Doherty v. Commissioner of Ins.
| Decision Date | 30 November 1951 |
| Citation | 102 N.E.2d 496,328 Mass. 161 |
| Parties | DOHERTY v. COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Joseph Finnegan, Boston, for petitioner.
Francis E. Kelly, Atty. Gen., and Henry P. Fielding, Asst. Atty. Gen., R. Ammi Cutter, Boston, for intervening respondent.
Before QUA, C. J., and LUMMUS, RONAN and SPALDING, JJ.
This petition was brought under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 175, § 113B, St.1935, c. 459, § 4, to review an order of the commissioner made on December 4, 1950, establishing classification of risks and rates to be charged as premiums by companies for the year 1951 in connection with compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance as defined by G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 90, § 34A, as amended. A demurrer filed by the commissioner and demurrers filed by two insurance companies that were allowed to intervene were sustained. The answer of these intervenors setting up special matter in the nature of a plea was sustained by the single justice. The petitioner appealed from decrees entered on these interlocutory matters and from a final decree dismissing the petition.
All the material and substantial allegations of the petition may be briefly stated. It is alleged that the Legislature in enacting § 113B did not intend that the rates for compulsory automobile liability policies should be different for different districts or zones; that the order of the commissioner dividing the Commonwealth into zones and establishing rates for each zone was discriminatory and violative of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and of arts. 1, 10, and 11 of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of this Commonwealth; that the commissioner failed to establish just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory rates for 1951 before September 15, 1950; that it is mathematically impossible to establish adequate, fair, and reasonable rates based upon zones; and that the order fixing the 'expense loading' portion of the rates on a zone basis is contrary to the provisions of Federal and State Constitutions above mentioned and also 'the provisions of G.L. c. 175 and 113B, and St.1935, c. 459.' The specific prayers of the petition are for injunctive relief against the enforcement of the order of December 4, 1950, and for an order to compel the commissioner to promulgate a flat rate for compulsory automobile insurance policies and bonds throughout the Commonwealth.
This summary of the contents of the petition demonstrates that it consists of nothing more than a series of general and broad conclusions, unsupported by any definite and specific averments of facts. It does not attack any subsidiary finding of the commissioner or any particular ruling of law made by him. It was said of a similar petition for review that 'These words [of § 113B as then appearing in St.1929, c. 166] do not mean that by simple petition without more parties are entitled to ask the court to review the whole field covered by the commissioner and make its own finding,' and also that 'The bill must contain allegations setting out with certainty, brevity and adequate degree of particularity the grounds upon which relief is sought.' Brest v. Commissioner of Insurance, 270 Mass. 7, 12, 169 N.E. 657, 659. It was said in Hitchcock v. Examiners for Hampshire County, 301 Mass. 170, 172, 16 N.E.2d 678, 679, See also Wesalo v. Commissioner of Insurance, 299 Mass. 495, 498, 13 N.E.2d 420; Comerford v. Meier, 302 Mass. 398, 404, 19 N.E.2d 711; Houghton v. School Committee of Somerville, 306 Mass. 542, 547, 28 N.E.2d 1001; Robichaud v. Owens-Illinois Glass Co., 313 Mass. 583, 586, 48 N.E.2d 672.
The fact that § 113B provides that the...
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