Beloff v. Progressive Cas. Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 31 March 1987
• Docket Number: 12841 and 12881,Nos. 12827,s. 12827
• Parties: Wayne BELOFF v. PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY. PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY v. Marion Lawrence DiGANGI, Administratrix (ESTATE OF James LAWRENCE), et al. William L. VOGEL v. PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

Page 477

523 A.2d 477

203 Conn. 45

Wayne BELOFF v. PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.

PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY v. Marion Lawrence DiGANGI, Administratrix (ESTATE OF James

LAWRENCE), et al.

William L. VOGEL v. PROGRESSIVE CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY.

Nos. 12827, 12841 and 12881.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 4, 1986.

Decided March 31, 1987.

Jon S. Berk, with whom, on the brief, was Thomas P. Barrett, for appellant in the first two cases and appellee in the third case (Progressive Cas. Ins. Co.).

David H. Herrmann, for appellee in the first case (plaintiff Wayne Beloff).

Thomas B. Wilson, with whom, on the brief, was Kerin M. Woods, for appellee in the second case and appellant in the third case (named defendant Marion Lawrence DiGangi, Administratrix, and plaintiff William L. Vogel).

Before PETERS, C.J., and SHEA, DANNEHY, SANTANIELLO and CALLAHAN, JJ.

SANTANIELLO, Associate Justice.

The dispositive issue in this consolidated appeal, is whether, at the relevant times, General Statutes §§ 38-175a through 38-175e ¹ governed motorcycle insurance policies so as to mandate that such policies provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and that disputes about coverage issues arising out of such policies be submitted for final consideration to binding arbitration. We hold that there was no such mandate.

The underlying facts are not in dispute. In Beloff v. Progressive Casualty Ins. Co., Docket No. 12827, Wayne Beloff was operating a motorcycle on October 26, 1982, when he was struck and seriously injured by another motor vehicle. At the time of the accident, Beloff lived at home with his mother, who had insured two motorcycles, including the one Beloff was riding, with Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (Progressive).

Upon settlement of the liability claim with the party responsible for the accident for his full policy limit of $20,000, Beloff sought to recover additional benefits from Progressive, claiming that he was entitled to underinsured motorist benefits under the two motorcycle policies. Each policy contained a provision for uninsured motorist coverage, conditioned on the payment of additional premiums. ² Beloff's mother, however, had not paid for uninsured motorist protection. Progressive denied Beloff's claim and refused to submit the matter to arbitration.

Beloff brought an action seeking a declaratory judgment that General Statutes §§ 38-175a through 38-175e mandated that all insurance policies provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and that Progressive must submit all the coverage issues to arbitration. Both Beloff and Progressive filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court, McDonald, J., reasoned that motorcycle insurance policies were required, as a matter of law, to provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and thus, there was no genuine issue of any material fact. Accordingly, the court granted Beloff's motion. After the court's decision, Beloff filed a motion to compel Progressive to submit to binding arbitration on all issues of coverage, liability and damages. The court granted this motion, and Progressive appealed.

In Progressive Casualty Ins. Co. v. DiGangi, Docket No. 12841, James Lawrence was killed on April 11, 1980, when his motorcycle collided with another vehicle. At the time of the accident, Lawrence possessed two insurance policies: an automobile policy issued by Criterion Insurance Company, which provided uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $20,000, and a motorcycle policy, which also provided for optional uninsured motorist benefits, issued by Progressive. ³ Lawrence had paid a premium for uninsured motorist benefits provided under the Progressive policy.

The operator of the other motor vehicle paid the Lawrence estate his policy limit of $20,000, and thereafter, Marion Lawrence DiGangi, as administratrix of the Lawrence estate, submitted a claim for underinsured motorist benefits under the two policies. Progressive refused the claim and filed an action for declaratory judgment to determine whether underinsured motorist benefits were afforded by its motorcycle policy with Lawrence, and, in the event coverage existed, to determine the order of priority between its policy and the automobile policy issued by Criterion Insurance Company.

DiGangi moved to dismiss the action claiming that, under General Statutes § 38-175c, the issues raised by Progressive's action had to be decided by arbitration. The trial court, Vasington, J., granted DiGangi's motion and held that, because Progressive sought to resolve issues involving coverage and because Progressive's policy contained a binding arbitration clause, § 38-175c mandated that the parties arbitrate the dispute. Upon appeal, the Appellate Court sustained the trial court's determination, reasoning that Progressive sought to have the issue of coverage decided by the declaratory judgment, and that General Statutes § 38-175c clearly mandated that such issues be determined by arbitration. ⁴ Progressive Casualty Ins. Co. v. DiGangi, 4 Conn.App. 137, 139, 492 A.2d 548 (1985). Upon the granting of certification, Progressive appealed to this court.

