Dubreuil v. Allstate Ins. Co.
Decision Date | 11 July 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 84-10-A,84-10-A |
Citation | 511 A.2d 300 |
Parties | Vincent DUBREUIL v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE CO. ppeal. |
Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This case is before the court on plaintiff's appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment. We affirm.
Allstate Insurance Company had issued to the plaintiff, Vincent Dubreuil, an insurance contract with bodily-injury limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident and uninsured-motorist coverage in sums of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Allstate did not offer uninsured-motorist coverage in excess of these limits.
The plaintiff was seriously injured by an uninsured motorist. Allstate paid him up to the $25,000 limit under his uninsured-motorist coverage. Thereafter, he brought suit to recover for further expenses and damages that he claimed would have been paid to him if his uninsured-motorist coverage had allowed for more than the minimum amount provided for by statute. G.L. 1956 (1979 Reenactment) § 27-7-2.1 P.L. 1981, ch. 251, § 2 and G.L. 1956 (1982 Reenactment) § 31-31-7. Paragraphs 4 and 5 of Count 1 of Dubreuil's complaint state:
Allstate moved for summary judgment, which was granted.
In an affidavit filed in response to the motion for summary judgment plaintiff claimed that Allstate's agent, in answer to a direct inquiry, informed him that uninsured-motorist coverage could not be obtained in Rhode Island in amounts in excess of the statutory minimum amounts. The complaint, however, does not allege negligent misrepresentation, only failure to inform. The plaintiff made no effort to amend the complaint to include a claim of misrepresentation. Therefore, it was not an issue before the trial court and will not be considered here on appeal. Cok v. Cok, 479 A.2d 1184 (R.I.1984). The only issues entitled to review in this court are those properly raised in the proceedings below. Zito v. Cassara, 109 R.I. 112, 114, 281 A.2d 303, 304 (1971).
In reviewing the grant of a motion for summary judgment, this court applies the same rules as the trial court. This review includes an examination of the pleadings and affidavits viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Only when our review reveals no issues of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, will we uphold the trial justice's order granting summary judgment. Barratt v. Burlingham, 492 A.2d 1219 (R.I.1985). Therefore, in order for plaintiff to have prevailed against the motion for summary judgment, it was necessary that he establish, as a matter of law, that the Allstate agent was obligated to tell him that other carriers sold uninsured-motorist coverage in amounts in excess of those sold by Allstate. The plaintiff was unable to do so because no such duty exists under Rhode Island law.
Up to this time neither the Rhode Island Legislature nor this court has imposed an affirmative duty upon insurance agents to inform prospective customers about coverage available from other insurers. We find no authority, nor is any cited by plaintiff, that would require an insurance salesperson to inform a prospective insured of every form or limit of coverage that is available through competitors. In Rhode Island it is the law that no policy for automobile insurance may be sold without offering to the insured uninsured-motorist coverage. Section 27-7-2.1. The minimum levels for this coverage are fixed by the statute in the amounts of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident. The statute sets only minimum insurance-coverage limits, a fact that this court recognized in Pickering v....
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...or guardians of the insured [, which] goes well beyond anything required by law or dictated by common sense.'" Dubreuil v. Allstate Ins. Co., 511 A.2d 300, 302 (R.I.1986) (citation Still other decisions recognize that the view espoused by appellant could readily encourage an insured who suf......
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Emhart Industries, Inc. v. Home Ins. Co., C.A. No. 02-53 S.
...each labors under a misconception respecting the same terms of the written agreement sought to be [reformed]." Dubreuil v. Allstate Ins. Co., 511 A.2d 300, 302-03 (R.I.1986). Because contract law attaches great weight to the written expression of an agreement, mutuality of mistake must be p......
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...respect to reflect correctly their prior understanding. See Yates v. Hill, 761 A.2d 677, 680 (R.I. 2000); Dubreuil v. Allstate Insurance Co., 511 A.2d 300, 302-03 (R.I. 1986); Hopkins v. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, 107 R.I. 679, 685, 270 A.2d 915, 918 (1970). ......
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