Case Title: Feeney v. Hanover Ins. Co.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 1998-me-124-0

State: maine

Court: Maine Supreme Court

Date: 1998-05-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
Decided May 28, 1998. *1297 Joseph L. Bornstein (orally), Portland, for plaintiff. James D. Poliquin (orally), Norman, Hanson & DeTroy, Portland, for defendant. Before WATHEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, and LIPEZ, JJ. CLIFFORD, Justice. [¶ 1] Joseph P. Feeney appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Saufley, J.) in favor of defendant Hanover Insurance Co. Feeney contends that the court erred in interpreting the uninsured vehicle statute and in concluding that Hanover's policy provided no uninsured/underinsured motor vehicle coverage for Feeney's claim. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment. [¶ 2] Feeney drank alcohol with friends and acquaintances at various places on Peaks Island throughout the afternoon and evening of April 26, 1993, and spent much of the evening at Jones Landing, a local restaurant. Toward midnight Feeney left the Landing with four acquaintances: Molly Mellen, who was a bartender at Jones Landing, Jack Gray, Michael Zamek, and John Carpenter. Feeney could walk and talk but was extremely intoxicated; all but Mellen had been drinking. The group left in Carpenter's flatbed truck, with Carpenter ultimately intending to drop Feeney off at his house on the outside shore of the island. En route, the group stopped at a coastal rock outcrop known as the Whale Back for about an hour. Sitting 15 to 25 feet in front of the parked truck, Carpenter talked with Gray about Carpenter's marital problems. Carpenter had had four to six beers at the Landing, and consumed two or three more at the Whale Back. Feeney got off the bed of the truck and got into the cab, where he fell asleep or passed out. Mellen and Zamek talked near the truck, and each consumed a beer. Zamek noticed Feeney and decided to "go roust him" by opening the passenger door against which Feeney was leaning. When Zamek opened the door, Feeney fell out and landed head first on a large rock. [¶ 3] Carpenter, sitting alone some distance from the truck, apparently did not see the incident. Mellen and Gray helped Feeney, who was conscious and swearing at Zamek, into the truck.[2] Feeney stated that he wanted to ride in the back, so he got out, on his own, and climbed into the bed of the truck. The group drove to Mellen's house with Gray holding Feeney with one arm. At Mellen's house Feeney did not get out of the truck; Mellen had to go back and convince him to come in out of the cold, and she helped him walk into the house. Mellen helped Feeney remove his wind breaker and sneakers, and put him in a bed. The next morning she heard him calling her name and *1298 saying that he could not move. When she went into his room he was paralyzed and in obvious pain. She called the police, and he was transported to Maine Medical Center, where he remained paralyzed for several days. [¶ 4] Feeney suffered a fractured neck requiring significant medical intervention, the cost for which the parties stipulate exceeds $100,000, the limit on the uninsured motorists clause of the Hanover policy held by Feeney's father and under which Feeney was an insured. Because Zamek had no motor vehicle liability insurance at the time of the incident and Carpenter had coverage of only $20,000, Carpenter's vehicle was underinsured pursuant to the uninsured vehicle statute.[3] Feeney asserted a claim against Hanover under the uninsured motorists coverage clause of the policy, alleging that both Zamek and Carpenter were tortfeasors who had caused his injury. [¶ 5] As to the allegations implicating Zamek, the court rejected Feeney's theory that he was legally entitled to recover from Zamek as an operator of Carpenter's underinsured vehicle and granted a partial summary judgment to Hanover. [¶ 6] As to Hanover's liability to Feeney arising from Carpenter's conduct, the court concluded there were material facts in dispute, and denied a summary judgment. The court heard the case and decided it following a non-jury trial. The parties stipulated that the sole issues before the court were the nature and extent of the duty owed by Carpenter to Feeney, whether there was a breach of that duty, and whether any such breach resulted in Hanover's liability to Feeney pursuant to its uninsured/underinsured motor vehicle policy. The court concluded that by volunteering to take Feeney home, Carpenter assumed a duty to conduct himself in a reasonable manner toward Feeney. It found, however, that Feeney failed to prove that Carpenter breached that duty. Accordingly, because Feeney was not legally entitled to recover for his injuries from Carpenter as the owner or operator of the underinsured vehicle, the uninsured/underinsured provisions of Hanover's policy were not implicated, and judgment was entered for Hanover. This appeal by Feeney followed. I. [¶ 7] Feeney contends that the court erred in granting a partial summary judgment to Hanover based on Zamek's conduct. He argues that Zamek was an operator of Carpenter's truck when he caused Feeney's injury, and because Feeney is legally entitled to recover from Zamek for his injuries, Feeney's damages are covered by the uninsured motorist clause of the Hanover policy.