Opinion ID: 1209906
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the context of the statute points away from the majority's interpretation

Text: ORS 742.504(2)(g) provides: `Phantom vehicle' means a vehicle which causes bodily injury to an insured arising out of a motor vehicle accident which is caused by an automobile which has no physical contact with the insured or the vehicle which the insured is occupying at the time of the accident, provided: (A) There cannot be ascertained the identity of either the operator or the owner of such phantom vehicle. (B) The facts of such accident can be corroborated by competent evidence other than the testimony of the insured or any person having an uninsured motorist claim resulting from the accident; and (C) The insured or someone on behalf of the insured shall have reported the accident within 72 hours to a police, peace or judicial officer, to the Department of Transportation of the State of Oregon or to the equivalent department in the state where the accident occurred, and shall have filed with the insurer within 30 days thereafter a statement under oath that the insured or the legal representative of the insured has a cause or causes of action arising out of such accident for damages against a person or persons whose identity is unascertainable, and setting forth the facts in support thereof. (Emphasis added.) Plaintiffs read subparagraph (B) of that provision as foreclosing corroboration by any person having an uninsured motorist claim resulting from the accident at the time the person testifies. Defendant argues that the phrase in question forecloses corroboration by any person having an uninsured motorist claim resulting from the accident at the time of the accident. Both readings require an implicit addition to the statute. Both are plausible in grammar and in context. As the majority recognizes, the statute that we are called on to construe is ambiguous. The immediate context on which the majority relies to support its reading as being the more persuasive one, however, is not plausible. 319 Or. at ___ - ___, 873 P.2d at 1076-1077. ORS 742.504(2)(g) sets out three requirements for uninsured motorist coverage for a phantom vehicle accident. Nothing in the structure or logic of paragraph (g) requires that all three requirements relate to the same time. Subparagraph (C) requires that, within specified time periods after an accident, a report and a filing relating to the accident be made to the appropriate entities. The fact that that provision focuses on a time other than the time of the accident reflects, not a choice on the part of the legislature, but merely recognition of the practical reality that such reporting and filing requirements could not physically be met at the time of the accident. That practical consideration is irrelevant to the determination of the legislature's intent in enacting the requirement, in subparagraph (B), relating to corroborating testimony. Similarly, the requirement established in subparagraph (A), relating to ascertainment of the identity of the operator or owner of the vehicle, is substantively unrelated to, and therefore sheds no light on, the requirement set out in subparagraph (B). In short, the three requirements relating to accidents involving phantom vehicles, set out in ORS 742.504(2)(g), are so different from one another that the requirements in subparagraphs (A) and (C) of that provision do not provide a meaningful context for interpreting the requirement in subparagraph (B). Another portion of the uninsured motorist coverage statutewhich the majority does not discussprovides somewhat more insight into the proper interpretation of ORS 742.504(2)(g)(B). ORS 742.504(2)(f) provides for uninsured motorist coverage for accidents involving hit-and-run vehicles, that is, vehicles which cause[] bodily injury to an insured arising out of physical contact of such vehicle[s] with the insured or with a vehicle which the insured is occupying at the time of the accident. In order for uninsured motorist coverage to apply under that statute, three requirements must be met: the identity of either the operator or the owner of the vehicle must be unascertainable, ORS 742.504(2)(f)(A); the insured must meet certain reporting and filing deadlines relating to the accident, ORS 742.504(2)(f)(B); and, at the insurer's request, the insured must make available for inspection the vehicle which the insured was occupying at the time of accident, ORS 742.504(2)(f)(C). Two of the three requirements of the hit-and-run vehicle statute directly parallel the requirements of the phantom vehicle statute: the requirements relating to unascertainability of the identity of the owner or operator of the vehicle and the reporting and filing requirements. In addition, the third requirement in the hit-and-run vehicle statutethe requirement that the vehicle be made available for inspectionarguably also parallels the third requirement in the phantom vehicle statutethe requirement that a certain category of witness corroborate the facts of the accident. That is because each of those requirements involves a means of corroborating the occurrence and circumstances of the accident. The fact that the means of corroboration relating to accidents involving hit-and-run vehicles involves an examination of circumstances as they existed at the time of the accident suggests that the means of corroboration relating to a phantom vehicle accident also properly relates to the circumstances of the accident, at the time it occurred. Corroborative testimony for phantom vehicle accidents is the functional equivalent of physical contact for hit-and-run accidents. Although the foregoing context is helpful, and although it supports defendant's reading of the statute somewhat, it is not conclusive. Therefore, like the majority, I next examine the legislative history of ORS 742.504(2)(g). See PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or. 606, 611-12, 859 P.2d 1143 (1993) (if the text and context of statute do not make clear the intent of the legislature, this court considers the legislative history of statute).