The third case consolidated on appeal, Vogel v. Progressive Casualty Ins. Co., Docket No. 12881, involves a similar factual situation. William Vogel was insured under a motorcycle insurance policy issued by Progressive. ⁵ This policy contained a provision for uninsured motorist coverage for which Vogel paid an additional premium, and a binding arbitration provision for liability and damage disputes. The policy did not, however, contain a provision for underinsured motorist coverage.

On July 19, 1984, Vogel was seriously injured when the motorcycle he was operating was struck by another motor vehicle. Vogel collected the liability policy limit of $25,000 from the operator of the other motor vehicle and then submitted a claim for underinsured motorist benefits under the Progressive policy. Progressive denied the claim and Vogel filed a motion to compel arbitration of his claim. The trial court, Berdon, J., dismissed Vogel's motion, holding that General Statutes § 38-175c, which mandates binding arbitration of automobile liability insurance policies, did not apply to this case because the insurance policy at issue was a motorcycle policy. Vogel appealed the trial court's determination. After the Beloff and Vogel appeals were transferred to this court, these appeals were consolidated pursuant to Practice Book § 3002 (now § 4004).

Beloff, DiGangi and Vogel (hereinafter insureds) now contend that General Statutes §§ 38-175a through 38-175e applied to Progressive's motorcycle insurance policies at the time of their respective accidents so as to mandate the inclusion of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and to mandate the submission of all coverage issues to arbitration. Progressive, on the other hand, argues that its motorcycle policies were not required to include such coverage, nor need it submit coverage issues to arbitration, because these sections did not then apply to motorcycle insurance policies. Thus, to resolve the issue before us, we must determine whether the legislature intended that General Statutes § 38-175a et seq. govern insurance policies covering motorcycles.

Before reaching the merits of this appeal, we must, as a preliminary matter, determine whether the question before us should be decided in arbitration proceedings or by this court. The insureds argue that the issue of whether §§ 38-175a through 38-175e govern motorcycle policies is a "coverage" issue, and as such, must be decided by arbitration as provided by General Statutes § 38-175c(a). ⁶ Since the basis for the duty to arbitrate relied upon by the insureds is § 38-175c(a), however, we must necessarily first determine whether it applies to motorcycle policies.

Recently, we have had the opportunity to examine the scope of § 38-175c(a). In Security Ins. Co. of Hartford v. DeLaurentis, 202 Conn. 178, 188, 520 A.2d 202 (1987), we held that the question of whether a policy's uninsured motorist coverage provision extended benefits to accidents involving underinsured motorists was a question of coverage to be determined by arbitration. In Wilson v. Security Ins. Group, 199 Conn. 618, 623-24, 509 A.2d 467 (1986), we concluded that issues involving fleet stacking and workers' compensation setoffs also involved issues of coverage, and therefore were subject to determination by arbitration. See also Carroll v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 189 Conn. 16, 19-21, 453 A.2d 1158 (1983); Oliva v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 181 Conn. 37, 41-42, 434 A.2d 304 (1980).

This appeal is distinguishable from the cases cited in that here there is a dispute as to whether the dictates of § 38-175c(a) apply to the policies in question, not just a dispute over the scope of the coverage mandated by the section. Because the arbitrability of a dispute is ordinarily a legal question for the courts; Frager v. Pennsylvania General Ins. Co., 155 Conn. 270, 274, 231 A.2d 531 (1967); we conclude that the preliminary determination of whether motorcycle policies are governed by §§ 38-175a through 38-175e is a question to be determined by this court, not an arbitrator. Cf. Board of Education v. Frey, 174 Conn. 578, 580-81, 392 A.2d 466 (1978).

In construing § 38-175a, we must attempt to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature. Rhodes v. Hartford, 201 Conn. 89, 93, 513 A.2d 124 (1986); Norwich v. Silverberg, 200 Conn. 367, 370-71, 511 A.2d 336 (1986); Hayes v. Smith, 194 Conn. 52, 57, 480 A.2d 425 (1984); State v. Delafose, 185 Conn. 517, 521, 441 A.2d 158 (1981); 2A J. Sutherland, Statutory Construction (4th Ed. Sands 1984) § 45.05. "When the words of a statute are plain and unambiguous, we need look no further for interpretative guidance because we assume that the words themselves express the intention of the...