Insurance clash in
By Anthony Sommer
death suit goes to
high court
Star-BulletinLIHUE - The Hawaii Supreme Court has agreed to review a dispute between two insurance companies over paying a $715,000 settlement to the family of a pedestrian run over by a Kauai police patrol car in 1992.
The attorney for one of the companies said the outcome could have a major impact on insurance companies doing business in Hawaii and the rates they charge.
Attorney Roy Franco, who formerly represented the other insurance company, Admiral Insurance, agreed: "This is one of those highly volatile issues that could change the way insurance is sold in Hawaii."
The state Intermediate Court of Appeals, in a January ruling, said that if there are two causes for an accident and two insurance companies, both must share paying the damages.
The court held the company that insured the police officer against auto accidents should pay half because an auto was involved.
And the court said the company that provides general liability to the police department should pay the other half because the police officer was not properly supervised.
That reversed a lower court decision that held the matter was strictly an auto accident and the automobile insurer should pick up the cost.
"If it (Supreme Court) upholds the Court of Appeals, it could mean every company issuing a homeowners policy can be forced to pay for damages in an auto accident even if the company isn't providing auto insurance," said Glen Hale, attorney for Scottsdale Insurance.
Hale said insurance companies providing homeowners policies would have to increase their rates accordingly.
"Suppose you gave your not-very responsible teen-ager your car to drive and there's an accident and the other driver sues you. Under the Court of Appeals decision, both your auto insurance company would have to pay for the accident and your homeowners insurance would have to pay because you didn't properly supervise your child."
Kauai County Attorney Hartwell Blake said: "It could throw the insurance industry into a tizzy. At a minimum, they'd have to write new exclusions into all their homeowners policies."
The attorneys disagreed whether the Court of Appeals decision, if upheld, would affect homeowners policies.
But they said it would affect businesses with separate insurance policies for auto and general liability. "The general liability policy would have to have exclusions written in to cover every conceivable situation," Franco said.
At 3:30 a.m. Sept. 18, 1992, officer Daniel Abadilla's patrol car hit and killed Gilbert Moniz, who was walking beside a road erecting barriers for a cane burn scheduled for later in the day.
Evidence showed the police car traveled about 120 feet on the shoulder of the road before the impact, indicating Abadilla may have fallen asleep at the wheel.
Court records also show Abadilla had worked at the police gun range from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the day before, had six hours off and started his regular patrol shift at 10 p.m.
