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Acadia Insurance Co. v. McNeil5/22/1998
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Selya, J.) has certified to us the following question of law, see Sup. Ct. R. 34, concerning a yacht policy issued by the plaintiff, Acadia Insurance Company:
Does the N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. ยง 412:2(II) apply to the liability component of an ocean marine insurance policy issued in New Hampshire? For the reasons stated below, we answer in the affirmative.
The relevant facts are as follows. In July 1995, the plaintiff issued a yacht policy to Michael McNeil (insured). The policy only extended coverage for "private pleasure" use and navigation of the yacht within inland lakes and rivers of five States for seven months of the year. The policy includes a section entitled "liability insurance" extending coverage for damages for all loss of life, bodily injury and property damage which occur during the policy period and for which [the insured] become legally liable to pay by reason of [the insured's] ownership, operation, or maintenance of the insured property. This section excludes coverage "for any liability between or among members of [the insured's] family."
In January 1996, defendant George McNeil, the insured's father, filed an action in superior court against the insured claiming bodily injuries and consequential damages resulting from the insured's negligent operation of his boat. The plaintiff denied coverage and filed a declaratory judgment action against the insured in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. George McNeil filed a petition for declaratory judgment in the superior court seeking a determination that the intra-family claims exclusion is invalid under New Hampshire law. See 412:2, II (Supp. 1997). At the plaintiff's request, the federal district court ordered removal of the state court actions and, subsequently, consolidated them with the declaratory judgment action then pending in the federal district court. When the insured and Acadia cross-moved for summary judgment, the District Court (Barbadoro, J.) ruled that RSA 412:2, II invalidated the intra-family claims exclusion. The plaintiff appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The court of appeals analyzed the predominate purpose of the policy, "as measured by the dimensions of the contingency insured against and the risk assumed," to determine the nature of the insurance. It concluded that the policy "constitutes an ocean marine policy within the federal courts' admiralty jurisdiction" and that the liability section of the policy did not "transform it into a general liability policy," but certified to us the question concerning the applicability of RSA 412:2, II to the liability component of marine insurance policies.
RSA 412:2, II provides that " o liability policy issued or delivered in this state shall contain any exclusion which would preclude coverage for intra-family or inter-spousal claims." (Emphasis added.) The plaintiff essentially argues that the statute applies only to general liability policies, and that the New Hampshire Insurance Code distinguishes marine insurance policies from general liability policies and regulates them separately.
"In matters of statutory interpretation, this court is the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of a statute considered as a whole." Welch v. Director, N.H. Div. of Motor Vehicles, 140 N.H. 6, 8, 662 A.2d 292, 293 (1995) (quotation omitted). We generally discern legislative intent from the plain language of the statute, see Petition of Walker, 138 N.H. 471, 474, 641 A.2d 1021, 1024 (1994), but we may "review legislative history to aid in our analysis," K & J Assoc. v. City
Page 1 2 3 4 New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorneys
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