Court Opinion

ID: 9543114
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:42:17.64386+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:09:43.232334
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(concurring). I agree with the court that the evidence did not warrant a finding that the defendant was negligent. Therefore, I also agree that the defendant is entitled to judgment in its favor. Nevertheless, I write separately because, in my view, the court’s ruling that the defendant insurer owed its insured a “duty of care ... in effectuating a change of beneficiary,” ante at 854, that is, a duty to “take reasonable steps to determine whether the insured has consented to . . . the change of beneficiary,” ante at 855, is unwise, and establishes undesirable precedent. I believe that the court’s focus should not be on the question whether there was enough evidence to warrant a finding that this defendant violated that supposed duty, but rather should be on the question whether the court should recognize the existence of such a duty. Stated another way, the appropriate inquiry is whether, in the circumstances of this case, a duty should be imposed on an insurer to exercise reasonable care to determine whether the insured’s signature on a request for a change of beneficiary has been forged. A second question, which I do not reach, is, What duty is owed to an insured by an insurer who has actual knowledge of such a forgery?
“Negligence, without qualification and in its ordinary sense, is the failure of a responsible person, either by omission or by action, to exercise that degree of care, vigilance and forethought which, in the discharge of the duty then resting on him, the person of ordinary caution and prudence ought to exercise under the particular circumstances” (emphasis added). Altman v. Aronson, 231 Mass. 588, 591 (1919). Whether a defendant owes a plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care for his safety is a question of law. See Monadnock Display Fireworks, Inc. v. Andover, 388 Mass. 153, 156 (1983). “There can be negligence only where there is a duty to be careful.” Theriault v. Pierce, 307 Mass. 532, 533 (1940).
*857The plaintiff states in her brief that she “does not now contend and has never contended that Kemper had a duty to protect Bacon from criminal conduct.” Rather, her contention is this: “Kemper had a duty not to expose Bacon to the reasonably foreseeable criminal conduct of a third.party by its acts or omissions, Restatement (Second) of Torts § 302A [1965]; that is, it had a duty not to put Bacon at hazard, not to create the circumstances in which reasonably foreseeable criminal conduct could operate. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 302 comment a [1965] (‘In general, anyone who does an affirmative act is under a duty to others to exercise the care of a reasonable man to protect them against an unreasonable risk of harm to them arising out of the act’); § 302B comment e (‘There are, however, situations in which the actor, as a reasonable man is required to anticipate and guard against the intentional, or even criminal, misconduct of others. In general, these situations arise . . . where the actor’s own affirmative act has created or exposed the other to a recognizable high degree of risk of harm through such misconduct, which a reasonable man would take into account’).” Thus, the plaintiff quite properly does not appear to contend that the relationship of insurer and insured by itself imposed a duty on the insurer to exercise reasonable care to protect its insured from harm. Rather, the plaintiff appears to argue that that duty, and therefore the duty to determine whether the insured’s signature on the request for a change of beneficiary was forged, arose because of an affirmative act by which the insurer exposed its insured to harm, thus implicating the general rule that any one who does an affirmative act is under a duty to others to exercise reasonable care to protect them against harmful intrusions on their legally protected interests. See Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., 557 F. Supp. 230, 237 (D. Mass. 1983) (“tort actions protect interests in freedom from harms incident to intrusions upon legally protected interests”).
Specifically, the plaintiff calls our attention to the principle that “when a party binds himself by contract to do a work or perform a service, he agrees by implication to use reasonable and appropriate care and skill in doing it,” and his failure to *858do so may be tortious. For example, in Abrams v. Factory Mut. Liab. Ins. Co., 298 Mass. 141, 143-144 (1937), cited by the plaintiff, a liability insurer was held liable not only for breach of contract,, but in tort as well, for failing to exercise reasonable skill and care in performing its contractual obligation to defend its insured. The plaintiff reasons that the insurer in this case was contractually bound “to process and accept a change of beneficiary submitted in conformity with the policy,” that therefore it had a contractual duty to do so with reasonable skill and care, that its processing and acceptance of the forged request were not done with reasonable skill and care, and that therefore the defendant both violated its contract and committed a tort.
The plaintiff’s argument is not persuasive. The insurer in Abrams, by undertaking the defense of its insured as its insurance contract required it to do, engaged in affirmative action, and that action exposed its insured’s legally protected interests to the risk of harm. Its action, therefore, gave rise to a duty of reasonable performance, violation of which was tortious. The insurer’s action in this case was not required by its contract, however. The relevant portion of the instant policy appears in the margin.1 Assuming in favor of the plaintiff that the insurer had a contractual obligation to process changes in beneficiaries submitted by the policy owner in conformity with the policy, no such submission was made in this case. The insurer’s conduct was not required by its contract. Any lack of skill or care on its part was not a contractual violation. Thus, the plaintiff’s theory that the insured is liable for negligent failure to perform a contractual obligation does not apply.
*859The plaintiff also argues that, even if the insurer was not contractually bound to exercise reasonable care to ascertain whether the request for a beneficiary change was truly the policy owner’s request, “the duty may simply be imposed as a matter of sound policy, finding its ‘source in existing social values and customs.’ Mullins v. Pine Manor College, 389 Mass. 47, 51 (1983).” The plaintiff argues that “the threat to an insured of criminal acts of a third party, who gains an interest in the policy without the insured’s knowledge and consent, is self-evident, and the insurer is the party which is in the position to take those steps which are necessary to ensure a policy does not issue, or a designation of beneficiary is not changed, without the knowledge and assent of the insured.” The plaintiff’s argument appears to be based on the premise that the beneficiary is changed, thus conferring an interest on a third party, by some affirmative action of the insurer. But, no third party gained an interest in the policy or its proceeds as a result of the insurer’s “processing” and “accepting” the forged request for a beneficiary change. Only the policy owner has the power to effectuate such a change by substantial compliance with the policy terms. Chartrand v. Chartrand, 295 Mass. 293, 296 (1936). Resnek v. Mutual Life Ins. Co., 286 Mass. 305, 309 (1934). That fact decisively distinguishes this case from other cases, such as Ramey v. Carolina Life Ins. Co., 244 S.C. 16 (1964), and Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. Weldon, 267 Ala. 171 (1957). Those cases involve the original issuance of life insurance policies without the consent of the person whose life is insured or to persons without an insurable interest in that life. In such cases, unlike cases involving only a request for a change of beneficiary, it is the insurer’s act in issuing the policy that creates the risk of harm to the insured. No case has been cited by either party or the court in which a court has imposed tort liability on an insurer for negligently “processing” and “accepting” a forged request for a change of beneficiary.
I join the court in reversing the judgment for the plaintiff and ordering judgment in favor of Kemper. However, I do so on the ground that, as a matter of law, Kemper did not owe *860the insured a duty to exercise reasonable care to determine whether his signature on the request for a change of beneficiary was genuine. It follows that, in my view, prior practices of Kemper and prior correspondence from the insured to Kemper, which bear only on the question whether reasonable care was exercised, are irrelevant.

 “How Beneficiary May Be Changed. While this Policy is in force, the Owner may change the Beneficiary, unless otherwise provided by endorsement hereon, by filing at the Home Office of the Company a written request therefor accompanied by this Policy for endorsement. Such change shall be subject to any existing assignment of this Policy and shall take effect only when recorded by the Company at its Home Office. However, upon being recorded by the Company any such change shall take effect as of the date such notice was signed, subject to any payment made or other action taken by the Company before the change was recorded. The Company reserves the right to require the Policy for endorsement of any change of Beneficiary.”