[4] Feeney thus alleges that Zamek qualified as an "operator" of the truck pursuant to the uninsured vehicle statute,[5] by virtue of opening *1299 the door against which Feeney was leaning. We disagree. [¶ 8] An automobile insurance policy "is presumed to incorporate all relevant mandatory provisions of the statutes under which it was made." Wescott v. Allstate Ins., 397 A.2d 156 , 166 (Me.1979) (construing 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2902). Thus the Hanover policy insuring Feeney must be interpreted consistently with the uninsured vehicle coverage provisions found in 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2902 (1990). [¶ 9] In construing the uninsured motor vehicle statute, we are guided by the rule that the "fundamental rule in statutory construction is that words must be given their plain meaning." McGillivray v. Royal Ins. Co., 675 A.2d 524 , 526 (Me.1996) (refusing to construe "party's" in § 2902 as pertaining to multiple parties). Feeney would have us interpret the words "operate" and "use" in § 2902(1) as synonymous and thus broadly inclusive of such acts as Zamek's opening the truck door. Section 2902(1), however, is triggered only when the insured (in this case Feeney) is legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of underinsured vehicles. Because Zamek did not own the truck, Hanover would be liable to Feeney only if Zamek could be deemed an operator. [¶ 10] Contrary to Feeney's contention, the definitional section of the motor vehicle statute, 29-A M.R.S.A. § 101, does not support the conclusion that Feeney operated the vehicle: (48) Operator. "Operator" means an individual who drives or is in control of a vehicle or who is exercising control over or steering a towed vehicle. We cannot accept Feeney's conclusory assertion that although Zamek was not free to drive Carpenter's vehicle, he was in control of the vehicle in its parked state, because Carpenter had "temporarily surrendered control of the vehicle while he sat some twenty feet away." There is no evidence in the record of this purported surrender, nor any evidence that Zamek was trying to reach the controls of the vehicle; he merely opened the passenger door from the outside. Because Zamek's purported use of the truck did not constitute operation, he was not an operator, and summary judgment was correctly entered on Feeney's claim of coverage based on his entitlement to recover from Zamek. II. [¶ 11] Unlike Zamek, Carpenter held title to the truck and is indisputably an "owner or operator" for purposes of the policy and the uninsured vehicle statute. If Carpenter in fact breached a duty of care to Feeney, by the terms of the policy Hanover would owe Feeney, as its insured, compensation for injury arising out of Carpenter's ownership or operation. The court concluded, based on the legal duty that arises when one takes charge of another who is helpless,[6] that once Carpenter agreed to take the visibly intoxicated Feeney home, he had a duty to conform to the legal standard of reasonable conduct in light of the apparent risk.[7] Feeney *1300 failed to persuade the court, however, that Carpenter did not act reasonably or exercise ordinary care. [¶ 12] Whether a party has breached a duty of care to another is a question of fact. See Welch v. McCarthy, 677 A.2d 1066 , 1069 (Me.1996). The court's findings reflect the lack of evidence showing Carpenter's behavior to be unreasonable.[8] Feeney offers only the single conclusory statement that Carpenter left "the helpless Feeney in the truck under the care of a seriously impaired co-passenger [Zamek]." Feeney falls far short of showing that the court was compelled to find that Carpenter breached any duty to Feeney. See Dawson v. Lussier, 632 A.2d 128 , 129 (Me.1993) ("A trial court's finding that a party failed to carry his or her burden of proof on a factual issue will be reversed on appeal only if the nature of the evidence is such that the factfinder would be compelled to believe it.") (citing Gonthier v. Horne, 576 A.2d 745 (Me.1990)). [¶ 13] All of Feeney's theories of liability as to Carpenter require either that Carpenter knew or had reason to know of the necessity and opportunity to control Zamek,[9] or that Carpenter permitted Zamek to operate the vehicle.[10] The Superior Court's well-supported finding that Zamek's unexpected and unusual action was not something that *1301 Carpenter could or should have reasonably foreseen, and its conclusion that Feeney presented no facts in support of any claim that Zamek had permission from Carpenter to operate the truck, were not erroneous. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.