 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Ashe v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car12/17/2003
surety company authorized to transact business in this State.
29 M.R.S.A. § 2708-A(1) (Supp. 1994). It further required that the insurance policy or bond "adequately provide liability insurance for the collection of damages for which . . . the owner of the vehicle may be liable by reason of the operation" of the rented vehicle. 29 M.R.S.A. § 2708-A(5). The current version of the statute contains nearly identical language. 29-A M.R.S.A. § 1611 (1996 & Supp. 2003).
Ashe asserts that when the Legislature enacted mandatory coverage for rental cars, it did not intend that passengers be excluded from accessing that coverage. He argues that the language in section 2708-A shows an intent to require coverage on vehicles held for rent without limitation. This interpretation, Ashe contends, is consistent with the broad public policy embodied in section 2708-A, to ensure that victims of the negligent operation of motor vehicles recover damages for their injuries. In support of his position, Ashe cites cases from other jurisdictions.
Section 2708-A requires owners of rental vehicles to maintain liability protection only for claims for which liability could arise under the law. The obligation to pay insurance or bond proceeds is triggered by the liability of the insured or the principal to the claimant. See Maine State Academy of Hair Design, Inc. v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 1997 ME 188, 19 n.2, 699 A.2d 1153, 1160. Under the facts of this case, there is no such obligation. To rule otherwise would require us to invalidate a statute that specifically excludes recovery by a rental vehicle passenger from an owner. Nothing in the history of section 2708-A indicates that the Legislature intended such a change. To the contrary, the passenger exception to owner/renter joint and several liability continued in effect after mandatory coverage was enacted. See R.S. 1954, ch. 22, § 157; and P.L. 1993, ch. 683, § A-2.
Ashe asks us to give effect to both the passenger exclusion and the mandatory coverage provision by allowing a passenger to recover from mandatory insurance or bond proceeds, but not from the owner's business or personal assets. These statutes have coexisted in Maine law for sixty-eight years. Employing either the plain meaning rule or the canons of construction, we find no basis for interpreting the Maine statutes as Ashe suggests. Section 2708-A does not authorize Ashe's recovery from Enterprise or Travelers.
B. The Reach and Apply Statute
The reach and apply statute, 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2904 (2000), enables a judgment creditor to have "insurance money applied to the satisfaction of the judgment" by bringing an action against the judgment debtor's insurer if the judgment debtor was insured for the liability forming the basis of the judgment. Hunnewell v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 588 A.2d 300, 301-02 (Me. 1991). The statute provides, in relevant part:
Whenever any person, administrator, executor, guardian, recovers a final judgment against any other person for any loss or damage specified in section 2903 [referring to accidental loss or damage due to personal injury , death or accidental damage to property that is covered by insurance], the judgment creditor shall be entitled to have the insurance money applied to the satisfaction of the judgment by bringing a civil action, in his own name, against the insurer to reach and apply the insurance money, if when the right of action accrued, the judgment debtor was insured against such liability and if before the recovery of the judgment the insurer had had notice of such accident, injury or damage.
24-A M.S.R.A. § 2904. A final judgment against the tortfeasor is
Page 1 2 3 4 Maine Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|