Title: O'Deane v. C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 
State: Vermont
Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court
Date: November 1, 1990

O'Deane v. C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. Annotate this Case ENTRY ORDER SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 89-443 NOVEMBER TERM, 1990 Philip O'Deane } APPEALED FROM: } } v. } Windham Superior Court } } C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., } and American Mutual Liability } DOCKET NO. S323-86Wmc Insurance Company } In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter: Following the appointment of the Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner as permanent receiver of defendant American Mutual, an insolvent Massachusetts Insurance Company, the company, pursuant to 8 V.S.A. { 3596, moved to dis- miss the action brought against it by plaintiff. The court denied the motion. Section 3596 states in relevant part, "[N]o action . . . against such insurer [in receivership in a reciprocal state], shall be . . . continued in the courts of this state . . . ." Under the circumstances of this case, the plain meaning of this statute does not give a Vermont court any dis- cretion to deny a motion to dismiss when an insurer such as American Mutual is undergoing a proceeding for rehabilitation, reorganization or liquidation in a qualifying foreign jurisdiction. Massachusetts is a "reciprocal state" insofar as relevant to this case if { 3596 is "in substance and effect . . . in force" in Massachusetts. 8 V.S.A. { 3591. We hold that Massachusetts Insurers Liquidation Law, 175 M.G.L. {{ 180A-L, is sufficiently similar to Vermont's counterpart, 8 V.S.A. chapter 101, subchapter 8, in relevant respects to qualify Massachusetts as a "reciprocal state." Section 180F of the Massachusetts law provides for the appointment of an ancillary receiver in Vermont to process Vermont claims in similar fashion as 8 V.S.A. { 3592 makes provision for appointment of a referee to process Massachusetts claims in Massachusetts. Reversed. BY THE COURT: Ernest W. Gibson III, Associate Justice [ ] Publish John A. Dooley, Associate Justice [ ] Do Not Publish James L. Morse, Associate Justice Louis P. Peck, Associate Justice (Ret.), Specially Assigned