Bunker Hill Insurance Co. v. G.A. Williams & Sons, Inc.
Bunker Hill Insurance Co. v. G.A. Williams & Sons, Inc.
Opinion
*49 *572 The defendant, G.A. Williams & Sons, Inc. (Williams), appeals from a judgment entered in Superior Court following the denial of its motion to offset the jury award in this tort action brought against it by Bunker Hill Insurance Company (Bunker Hill), as subrogee of Shirley Gilbody, with the remediation costs paid by its insurer to Bunker Hill pursuant to an earlier declaratory judgment action. The motion judge determined that the earlier payment was from a collateral source and, as such, was not required to be offset against the jury verdict. Judgment entered against the defendant in the full amount of the jury verdict. Because the source of the offset was not collateral to the defendant, we determine that the defendant's motion for offset of damages should have been allowed, and we modify the judgment *573 accordingly. 3
Background . This case arises from an oil spill on property owned by Shirley Gilbody and insured by a homeowner's insurance policy purchased by her and issued by Bunker Hill. Williams installed an oil tank in Gilbody's home in 2003 and, at all material times, was the oil service company for Gilbody. The oil spill occurred in April, 2012. Williams had purchased and paid the premiums for an insurance policy with International Insurance Company of Hannover, Ltd. (Hannover). The parties do not dispute that the policy was in effect at all times material to this case. The Hannover policy covered, as an insured location, the property owned by Gilbody.
When the oil spill occurred, Gilbody notified her insurer, Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill paid for the full remediation of the property, $262,894.05, under a reservation of rights. Pursuant to a declaratory judgment action, Bunker Hill sought compensation from Hannover for damage to the insured location, Gilbody's property. In that declaratory judgment action, a Superior Court judge determined that both the Bunker Hill policy and the Hannover policy covered Gilbody's property, that each policy contained "other insurance clauses," and that these clauses were mutually repugnant. See
Mission Ins. Co
. v.
United States Fire Ins. Co
.,
In 2012, Bunker Hill, as subrogee to its insured, Gilbody, also filed the present action against Williams for negligence, breach of contract, and violation of G. L. c. 21E (negligence action). 4 After trial, the jury rendered a negligence verdict in favor *50 of Gilbody in the full amount of the cost of the remediation of the property, $262,894.05. 5 Williams then filed its motion to offset the amount of damages in the negligence action by the amount that Bunker Hill had received pursuant to Williams's insurance policy with Hannover in the declaratory judgment action, $131,447.03. *574 Bunker Hill sought entry of judgment for the full amount of the jury verdict arguing that the payment to it from Hannover on the declaratory judgment was made pursuant to the remediation coverage in Williams's insurance policy that insured Gilbody and, therefore, was a payment from a source collateral to the judgment in the negligence action against Williams. The judge agreed with Bunker Hill and determined that because the claims were "analytically different," the collateral source rule applied and precluded an offset. Judgment entered in the full amount of the jury verdict.
Discussion
. "The measure of damages is a question of law reviewed de novo on appeal, see
Burke
v.
Rivo
,
"When an insurer settles a claim and thereby acquires a subrogation right, whether by agreement or by operation of law, it succeeds to any right of action that the insured may have against a third person whose negligence or wrongdoing caused the loss, and may recover the loss from that person on a pro tanto (to the extent of its payment) basis."
Apthorp
v.
OneBeacon Ins. Group, LLC
,
As a general rule, "a tortfeasor's liablity to an injured person shall not be reduced by the amount of compensation received by the injured person pursuant to an insurance policy" (quotation omitted).
Short
v.
Marinas USA Ltd. Partnership
,
By claiming that the insurance payment for the property remediation pursuant to the declaratory judgment is collateral because it is based on the insurance contract that covered Gilbody as an insured, Bunker Hill argues that the nature of the payment is collateral to the damages award in the jury verdict that found
*576
Williams negligent. In support of this argument, Bunker Hill relies on
Boyle
v.
Zurich Am. Ins. Co
.,
In
Boyle
, the plaintiff sought damages for injuries sustained by the plaintiff when a tire exploded in a tire shop owned by C & N Corporation (C & N). The plaintiffs, Boyle and his wife, sued C & N, whose insurer, Zurich American Insurance Company (Zurich), refused to defend the lawsuit against its insured.
