Court Opinion

ID: 9663941
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:55:26.121462+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:59.377032
License: Public Domain

YANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring specially.
There is merit to Arman’s contention that the phrase “may qualify for no-fault benefits pursuant to section 26.1-41-06,” as used in NDCC § 26.1-41-08(2), does not refer to a person who was in a vehicle insured for no-fault benefits but rather refers to a person who meets the other criteria for benefits contained in section 26.1-41-06, i.e., a relative of the owner of a non-insured vehicle who sustained accidental bodily injury while occupying any motor vehicle or while a pedestrian as the result of being struck by a motor vehicle or motorcycle. Nevertheless I concur in the result reached by the majority, for if Ar-man’s construction reflects the intent of the Legislature, the exclusions as set forth in NDCC § 26.1-41-07 are not consistent with that construction. Thus, section 26.1-41-06 includes the owner of the secured motor vehicle or any relative of the owner, but section 26.1-41-07(2) excludes from the exemption a person who is occupying a motor vehicle “owned by such person which is not insured for the benefits required by this chapter_” No such exclusion is found for the relative of the owner who is included in coverage by section 26.1-41-06.
Because relatives and other persons occupying a non-secured vehicle are not excluded under section 26.1-41-07(2), it appears to me that the Legislature intended to permit recovery under the basic no-fault insurance of the negligent secured driver by relatives and other persons, other than those occupying the vehicle without the consent of the unsecured owner, and to deny recovery only to the unsecured owner. This is a logical public policy determination in that the unsecured owner should have obtained his or her own insurance. That is not the case with the non-owner operator of the unsecured vehicle. If the Legislature intended that the exemption of section 26.1-41-08 apply whether or not the vehicle was actually secured, so long as the other qualifying conditions were met, it presumably would have included relatives as well as the nonsecured owner within the exception in NDCC § 26.1-41-07(2) denying benefits when the occupied vehicle is unsecured.