Court Opinion

ID: 9763464
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:46:06.112595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:57:19.408727
License: Public Domain

*474Bogdanski, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent.
The uninsured motorist statute is an .attempt to resolve the pressing problem of the financially irresponsible motorist. It is remedial legislation and should be liberally construed. Everett v. Ingraham, 150 Conn. 153, 157, 186 A.2d 798; Dempsey v. Tynan, 143 Conn. 202, 208, 120 A.2d 700. The purpose and scope of the minimum uninsured motorist protection required by §38-175e of the General Statutes and § 38-175a-6 of the regulations promulgated by the insurance commissioner is the dispositive issue in this appeal. Any provisions of any contract of insurance which conflict with the statute and regulations must give way to their requirements. General Statutes § 38-175d; Fidelity & Casualty Co. v. Darrow, 161 Conn. 169, 172, 286 A.2d 288.
It is true that neither the statute nor the regulations define the word “uninsured.” But the absence of a definition ought not to impede the achievement of their remedial aims by fostering the creation of exceptions. For this reason this case should not be decided solely on the basis of the literal meaning of a word. As Justice Reed of the United States Supreme Court has said: “When that meaning has led to absurd or futile results, . . . this Court has looked beyond the words to the purpose of the act. Frequently, however, even when the plain meaning did not produce absurd results but merely an unreasonable one ‘plainly at variance with the policy of the legislation .as a whole’ this Court has followed that purpose, rather than the literal words.” United States v. American Trucking Associations, Inc., 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S. Ct. 1059, 84 L. Ed. 1345.
*475Reliance on the literal meaning of the word “uninsured” forces an anomalous result in the present case, one which is at variance with the legislative intent. The aim of this legislation is to provide financial protection to all licensed motorists in this state in the minimum amount of $20,000. Had Joseph Simonette, Jr., been killed in an automobile accident caused by an uninsured tort-feasor, Great American would have been liable for damages up to $20,000 under its policy with his father. But because the tort-feasor did carry insurance, though it was divided between two victims, my colleagues hold that Great American has no liability, regardless of how little is actually paid to the Simonette estate by the tort-feasor’s insurance carrier, and regardless of the amount of actual damages. In a multiple victim accident caused by a minimally insured tortfeasor, individual recoveries from the tort-feasor’s carrier can be minuscule compared with the damages incurred. The insured victim in the present case and in similar eases would be better off if the tort-feasor carried no insurance at all.
This anomalous result should be avoided by holding that an automobile or motorist is “uninsured” within the meaning of our statute and regulations to the extent that the liability exceeds the amount of insurance actually available to the victim who has paid for uninsured motorist coverage. This construction is logical and reasonable, for when a tortfeasor’s liability is greater than his insurance coverage, he is clearly uninsured for the difference. Nor is there any problem of double coverage, since the regulations allow reduction of the uninsured motorist coverage “to the extent that damages have been *476. . . paid by or on behalf of any person responsible for the injury.” Regs., Conn. State Agencies § 38-175a-6 (d).
The provision of the regulations that the term “uninsured automobile” includes a vehicle insured by an insolvent company also supports the construction of “uninsured” that is urged. For even if an insurer becomes insolvent, its receiver might still allow a portion of the claim of the accident victim with uninsured motorist coverage. In such a case our statute and regulations would not prevent that victim from obtaining the deficiency from his own company. See Stephens v. Allied Mutual Ins. Co., 182 Neb. 562, 156 N.W.2d 133. There is no reason to distinguish the partial satisfaction of a claim by an insolvent company from the partial satisfaction of a claim by a solvent one.
My position is supported by the decisions of the courts of a number of other jurisdictions. Precisely on point is Porter v. Empire Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 106 Ariz. 274, 475 P.2d 258. Porter, who carried uninsured motorist coverage, was one of five persons injured in an automobile accident caused by a tort-feasor who carried the minimum liability coverage required by law. Porter’s share of that insurance came to $2500. The Arizona Supreme Court held that under the state Uninsured Motorist Law, Porter was entitled to recover an additional $7500 of his admitted damage under his own uninsured motorist coverage. The court said (p. 279): “The uninsured policy is issued for the protection of the insured in the minimum amount provided in the Financial Responsibility Act. Otherwise, . . . the insured might be better off if the offending motorist had no insurance whatsoever. *477We agree with the principle that the person who avails himself of the protection afforded by uninsured motorist coverage should be permitted to recover as if the tort-feasor had the minimum amount of liability insurance; provided that there be available to Mm the full amount of his damages, up to the minimum amount prescribed by the Financial Responsibility Act, which in this case is $10,000. This is so whether this sum is recoverable under the insured’s policy alone or in combination with those funds actually receivable from the tort-feasor’s liability coverage.”
The courts of several other states1 have held that under uninsured motorist statutes similar to that of Connecticut a vehicle is “uninsured” when the liability policy in effect for that vehicle does not meet the minimum coverage required in the jurisdiction. Although these courts grounded their decisions on the legal inadequacy of the liability insurance carried by the tort-feasor, the fact remains that to fulfill the legislative intent behind uninsured motorist coverage they construed “uninsured” broadly so as to assure minimum coverage to the insured.
I would, therefore, answer the questions upon which advice is desired as follows: (1) “Yes,” (2) “No,” (3) “Yes.”

 Taylor v. Preferred Risk Mutual Ins. Co., 225 Cal. App. 2d 80, 37 Cal. Rptr. 63; Kirkley v. State Farm Mutual Ins. Co., 17 Cal. App. 3d 1078, 95 Cal. Rptr. 427; Carrignan v. Allstate Ins. Co., 108 N.H. 131, 229 A.2d 179; Matter of Neals v. Allstate Ins. Co., 34 App. Div. 2d 265, 311 N.Y.S.2d 315; Matter of Buglione v. Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Co., 32 App. Div. 2d 525, 299 N.Y.S.2d 661; Allstate Ins. Co. v. Fusco, 101 R.I. 350, 223 A.2d 447; see also White v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 361 F.2d 785 (4th Cir.), and Stevens v. American Service Mutual Ins. Co., 234 A.2d 305 (D.C. App.), construing Virginia law.