Ladouceur v. Hanover Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 13 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-524-A,95-524-A
• Citation: 682 A.2d 467
• Parties: Robert LADOUCEUR et al. v. The HANOVER INSURANCE COMPANY, et al. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 467

682 A.2d 467

Robert LADOUCEUR et al. v. The HANOVER INSURANCE COMPANY, et al.

No. 95-524-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Sept. 13, 1996.

Michael J. Gardiner, Cranston, for Plaintiff.

Peter A. Clarkin, Cranston, for Defendant.

Before MURRAY, BOURCIER and FLANDERS, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

This case comes before us on the appeal of the plaintiff, ¹ Robert Ladouceur, from a summary judgment entered by the Superior Court in favor of the defendants, Hanover Insurance Company and Massachusetts Bay Insurance Company (Hanover), ² dismissing plaintiff's complaint alleging Hanover improperly refused his claim under the uninsured-motorist provisions of his insurance policy. Both parties were ordered to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. Having considered the parties' arguments, we conclude that cause has not been shown and that the issues presented by this appeal can be decided at this time.

The dispositive issue is whether G.L.1956 § 27-7-2.1 (the uninsured-motorist statute) ³ requires an insured seeking a recovery of uninsured-motorist benefits to prove that a third-party tortfeasor from whom the insured is legally entitled to recover damages is in fact an owner or an operator of an uninsured, underinsured, or "hit and run" motor vehicle within the meaning of those terms as they are used in the uninsured-motorist statute. We hold that the statute does contain such a requirement as a condition precedent to the recovery of uninsured-motorist benefits and that, in response to the insurer's summary-judgment motion, plaintiff failed to come forward with any trial-worthy evidence to sustain his burden on this point.

The material facts in this matter are undisputed. On February 11, 1993, plaintiff was about to enter a Home Depot store located in Warwick, Rhode Island, when he noticed an elderly couple in the parking lot who were having difficulty loading a door into their automobile. While plaintiff was attempting to assist in loading the door into the couple's car, the elderly man suddenly dropped his end, causing plaintiff to injure the muscles in his right arm. At the time of the accident, plaintiff knew he was hurt, but he was unaware of the ultimate severity of this injury or of the fact that it was potentially compensable either under his own insurance coverage or from whatever liability insurance may have existed with respect to the car used by the elderly couple. Consequently he made no attempt to ascertain this couple's identity or to determine whether they had any insurance that might cover his eventual claims.

Five months later, in July of 1993, in an unsuccessful attempt to identify the nameless couple he had briefly encountered in Home Depot's parking lot, plaintiff filed suit against "John Doe" and subpoenaed the records of Home Depot. Then, in October of 1993, some eight months after the accident, plaintiff contacted his insurer and submitted a claim for uninsured-motorist benefits under the provisions of his own policy issued to him by Hanover. After Hanover denied coverage, plaintiff brought the present action in Superior Court. Later, both parties moved for summary judgment. A Superior Court justice granted Hanover's motion for summary judgment on the basis that plaintiff had failed to adduce any evidence that the other vehicle was uninsured or that the unidentified elderly man was the owner or the operator of an uninsured or hit-and-run motor vehicle under the applicable provisions of the uninsured-motorist statute and plaintiff's policy with Hanover.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that his failure to ascertain the other motorist's identity or to discover any information pertaining to the other vehicle's insurance coverage should not bar him from recovering uninsured-motorist benefits under his own policy because at the time of the accident he did not realize that his injury was serious or that it might be covered under his own policy for this type of car-loading injury. He also argues that denying him uninsured-motorist coverage violates the primary purpose underlying the uninsured-motorist statute, which is to indemnify an insured motorist for loss when recovery from the uninsured tortfeasor is unavailable. See, e.g., Amica Mutual Insurance Co. v. Streicker, 583 A.2d 550, 553 (R.I.1990).

Section 27-7-2.1 states that in each liability-insurance policy an insurer must provide some minimum protection against property damage and personal injury caused by an uninsured or a hit-and-run motor vehicle for the protection of persons insured thereunder. In enacting the uninsured-motorist statute, "the legislature intended that, as a matter of public policy, protection should be given the named insured in such policies against economic loss resulting from injuries sustained by reason of the negligent operation of uninsured motor vehicles or hit-and-run motor vehicles." (Emphasis added.) Aldcroft v Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, 106 R.I. 311, 318, 259 A.2d 408, 413 (1969). In 1985 the Legislature expanded the definition of uninsured motorist to include an underinsured motorist. See P.L.1985, ch. 197, § 1. The legislative purpose of the statute was not, however, "to guard against all economic loss," and we have held that reasonable limitations will be imposed on the construction of the uninsured-motorist statute to "afford[ ] insurers some financial protection" from unwarranted claims. Streicker, 583 A.2d at 553 (quoting DiTata v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 542 A.2d 245, 248 (R.I.1988)). Such limitations include the requirement that an insured present credible evidence that his or her injury was caused by the owner or operator of an uninsured, an underinsured, or a hit-and-run motor vehicle before a recovery of benefits will be allowed.

An insured claimant can recover uninsured/underinsured-motorist benefits from his or her own insurance carrier only if there is evidence that his or her damages exceed the limits of the tortfeasor's liability...