Providence Washington Insurance v. Romney

361 F. Supp. 427, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12630
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedJuly 19, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. 4996
StatusPublished

This text of 361 F. Supp. 427 (Providence Washington Insurance v. Romney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Providence Washington Insurance v. Romney, 361 F. Supp. 427, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12630 (D.R.I. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

PETTINE, Chief Judge.

This action stems from a contract of insurance entered into by the plaintiff and defendant pursuant to the Urban Property Protection and Reinsurance Act of 1968, 82 Stat. 556-66, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1749bbb-1749bbb-21. The plaintiff filed a claim under Section XV(2) of HUD’s Standard Reinsurance Contract (1969-70). The propriety of the disallowance of the plaintiff’s claim is the subject of this law suit.

[429]*429Section 1749bbb-ll(b) (2) of the cited Act gives this Court exclusive jurisdiction.

Findings of Fact

The ever litigious inmates of the Adult Correctional Institution star once more in a court drama — not as movants in this suit but rather as the catalyst that gave rise to the damages for which the plaintiff seeks recovery.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on May. 23, 1969 while most of the inmates were out on maintenance details or at work in the various prison workshops, three prisoners set fire to the maximum security section by pushing a burning mop through a tiled ceiling. Within a half hour, the fire was discovered and immediately the fifty or so prisoners in their cells were evacuated.

The resulting blaze and extent of the damages required that all the inmates housed in the affected area be transported by bus to another section of the prison. To do this thirty policemen were called to the scene. The transfer was accomplished in orderly fashion without any attempted escapes or unruly incidents either with the prison population or the spectators from the surrounding area who had gathered to view the fire. The blaze was of considerable magnitude demanding maximum effort from the fire departments that had responded. However, it did not in any way endanger any of the civilian homes in the community surrounding the prison compound. To specifically relate to the policy terms discussed, infra, there is no evidence the fire was designed to incite other prisoners or any other people to commit similar acts of destruction nor does the record disclose any racial, political or religious overtones, or disturbance immediately prior to or after the incident.

The three arsonists committed this act in secret and after investigation were charged and brought to trial. Though they protested their innocence throughout the hearing, they were convicted of statutory burning and with a breach against the peace and dignity of the state.

After paying the state’s claim for damages for which it was liable under its policy with the State of Rhode Island, the plaintiff filed a claim under its HUD Reinsurance Contract contending it came under the policy coverage which insured losses due to damages caused by riot or civil disorder.

Conclusions of Law

Section XV(2) of the Standard Reinsurance Contract (1969-70), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines “riot” or “civil disorder” as used in the contract as follows:

“(2) ‘riot’ or ‘civil disorder’ means:
A. Any tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons mutually assisting one another, or otherwise acting in concert, in the execution of a common purpose by the unlawful use of force and violence resulting in property damage of any kind;
C. Any unlawful and terroristic act or occurrence, apparently having civil disruption or civil disobedience as a primary motivation resulting in intentionally-caused property damage of any kind in the amount of $2000 or more which may reasonably be determined by the Reinsurer, on the basis of evidence submitted by the Company to have been under the circumstances, a form of civil disorder.”

The plaintiff concedes the non-applicability of paragraph B; therefore, it was omitted and will not be discussed.

Section A

Since the Act does not define “riot”, we must look exclusively to the Standard Reinsurance Contract, Section XV(2) quoted supra. It sets forth a definition as understood under the common law which was well defined by the Superior Court of New Jersey in A & B Auto Stores of Jones St., Inc. v. City of New[430]*430ark, 106 N.J.Super. 491, 256 A.2d 110 (1969). After considering historical common law definitions and precedents it stated:

“A distillation of all the definitions of a riot contained in past precedents leads this court to the conclusion that a riot is simply a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by a group of three or more persons having a common purpose who act in concert to accomplish their purpose through force and violence.” (emphasis added) Id. p. 116.

It follows that in order for the plaintiff to recover, it must establish a loss occasioned by a “tumultuous disturbance of the [public] peace” accomplished “through force and violence.”

The litigants are not at odds as to the definition of “tumultuous disturbance” nor can it be disputed that it means, as the defendant urges in his brief (p. 7),

“ ‘1. Commotion or agitation of a multitude, usually with great uproar and confusion of voices. 2. Turbulence with din. 3. Violent agitation of mind or feelings; a violent outburst.’ WEBSTER’S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 916 (1961 Ed.).”
“[A] riot is ... a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace. ‘Tumultuous’ means a noisy, boisterous, violent disturbance of the public peace by an unlawful assembly of three or more persons in the execution of some private object.” Commonwealth v. Brletic, 113 Pa.Super. 508, 511, 173 A. 686, 687 (Pa.1934).

However, the plaintiff “contends that the use of the word ‘or’ between the words ‘riot’ and ‘civil disorder’ enables the definition to be read as the definition of ‘civil disorder.’ ” The Court finds the somewhat confused approach employed by the plaintiff an anomalous argument removed from the policy definitions. In electing “civil disorder” as the applicable alternative it reasons through an orbit of definitions concluding it all means nothing more than a breach of the peace, that is, “tranquility enjoyed by members of a community” and that in this case the arrival of the fire engines, police and the general excitement surrounding the fire did, indeed, destroy this tranquility and therefore coverage exists. The plaintiff thus seeks to avoid the common law definition of riot. Such gymnastics may be “well founded in grammatical English and logic,” as it argues, but would make a circus of decisional law refined through the process of precedential analysis.

In this case, the fire was started in stealth while most of the cells were empty. Applying the definition of “Webster” and Brletic, supra, there was no noisy, violent disturbance accompanying the act of starting the blaze nor was there any great uproar and confusion of voices. The coverage in this case is for damage caused by a “riot” or “civil disorder” as defined in the policy. The lack of a “tumultuous disturbance” in the setting of the fire takes the incident outside the definition of riot. As stated in International Wire Works v. Hanover Fire Insurance Co., 230 Wis. 72, 283 N.W. 292 (1939) :

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Related

A & B AUTO STORES v. City of Newark
256 A.2d 110 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1969)
Walter v. Northern Insurance of New York
18 N.E.2d 906 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1938)
Com. v. Brletic
173 A. 686 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)
Salem Mfg. Co. v. First American Fire Ins.
111 F.2d 797 (Ninth Circuit, 1940)
International Wire Works v. Hanover Fire Insurance
283 N.W. 292 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1939)
Hartford Fire Ins. v. War Eagle Coal Co.
295 F. 663 (Fourth Circuit, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
361 F. Supp. 427, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/providence-washington-insurance-v-romney-rid-1973.