Roberts v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co.

16 Mass. L. Rptr. 453
Massachusetts Superior Court·Decided July 28, 2003·No. No. 994767BLS·Published

Opinion

van Gestel, J.

These consolidated matters came before the Court following remand of case No. 99-4767 BLS from the Supreme Judicial Court. See Roberts v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company of Boston, Inc., 438 Mass. 187, 196 (2002) (hereafter “Roberts’’).*

The Amended Class Action Complaint in case No. 99-4767 BLS contains two counts. Count I is for violation of G.L.c. 90, Sec. 32E1/2(B)(2) and (C)(2), and Count II is for violation of G.L.c. 93A, Sec. 2(a). Both counts are grounded on the same factual allegations regarding violations of G.L.c. 90, Sec. 32E1/2.

The First Amended Class Action Complaint in case No. 03-0033 BLS contains four counts. Count I is for breach of contract, Count II is for unjust enrichment, Count III is for violation of G.L.c. 93A, and Count TV seeks a declaratory judgment. All four counts are grounded on the same factual allegations regarding violations of G.L.c. 90, Sec. 32E1/2.

In order of docketing, there are presented the following motions in case No. 99-4767 BLS: Plaintiff Scott Roberts’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to Liability (Paper #46); Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on the Ground that there Can Be No Claim for Violation of Chapter 90, Section 32E1/2 under Chapter 93A (Paper #50); and Defendant Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company of Boston, Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding the Addendum Form of Rental Agreement (Paper #53).

In order of docketing, there are presented the following motions in case No. 03-0033 BLS: Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Paper #11); Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on the Ground that there Can Be No Claim for Violation of Chapter 90, Section 32E1/2 Under Chapter 93A (Paper #50 in case No. 99-4767 BLS); and Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment on Whether Defendants Comply with Chapter 90, Section 32E1/2(C)(5) Regarding Exclusions to Collision Damage Waiver Coverage and on Plaintiffs’ Other Claims (Paper #51 in case No. 99-4767 BLS).

BACKGROUND

Both underlying cases are purported class actions on behalf of the named plaintiffs and a class, or classes, of persons who, during certain periods of time, rented automobiles in Massachusetts from the defendant, Enterprise Rent-A-Car of Boston, Inc. (“Enterprise”). The complaints allege that Enterprise failed to adequately display to its customers information regarding the “collision damage waiver” in its rental contracts, as required by G.L.c. 90, Secs. 32E1/2(B)(2) and (C) (2), or otherwise violated that statute by making improper exclusions from collision damage waiver coverage, and also, in each instance, therefore, violated G.L.c. 93A.

Enterprise is a Massachusetts corporation in the business of renting private passenger automobiles throughout the Commonwealth. As such, Enterprise is a rental company whose business practices regarding collision damage waivers are governed by G.L.c. 90, Sec. 32E1/2.

In renting automobiles in Massachusetts during the class periods described in the complaints, Enterprise used two basic forms of rental agreements: the “addendum” rental agreement and the “ticket jacket” rental agreement. In its recent decision, the Supreme Judicial Court held that the ticket jacket form of rental agreement used by Enterprise from approximately May 1997 to February 2002 complied with Sec. 32E1/2. Roberts, supra 438 Mass. at 196. Thus, only the addendum form of rental agreement remains in issue in case No. 99-4767 BLS.

For the period from May 27, 1995, to in or about April 1997, two substantially similar forms of rental agreements, each utilizing “addendums,” were in use by Enterprise in Massachusetts. Copies of these forms of agreement were provided to the Court.

The addendum rental agreements were made up of four pages, attached along the left side by a perforated strip, and a separate fifth page called the addendum. The first three pages are preprinted, carbonless duplicates on which information about the customer and the rental were included and, after the necessary information was completed on a computer keyboard [454] by the salesperson, were emitted from a printer, ready for initialing and signature by the customer. The pages are not separated until after the initialing and signing are completed.

The first page was denoted on the bottom, “AUDITOR’S COPY’; the second page was denoted on the bottom, “INVOICE”; and the third page was denoted on the bottom, “CUSTOMER COPY.” Except for their color — white, yellow and pink, respectively — the three pages were identical. The fourth page contains advertising-type materials that are not relevant to the present issue.

The fifth page — the addendum — sets forth the collision damage waiver (“CDW”) notice, as well as additional information about CDW. This page is not part of the attached packet that includes pages one through four. It is said by Enterprise that the addendum page followed a format suggested by the Car and Truck Rental and Leasing Association of Massachusetts (“CATRALA”) in materials provided when Sec. 32E1/2 was enacted. CATRALA instructed that, to comply with the law, the notice language “must appear in your contract or on an addendum to your contract.”

In a box near the bottom of the left-hand column of each of the three identical pages of this form of the rental agreement, there appear the words, in capital letters: “SEE ADDENDUM FOR COLLISION DAMAGE WAIVER NOTICE, MASS. GENERAL LAW CHAPTER 90, SECTION 32E1/2.”

If a customer using this form chooses to accept the CDW, he or she must initial a small box about IV2 inches long and less than V2 inch wide, which is one of six such boxes in the upper middle of the face of the form.4 There is also a place on the addendum where a customer could check and sign indicating acceptance or declination of the CDW.

There is a factual dispute, of a material nature, as to how the addendums were supposed to be handled, and were in fact handled. A senior official of Enterprise gave deposition testimony to the effect that Enterprise has had, throughout the class period, policies instructing its sales representatives that a customer had to sign the rental agreement and the customer had to initial the rental agreement either accepting or declining the CDW. That official, however, was uncertain about the existence of any written policy which instructed sales representatives that the customer also had to sign the addendum.

The Enterprise official also testified that it was Enterprise’s policy and practice in renting cars under the addendum rental agreements to provide the customer with the CUSTOMER COPY of the agreement and to staple the signed addendum to the AUDITOR’S COPY and retain the addendum along with the AUDITOR’S COPY in Enterprise’s business records.

In discovery in this case, Enterprise has located and produced its AUDITOR’S COPY of one of plaintiff Scott Roberts’s (“Roberts”) rental agreements, but has not located or produced any addendum signed by that customer. Roberts has no memory of having been shown or signing an addendum.

Case No. 03-0033 BLS makes a somewhat different attack on Enterprise’s collision damage waivers and rental agreements. Basically, this case charges Enterprise with improper exclusions from collision damage coverage in violation of Sec. 32E1/2 and c. 93A.

DISCUSSION

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Roberts v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co., 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 453 (Mass. Ct. App. 2003).

16 Mass. L. Rptr. 453 (Roberts v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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