Nancy Powers, when it was involved in an accident. Choukas sustained injuries as a result of the accident. The insurer of Powers’s automobile, Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company [197]*197(Metropolitan), conceded that Powers was entirely at fault in causing the accident and, on April 5, 1991, paid Choukas the policy limit ($10,000) under Powers’s policy. Metropolitan also insured Choukas’s vehicle, and he sought the entire available coverage ($90,000) on the underinsured portion of his policy.

On July 16, 1991, Metropolitan filed a complaint in the Superior Court applying for an order under G. L. c. 251, § 2(a), to proceed to arbitration. Choukas filed a counterclaim, alleging that Metropolitan had violated G. L. c. 176D, § 3(9)00, by failing to effectuate a prompt, fair, and equitable settlement, of his underinsured claim. He, therefore, sought damages under G. L. c. 93A.1 A Superior Court judge directed the parties to proceed to arbitration.

In November, 1991, before the arbitrator’s hearing commenced, a Metropolitan claims adjustor telephoned Choukas’s attorney to discuss a settlement of his underinsured claim. The adjustor asked if Choukas was ready to settle for less than $90,000. In reply, according to Choukas’s attorney, he stated that his client would accept $89,000. Negotiations then ceased without Metropolitan making an offer.

The arbitrator subsequently found in favor of Choukas and awarded him $25,000 on the underinsured portion of Metropolitan’s policy. Metropolitan sent a check to Choukas in that amount, which he returned. Choukas subsequently sought confirmation of the award; final judgment entered in the Superior Court in the amount of $25,000. Choukas then obtained an execution, served it on Metropolitan, and the insurer paid Choukas the amount of the arbitrator’s award.

Choukas thereafter filed a motion for summary judgment on his counterclaim, alleging Metropolitan had committed an unfair settlement practice because it had not made a settlement offer after liability had become reasonably clear. In support of his motion, Choukas submitted his attorney’s affidavit and other [198]*198material, including portions of the deposition of Metropolitan’s claims adjustor who had telephoned Choukas’s attorney to discuss possible settlement of his underinsured claim. In response, Metropolitan claimed that its attempt to settle the underinsured claim was thwarted by the attorney’s inflexible settlement position. Accordingly, Metropolitan argued that Choukas’s summary judgment motion should be denied because a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether his attorney’s conduct interfered with meaningful settlement discussions.

After a hearing, a judge allowed Choukas’s motion for summary judgment. General Laws c. 176D, § 3(9)00, as the judge observed, provides that it is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for an insurance company to fail “to effectuate prompt, fair and equitable settlements of claims in which liability has become reasonably clear.” See note 1, supra. Here, the judge ruled that liability was reasonably clear as early as April, 1991 (the time that Metropolitan paid Choukas the policy limits under Powers’s insurance policy). Therefore, Metropolitan was required to make a settlement offer in an effort to “effectuate [a] prompt, fair and equitable settlement!]” of Choukas’s claim. By failing to do so, the judge concluded, Metropolitan violated G. L. c. 176D, § 3(9)(/).2 In reaching his conclusion, the judge rejected Metropolitan’s claim that its attempts to settle were thwarted by Choukas’s attorney’s posture. The judge ruled that any bargaining position that Choukas’s attorney may have adopted did not preclude Metropolitan from making a settlement offer.

Another Superior Court judge then held an evidentiary hearing on the issue of damages. The judge ruled, based on the evidence at the assessment hearing, that Metropolitan’s violation was wilful and knowing. She found that Metropolitan would not have made any offer to settle the underinsured claim in excess of $40,000. The judge further found it likely that Choukas’s lawyer would have recommended to Choukas to accept a $40,000 offer and that Choukas would have done so. The judge [199]*199then subtracted from $40,000 the amount of the arbitrator’s award (which she erroneously thought was $28,000, not the $25,000 actually awarded by the arbitrator). The judge then doubled that figure ($12,000) because of her ruling that the violation of G. L. c. 176D was wilful and knowing. The judge also awarded Choukas attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $12,400. Accordingly, judgment entered for a total amount of $36,400.

Metropolitan appeals from the allowance of summary judgment, claiming that there existed genuine issues of material fact. It also contests the assessment of damages and attorney’s fees and costs awarded by the trial judge. Choukas cross-appeals, claiming that the judge used an improper method to calculate damages after finding that the violation was wilful and knowing.

1. The allowance of summary judgment. Metropolitan claims that the judge committed error in allowing Choukas’s summary judgment motion because a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether it was required to make a settlement offer. Further, Metropolitan claims that the materials it submitted to the motion judge raised two other genuine issues of material fact, namely whether Metropolitan’s failure to make an offer of less than $89,000 constituted an unfair settlement practice and whether Metropolitan’s failure to make an offer less than $89,000 caused injury to Choukas.

“Summary judgment will be upheld when, ‘viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, all material facts have been established and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ ” White v. Boston, 428 Mass. 250, 251-252 (1998), quoting from McDonough v. Marr Scaffolding Co., 412 Mass, 636, 638 (1992). General Laws c. 176D, § 3(9)00, requires that where liability has become reasonably clear, an insurer has a duty to effectuate a fair, equitable settlement. Liability, as that word is used in the statute, “encompasses both fault and damages.” Clegg v. Butler, 424 Mass. 413, 421 (1997).

There was no genuine issue of material fact as to liability. The materials before the judge demonstrated that Metropolitan’s insured (Powers) was 100% at fault for the accident that injured Choukas. As for the damages aspect, there was uncontradicted evidence that (1) Metropolitan knew that Choukas had suffered serious injuries and that he had been totally disabled for a [200]*200period of twenty-eight weeks and partially disabled for an additional eight weeks and (2) before the claims adjuster made the telephone call to Choukas’s attorney to discuss settlement, she had recommended to her superiors that Metropolitan should raise its reserve on the case to $75,000.

Although liability was reasonably clear, Metropolitan did not tender an offer of settlement to Choukas. It argues, however, that summary judgment should not have been granted, because there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether it was required to tender an offer in an attempt to obtain a fair, equitable settlement.

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Bluebook (online)
711 N.E.2d 933, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 196, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metropolitan-property-casualty-insurance-v-choukas-massappct-1999.