General Acc. Fire & Life Assur. Corp. v. Brow

• Citation: 98 N.E.2d 608,327 Mass. 225
• Parties: GENERAL ACCIDENT FIRE & LIFE ASSUR. CORP. v. BROW et al.
• Decision Date: 19 March 1951
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 608

98 N.E.2d 608

327 Mass. 225

GENERAL ACCIDENT FIRE & LIFE ASSUR. CORP. v. BROW et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Argued Nov. 8, 1950.

Decided March 19, 1951.

P. S. Ratzkoff, Boston, for plaintiff.

W. S. Monahan, Milton, for defendant Cicchini.

Before QUA, C. J., and LUMMUS, RONAN, WILKINS and COUNIHAN, JJ.

COUNIHAN, Justice.

This is a bill in equity under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 231A, as inserted by St. 1945, c. 582, § 1, by an insurer, seeking a determination of its obligations under a compulsory motor vehicle liability policy issued to Brow, one of the defendants, under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 90, § 34A, as amended. The other defendants were made parties because of an accident in which the motor vehicle covered by the policy was involved. The accident happened on B Street, Union Village, a veterans' housing development, in Braintree, on October 18, 1848.

The only issue is whether or not B Street is a way within the meaning of G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 90, § 1.

The judge made a finding of material facts in which he found that B Street was such a way, and entered a decree accordingly. From this decree the plaintiff appealed. The evidence is reported and from it we may draw such inferences as may be warranted in addition to the findings of the judge.

We find that Union Village is a veterans' housing development built on land of Braintree and by the town sometime in July, 1946, by virtue of St.1946, c. 372, as amended, effective May 23, 1946, parts of which are quoted below. ¹

The main street of this development is Village Avenue, and from it run four streets called A, B, C, and D, all laid out and provided by the town in connection with the development. None of these streets was laid out or ever accepted by the town under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 82. B Street is about one hundred feet long and fifteen feet wide, and two houses have been built on each side of it. Its surface is of a hard tar composition, and sewer, water, and gas pipes have been placed in it by the town. Street lights have been installed on Village Avenue. From the erection of the houses in this development in 1946 to the date of the accident all of the street have been used constantly by pleasure and commercial motor vehicles. Parking areas are provided on each of the streets, and the general public has had access to the streets for any purpose for which public ways in the Commonwealth are customarily used by the public.

There was no error in the action of the judge.

Under § 34A of c. 90 the motor vehicle liability policy covers the operation of a motor vehicle upon the ways of the Commonwealth. In § 1 of c. 90 a way is defined as any public highway or private way laid out under authority of statute.

This veterans' housing development was provided by the town by virtue of St. 1946, c. 372, § 4, or § 6. From the record we are unable to determine exactly under which section of the statute this development was built, but we assume in favor of the plaintiff that it was under s. 4. By § 4 towns were authorized to provide temporary shelter for veterans by several methods of which the following is here relevant: '(d) By purchasing, leasing or acquiring * * * one or more tracts of land * * * preparing such tracts for occupancy * * * and permitting veterans to occupy such tracts with dwelling units of a temporary nature * * *' (emphasis supplied). Section 6 provides so far as here material that a town may expend money and take such other action as is suitable and necessary for the purpose of providing permanent shelter for veterans by acquiring one or more tracts of land suitable for a housing development, subdividing such tracts into parcels of adequate size for house lots, 'laying out and providing or causing to be provided ways, public and private, and other public utilities for the use of the development, to such extent as it deems necessary or advisable' (emphasis supplied).

It is true that § 4 contains no provisions similar to that contained in § 6 expressly authorizing a town to lay out and provide ways public or private in connection with veterans' housing developments. We are of opinion, however, that the language of § 4, which authorizes a town to prepare for occupancy tracts of land acquired under this section for temporary veterans' housing, by implication necessarily authorizes a town to lay out and provide ways, public or private, to provide suitable access to the dwelling units erected on such tracts of land. It would appear therefore that whether B Street was laid out and provided under either § 4 or § 6 is of little consequence. In any event it was a way, public or private, we need not decide which for the purposes of this case, laid out under authority of statute and therefore within the meaning of c. 90, § 1.

Indeed it would seem that the plaintiff recognizes this when it says in its brief, 'The definition of 'way' in that section [c. 90, § 1] includes and extends to ways which are not technically public ways. That is inherent in the very language of § 1 itself, which defines 'way' as including in addition to 'any public highway' * * * [any] 'private way laid out under authority of statute * * *.' It is clear, however, from the language of § 1 of c. 90, the legislative intent in enacting the compulsory automobile insurance law and the decisions of this court that the expression 'ways of the commonwealth' was meant to include in addition to public ways only certain familiar and wellrecognized categories of ways, not technically public highways, but so...