Boyle, Morrissey & Campo, P.C.            Newsletter
 
January 2009
In This Issue
I. MA - SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY: DUTY OF CARE OF LIMO DRIVERS
II. MA - COVERAGE: NO DUTY TO DEFEND FOR TRADE SECRET CLAIM UNDER PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICY
III. MA - PRE-ACCIDENT LETTER FROM INSURER REGARDING LOSS CONTROL INSPECTION INSUFFICIENT TO MODIFY TERMS OF INSURANCE POLICY
IV. MA - PIP BENEFITS: CHIROPRACTOR MUST SUBMIT MEDICAL BILLS TO PATIENT'S HEALTH INSURER ONCE $2,000.00 OF EXPENSES HAVE BEEN INCURRED AND PAID UNDER THE PATIENT'S PIP COVERAGE
V. MA - MASSACHUSETTS CO-INSURED DOCTRINE APPLIED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
VI. NH - BMC ATTORNEY SECURES MOTION TO DISMISS IN CASE INVOLVING DISPUTE OF PAYMENT OF MEDICAL LIENS FOLLOWING SETTLEMENT
VII. NH - ANTI-CONCURRENT CAUSATION CLAUSE FOUND ENFORCEABLE PRECLUDING COVERAGE FOR FLOOD DAMAGE
VIII. RI - DISCOVERY: REPORT PREPARED BY INSURER'S AGENT DURING COVERAGE INVESTIGATION NOT PROTECTED AS WORK PRODUCT
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This summary of recent developments in the law of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island is provided as a courtesy to our clients. The original text of cases and statutes will be provided upon request.

John D. Boyle
I. SOCIAL HOST LIABILITY: DUTY OF CARE OF LIMO DRIVERS
In Commerce Ins. Co. v. Ultimate Livery Service, Inc., 2008 WL 4981557 (Mass. 2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") held that a private limousine company could be held liable when an intoxicated customer causes a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurs after the customer departs from the limousine. 
 
II. COVERAGE: NO DUTY TO DEFEND FOR TRADE SECRET CLAIM UNDER PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICY
In Finn v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Penn., 2008 WL 5050170 (Mass. 2008), the SJC held that the intellectual property exclusion in a professional liability insurance policy applied to coverage of a claim in which a third party misappropriated a trade secret.
 

III.  PRE-ACCIDENT LETTER FROM INSURER REGARDING LOSS CONTROL INSPECTION INSUFFICIENT TO MODIFY TERMS OF INSURANCE POLICY
In O'Conner v. Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 2008 WL 4951767 (Mass. App. Ct. 2008), the Massachusetts Appellate Court held that a letter written by an insurer's underwriting department neither modified nor supplemented the terms of an insurance policy.
 
Read On...

IV.  PIP BENEFITS: CHIROPRACTOR MUST SUBMIT MEDICAL BILLS TO PATIENT'S HEALTH INSURER ONCE $2,000.00 OF EXPENSES HAVE BEEN

INCURRED AND PAID UNDER THE PATIENT'S PIP COVERAGE
In Sabino Chiropractic Office, Inc. v. Arbella Mutual Ins. Co., 2008 WL 5115251 (Mass. App. Div. 2008), the Massachusetts Appellate Division, District Court Department, Northern District, held that the district court's grant of summary judgment was appropriate as there was no evidence that the plaintiff, a chiropractic office asserting the contractual rights of the defendant's insured, followed the procedure outlined in Mejia v. American Cas. Co., 55 Mass. App. Ct. 461 (2002).  
 
Read On...

V.  MASSACHUSETTS CO-INSURED DOCTRINE APPLIED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

In Federal Ins. Co. v. Commerce Ins. Co., 2008 WL 4873959 (D. Mass. 2008), the U.S District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that the plaintiff's subrogation claim was barred by operation of the "implied co-insured doctrine."
 

VI.  NEW HAMPSHIRE - BMC ATTORNEY SECURES MOTION TO DISMISS IN CASE INVOLVING DISPUTE OF PAYMENT OF MEDICAL LIENS FOLLOWING SETTLEMENT

AMC SMCBMC attorney Thomas Fay recently succeeded in securing a motion to dismiss in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.  The plaintiff had sued an automobile insurer following a breakdown in the settlement negotiations of the plaintiff's injury claim against the insured driver. 
 
Read On...

VII.     NEW HAMPSHIRE - ANTI-CONCURRENT CAUSATION CLAUSE FOUND ENFORCEABLE PRECLUDING COVERAGE FOR FLOOD DAMAGE

In Amherst Country Club v. Harleysville Worcester Insurance Company, 561 F.Supp.2d 138 (D. N.H. 2008), the United States District Court, District of New Hampshire recently held that an "anti-concurrent causation" clause ("ACC") found in a property policy was enforceable precluding coverage for flood damage caused at the Amherst Country Club.  An ACC is a provision in many property policies which generally excludes coverage for any loss where any portion of the loss is caused, directly or indirectly, by an excluded cause.       
 
VIII.   RHODE ISLAND - DISCOVERY: REPORT PREPARED BY INSURER'S AGENT DURING COVERAGE INVESTIGATION NOT PROTECTED AS WORK PRODUCT
In Midler v. Farm Family Cas. Ins. Co., 2008 WL 4671003 (D. R.I. 2008), the United States District Court, District of Rhode Island held that an engineering report prepared by an insurer's agent in the course of a coverage investigation was not protected work product.