Oliva v. Vermont Mutual Insurance

842 A.2d 92, 150 N.H. 563, 2004 N.H. LEXIS 22
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedFebruary 17, 2004
DocketNo. 2003-316
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 842 A.2d 92 (Oliva v. Vermont 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
Oliva v. Vermont Mutual Insurance, 842 A.2d 92, 150 N.H. 563, 2004 N.H. LEXIS 22 (N.H. 2004).

Opinion

DUGGAN, J.

In this declaratory judgment action, defendant Vermont Mutual Insurance Company (Vermont Mutual) appeals an order of the Superior Court (Galway, J.) finding insurance coverage under a homeowner’s policy because Jeremy Raskiewiez was “in the care of’ its insured, defendant Mavrone Alt, at the time the plaintiff, Stephen S. Oliva, was injured while working with Raskiewiez. We reverse.

The trial court found the following facts. In June 2000, Raskiewiez began staying at Alt’s home in Hollis. He remained there until sometime in the fall of 2000. Raskiewiez was twenty years old at the time. He was not related to Alt, but was a friend of her daughter, Cherry. Several other young adults also stayed at Alt’s home during this time period.

[565]*565Alt and Raskiewicz did not have a formal discussion regarding this living arrangement. Nonetheless, Raskiewicz identified Alt’s address as his own on his non-driver identification card and received his mail at Alt’s home. Raskiewicz did not work, pay rent or contribute to Alt’s household expenses. He did, however, eat at Alt’s home on a daily basis and was free to use the household amenities without restriction. Alt either cooked meals for everyone in the house, or Raskiewicz and the others ate the leftovers and groceries she supplied. Alt occasionally gave Raskiewicz “pocket change” and money for cigarettes.

Raskiewicz had his own room in Alt’s home. The room did not have a door, but wTas separated from the rest of the home by a curtain that hung in the doonvay. Because there w~as no bed in the room, Raskiewicz slept on a mattress on the floor. He kept his clothing in a bag, but used Alt’s washing machine to do his laundry.

Alt did not supervise Raskiewicz or the other young adults who were staying at her home. She did, however, develop a few rules that she expected Raskiewicz and the others to follow. Alt asked that someone be home to meet her six-year-old son when he got off the school bus. She required Raskiewicz and the others to be in the house and quiet by a certain time each night; otherwise, Alt locked the doors and they were responsible for finding a place to spend the night. If Alt went away for the weekend, she asked Raskiewicz and the others to vacate the premises for fear that they would have a party in her absence. In addition, Raskiewicz and the others were responsible for doing the dishes and completing various household chores.

Cherry’s boyfriend, Christopher Meeks, was also staying at Alt’s home that summer. Alt asked Meeks to perform some needed renovations on her home. Alt paid Meeks, but Meeks was responsible for paying anyone he hired to assist him. Alt suggested that Meeks ask Raskiewicz to help with the renovations.

Oliva was a friend of Cherry’s who visited Alt’s home frequently. On September 5, 2000, Oliva was assisting Meeks and Raskiewicz with the renovations when he severely injured his hand while cutting a piece of wood with a power saw.

Oliva brought suit against Alt and Raskiewicz, alleging that his injury resulted from Raskiewicz’s failure to secure the wood Oliva was cutting with the power saw. At the time of Oliva’s injury, Alt had a homeowner’s insurance policy issued by Vermont Mutual. Oliva filed a petition for declaratory judgment, alleging that Raskiewicz was an “insured” under Alt’s homeowner’s policy. After a trial on the merits, the court ruled that Raskiewicz was an “insured” under the Vermont Mutual policy because he [566]*566was “in the care of’ Alt at the time of Oliva’s injury. The correctness of this ruling is the sole issue raised on appeal.

“The interpretation of insurance policy language is a question of law for this court to decide.” Godbout v. Lloyd’s Ins. Syndicates Messrs., 150 N.H. 103, 105 (2003) (quotation omitted). “We construe the language of an insurance policy as would a reasonable person in the position of the insured based on a more than casual reading of the policy as a whole.” Id. (quotation omitted). “Policy terms are construed objectively, and where the terms of a policy are clear and unambiguous, we accord the language its natural and ordinary meaning.” Id. (quotation and brackets omitted). “We need not examine the parties’ reasonable expectations of coverage when a policy is clear and unambiguous; absent ambiguity, our search for the parties’ intent is limited to the words of the policy.” Id. (quotation and brackets omitted).

The policy defines an “insured” as:

[Y]ou and residents of your household who are:
a. Your relatives; or
b. Other persons under the age of 21 and in the care of any person named above.

The parties do not dispute that Raskiewicz was twenty years old at the time of Oliva’s injury. The only dispute is whether Raskiewicz was “in the care of’ Alt.

As a threshold matter, we must determine whether the phrase “in the care of’ is ambiguous. The “fact that the parties may disagree on the interpretation of a term or clause in an insurance policy does not create an ambiguity.” St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Warren, 87 F. Supp. 2d 904, 909 (E.D. Mo. 1999). In addition, “[p]olicy provisions are not ambiguous merely because it is difficult to apply the factual situation to the specific policy language.” 2 L. RUSS & T. SEGALLA, COUCH ON INSURANCE 3D § 21.14, at 21-26 (1997). “On the other hand, where a provision is subject to more than one interpretation, illogically located and labeled within the policy, and inconsistent with other provisions, it will be found to be ambiguous.” Id.

We are unconvinced that the phrase “in the care of’ is ambiguous simply because the parties disagree about whether Raskiewicz was “in the care of’ Alt. See Warren, 87 F. Supp. 2d at 909. Moreover, “in the care of’ is not illogically located or labeled in the Vermont Mutual policy, nor is it inconsistent with other provisions. See RUSS & SEGALLA, supra § 21.14, at 21-26. Rather, “in the care of’ is “a colloquial or idiomatic phrase that is [567]*567peculiar to itself and readily understood as a phrase by speakers and readers of our language.” Henderson v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 596 N.W.2d 190, 194 (Mich. 1999). Consistent with other jurisdictions, we conclude that the phrase “in the care of’ is commonly used, readily understood and, therefore, unambiguous. See, e.g., State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. v. Breazell, 478 S.E.2d 831, 833 (S.C. 1996); Cierzan ex rel. Weis v. Kriegel, 655 N.W.2d 217, 221 (Wis. Ct. App. 2002), review denied, 661 N.W.2d 102 (Wis. 2003). Thus, “our search for the parties’ intent is limited to the words of the policy.” Godbout, 150 N.H. at 105 (quotation omitted).

Because the interpretation of insurance policy language is a question of law for this court to decide, we now define “in the care of.” Id. We adopt the list of eight non-exclusive common sense factors set forth by the Michigan Supreme Court in Henderson. See Henderson 596 N.W.2d at 195-96.

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Bluebook (online)
842 A.2d 92, 150 N.H. 563, 2004 N.H. LEXIS 22, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oliva-v-vermont-mutual-insurance-nh-2004.