Whitehouse v. Rumford Property and Liability Ins. Co.
Decision Date | 22 May 1995 |
Docket Number | No. 93-700-A,93-700-A |
Citation | 658 A.2d 506 |
Parties | Sheldon WHITEHOUSE, Director of Business Regulation for the State of Rhode Island, Receiver v. RUMFORD PROPERTY AND LIABILITY INSURANCE COMPANY and Rumford Life Insurance Company. ppeal. |
Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
The Rhode Island Insurers' Insolvency Fund (insolvency fund) has appealed to the Supreme Court from an order entered in the Superior Court allowing Sprint Systems of Photography, Inc. (Sprint), to file an out-of-time claim with Sheldon Whitehouse, 1 Director of Business Regulation for the State of Rhode Island, Receiver of Rumford Property and Liability Insurance Company (Rumford). For the reasons stated below, we sustain the appeal and reverse the order. The facts insofar as pertinent to this appeal follow.
Rumford provided multiperil insurance to Sprint on an occurrence basis from September 13, 1989, through September 13, 1990. On June 18, 1990, the Superior Court entered a decree declaring Rumford insolvent and canceling all service contracts executed by Rumford as of midnight July 18, 1990. This decree also ordered each creditor and claimant to file a written statement of any claim against Rumford with the Receiver by June 18, 1991.
In November 1992, Jill Englehardt (Englehardt) brought an action against Sprint, alleging that she sustained personal injury on November 7, 1989, during the period Sprint was covered by the occurrence policy. Sprint received indirect notice of Englehardt's suit for the first time in April 1993 and forwarded notice to its agent, who in turn forwarded notice to Rumford, in receivership, on May 5, 1993. After Rumford forwarded notice to the insolvency fund on May 13, 1993, the insolvency fund declined coverage on the basis that the time for filing claims had expired on June 18, 1991.
When the Receiver would not voluntarily agree to allow Sprint to file an out-of-time claim, Sprint petitioned the Superior Court. The insolvency fund intervened, and along with the Receiver, objected to the petition. Nevertheless, after a hearing, the Superior Court granted Sprint's petition in October of 1993, 2 more than two years after the bar date of June 18, 1991.
Although the Receiver did not appeal the Superior Court order allowing Sprint's claim, the insolvency fund asserted on appeal that the Superior Court erred because G.L.1956 (1989 Reenactment) § 27-34-8(a)(1)(iii) of the Rhode Island Insurers' Insolvency Fund Act (the act) statutorily prohibits the insolvency fund from treating out-of-time claims as covered claims and thus precludes a court from exercising discretion to deviate from the bar date for the filing of claims.
Sprint also argued that the Superior Court was authorized to grant the petition under its equity powers, and the Receiver maintained that the Superior Court exercised discretionary power under Rule 6(b) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure to enlarge time to permit Sprint's claim.
Statutory Construction of the Act
This precise issue is one of first impression in this state. In order to determine whether the Superior Court properly exercised discretion to allow Sprint to file a claim beyond the bar date, we must examine the Insurers' Insolvency Fund Act. General Laws 1956 (1989 Reenactment) chapter 34 of title 27. Initially enacted in 1970, the act was repealed on July 1, 1988, by a subsequent act that contained provisions substantially similar to those currently in effect, P.L.1970, ch. 166, § 1; P.L.1988, ch. 407, § 1.
In construing a statute, this court has the responsibility of effectuating the intent of the Legislature by examining the statute in its entirety and giving words their plain and ordinary meaning. In re Falstaff Brewing Corp., 637 A.2d 1047, 1049 (R.I.1994). It is well settled that when a statute has a plain, clear, and unambiguous meaning, no interpretation is required. Krupa v. Murray, 557 A.2d 868, 869 (R.I.1989).
It is the conclusion of this court that the language of § 27-34-8(a)(1)(iii) is plain and unambiguous. The subsection clearly states that "a covered claim shall not include any claim filed with the fund after the final date set by the court," language that evinces an unambiguous legislative intent to exclude any claim filed after the bar date. Accordingly, we must reject the arguments of Sprint and of the Receiver because their contentions contradict the clear terms of the statute. There exists no basis, therefore, on which the Superior Court could exercise discretion...
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