Id
. at 650,
Bunker Hill's argument that
Short
,
The marina sought to offset the amounts Short had received from his broker and from Old Harbor. This court held that the settlement from Short's broker was "to compensate Short for the expense incurred to establish coverage and obtain insurance proceeds; this is clearly a separate cause of action and seeks damages separate from those caused by the fire. The judge was correct in declining the request for offset."
Id
. at 858,
The payment from Old Harbor was on a different footing as a payment from a noncollateral source. "[T]he purpose of [Old Harbor's] payment to Short was essentially compensation for the damage caused by the fire. Thus it was error to fail to offset the plaintiff's recovery by that
*53
portion of the ... settlement attributable to such damages."
Id
. at 859,
Furthermore, Bunker Hill's reliance on
Law
,
In the final analysis, the payment from Hannover was a payment from the same source as the tortfeasor because the compensation received by Bunker Hill was from a source with which
*579
the wrongdoer, not the homeowner, contracted.
11
Here,
*54
neither Gilbody nor Bunker Hill contracted for, or paid for, the property remediation coverage provided by Hannover to Gilbody's property. That coverage was extended through the Hannover policy purchased by and with premiums paid by Williams. See, e.g.,
Arthur
v.
Catour
,
Conclusion . Where Williams has established that it purchased an insurance policy from Hannover that provided coverage for Gilbody's premises as an insured location, and that policy paid to Bunker Hill on behalf of Gilbody the amount of $131,447.03 for remediation of the property after the oil spill, we hold that the source of the payment from Hannover for Gilbody's property remediation under the policy issued to Williams is from the same source as the negligence damages assessed against Williams and is not collateral to Williams. Williams is entitled to an offset in the amount of the payment from Hannover to Bunker Hill for the remediation of Gilbody's property.
The judgment is to be modified by reducing the award of damages *580 by $131,447.03 and by also reducing the award of prejudgment interest to correspond with the modified damage award. As so modified, the judgment is affirmed.
So ordered .
The judge's order also determined that Bunker Hill was entitled to its attorney's fees and costs pursuant to G. L. c. 21E, and judgment entered accordingly. Because Bunker Hill was the prevailing party at trial, we do not disturb the judgment as it applies to the attorney's fees and costs. See G. L. c. 21E, § 4A ( d ).
The breach of contract count was dismissed at the commencement of trial.
The jury also found a violation of G. L. c. 21E.
However, "the insurer is prevented from obtaining a windfall, because its recovery from the third party is pro tanto, with any additional recovery belonging to the insured " (emphasis supplied). Apthorp , supra . In the appellee's brief and at oral argument, counsel for Bunker Hill asserted that any excess recovery would remain with Bunker Hill, and not with Gilbody. In light of our conclusion, we need not reach the issue. We do note that payment of both the insured's negligence damages and Gilbody's remediation costs would require Hannover/Williams to pay 150 percent of the remediation costs, a counterintuitive result that is not required by the collateral source rule and would punish Williams for having the foresight to purchase a policy that covered not only its own negligence but the property of its customer, Gilbody.
The judge here correctly kept the information regarding the payment from the jury. "The rationale behind this so-called 'collateral source rule' is that receipt of such income does not lawfully reduce the plaintiffs' damages, 'yet jurors might be led by the irrelevancy to consider plaintiffs' claims unimportant or trivial or to refuse plaintiffs' verdicts or reduce them, believing that otherwise there would be unjust double recovery.' "
Scott
v.
Garfield
,
The Boyles also raised a claim for violation of G. L. c. 93A. The judge determined, and the Supreme Judicial Court agreed, that the Boyles were not entitled to c. 93A damages because, as the judge found, there was no evidence of an unfair or deceptive act on Zurich's part.
Ultimately, Short obtained a judgment against the marina for $83,250 in damages.
Short
,
Moreover, as noted in
Short
, "[w]hen evaluating whether a source is collateral, our determination depends upon 'the purpose and nature of the ... [payments]' and not merely ... their source.
Russo
v.
Matson Nav. Co
.,
Compare, e.g.,
Reilly
v.
United States
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.