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Desjarlais v. USAA Insurance Co.6/9/2003
Must any derivative claims for loss of consortium, society, and companionship be joined with the underlying personal-injury and the uninsured/underinsured motorist (UIM) claims of any spouse or parent who was injured in an accident (the impaired party)? Or can the impaired party's spouse and children (the deprived parties) later initiate and maintain one or more separate actions seeking to recover for their alleged loss of consortium and society after the impaired party has settled, arbitrated, or litigated his or her claims?
Unless the deprived parties can affirmatively demonstrate that joinder of their derivative claims with those of the impaired party was not feasible before the impaired party settled, arbitrated, or litigated his or her claims, we hold that the deprived parties must join their claims with those of the impaired party before the impaired party settles his or her claims, obtains an arbitration award, or before a judgment adjudicating the impaired party's claims has become final, whichever event first occurs.
Although we reaffirm that the derivative claims of the deprived parties constitute separate claims, we hold that joinder of such claims with the impaired party's underlying tort and UIM claims is mandatory whenever it is feasible to do so. The purpose of this mandatory-joinder rule is to avoid duplicative litigation, potentially inconsistent results, and possible multiple recoveries against the same defendants for related claims that can and should be resolved at the same time. See Super. R. Civ. P. 19 ("Joinder of persons needed for just adjudication."). Here, because the deprived spouse failed to demonstrate that joinder of her derivative claims was not feasible before the impaired party settled his underlying tort claims and arbitrated his UIM claim, we affirm the Superior Court's summary judgment in favor of defendant UIM insurance carrier, USAA Insurance Company (USAA).
Facts and Travel
We recently addressed this same factual situation when we passed on the merits of the impaired party's UIM claim in Desjarlais v. USAA Insurance Co., 818 A.2d 645, 646-47 (R.I. 2003) (per curiam) (Desjarlais I). Thus, we have no need to replow this same ground in this case. Suffice it to say that the salient facts pertinent to this appeal and to Desjarlais I arose from a motor-vehicle accident on February 7, 1995, involving David Desjarlais (Desjarlais or impaired party), and another motorist, Jon K. Polis (Polis or the alleged tortfeasor). Id. at 646-47. After the accident, Desjarlais asserted a claim against Polis, whose liability insurer was Nationwide Insurance. Eventually, Desjarlais settled his claim against Polis when Polis's liability insurer, Nationwide, paid him the policy limits of $100,000. Desjarlais's own UIM insurer, defendant USAA, consented to this settlement. At no point during the pendency of this tort claim, however, did Desjarlais's wife, Nancy L. Desjarlais, who is plaintiff in this case, assert her derivative claims against Polis, much less did she seek to join them with the tort claims of Desjarlais. Indeed, plaintiff made no attempt to notify Polis, Nationwide, or USAA of these derivative claims until after Desjarlais had settled and released his claim against the alleged tortfeasor and arbitrated his UIM claim against USAA.
Thus, after obtaining a policy-limits settlement from the alleged tortfeasor, Desjarlais then sought an additional recovery from his own UIM insurer, USAA. Ultimately, the parties submitted his UIM claim to binding arbitration. On July 6, 2001, a panel of arbitrators issued an award in favor of USAA, finding that the damages Desjarlais incurred as a result of the automobile accident were ins
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