Opinion ID: 2202709
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Heading: the validity of the family members exclusion under coverage aa

Text: The Rhode Island Legislature has not enacted a compulsory motor-vehicle-insurance statute. It has provided in G.L. 1956 (1979 Reenactment) § 27-7-1 that [e]very policy hereafter written insuring against liability for    personal injur[y]    shall contain provisions to the effect that the insurer shall be directly liable to the injured party and    to pay him the amount of damages for which such insured is liable. This statutory provision does not in any way describe the scope of the coverage or the persons to whom such coverage shall be extended. Salim argues that the decisions of this court abrogating the doctrine of interspousal immunity, Digby v. Digby, 120 R.I. 299, 388 A.2d 1 (1978), and parental-child immunity, Silva v. Silva, R.I., 446 A.2d 1013 (1982), in effect would invalidate such family exclusions on the ground that they are violative of the public policy of this state as enunciated in the foregoing judicial decisions. However, this argument misses the mark since Silva and Digby did not purport to determine the scope of contract between an insurer and an insured, but only to determine the right of action between parent and child on the one hand, and husband and wife on the other hand. In this state we have recognized that generally a person is free to obtain liability insurance or not as he chooses unless and until, as a result of inability to pay a judgment arising out of an accident or by virtue of committing certain offenses against the motor-vehicle code, the financial-responsibility statutes become applicable. See Amick v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., R.I., 455 A.2d 793, 795 (1983); Allstate Insurance Co. v. Fusco, 101 R.I. 350, 355, 223 A.2d 447, 450 (1966); Berberian v. Lussier, 87 R.I. 226, 232, 139 A.2d 869, 872 (1958). [1] In the case at bar there is no suggestion that the provisions of G.L. 1956 (1982 Reenactment) chapter 31 of title 31, or chapter 32 of title 31 (requirement of proof of financial responsibility) were in any way applicable to Salim or Lena. In the absence of a statute to the contrary, those courts that have considered the question have upheld the validity of family-exclusion clauses in liability policies. See, e.g., Holloway v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 275 Ala. 41, 151 So.2d 774 (1963); Florida Farm Bureau Insurance Co. v. Government Employees Insurance Co., 387 So.2d 932 (Fla. 1980); Morris v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 88 Ga. App. 844, 78 S.E.2d 354 (1953); Porter v. Farmers Insurance Co. of Idaho, 102 Idaho 132, 627 P.2d 311 (1981); Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. v. Harp, 423 S.W.2d 233 (Ky. Ct. App. 1967). But see Bishop v. Allstate Insurance Co., 623 S.W.2d 865 (Ky. 1981) (invalidating family exclusion after adoption of a compulsory insurance law). An annotation contained in 46 A.L.R.3d 1024, 1029 (1972), suggests: All of the cases in this annotation support the general rule that, in the absence of a statutory prohibition to the contrary, provisions excluding from coverage members of the insured's family or household are valid and effective to protect the insurer against claims for injuries to persons who fall within the specified classes. In a recent case the Supreme Court of Minnesota commented upon the effect of the abrogation of parental-child immunity upon such a family exclusion as follows: The well-settled general rule in the construction of insurance contracts, however, provides that parties are free to contract as they desire, and so long as coverage required by law is not omitted and policy provisions do not contravene applicable statutes, the extent of the insurer's liability is governed by the contract entered into. American Family Mutual Insurance Co. v. Ryan, 330 N.W.2d 113, 115 (Minn. 1983). Nothing in the Rhode Island statutes purports to define the scope of coverage in an automobile liability policy (except for uninsured motorist's coverage that will be dealt with hereafter) or the persons who shall be excluded within the scope of such coverage. Consequently, in the application of the general rule, we can see no basis for declaring family-exclusion clauses under coverage AA invalid. Therefore, Salim is unable to recover under this portion of Allstate's policy.