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Willoughby v. City of New Haven8/25/2000
The dispositive issue in this appeal, on certification from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, is whether a municipality that is a self-insurer pursuant to General Statutes §§ 14-129 and 38a-371 (c) is required to provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage for a city fire department emergency vehicle while it is operated on public highways. We answer this question in the negative.
The plaintiff, Marion Willoughby, brought this action against the defendant, the city of New Haven, in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, in order to recover underinsured motorist benefits. Willoughby v. New Haven, United States District Court, Docket No. 3:97CV00668 (D. Conn. July 29, 1999). The District Court certified four issues for this court to determine. Pursuant to the applicable certification procedures; Public Acts 1999, No. 99-107; we agreed to decide those issues. We conclude that a municipality that is a self-insurer, pursuant to §§ 14-129 and 38a-371 (c), is not required to provide underinsured motorist benefits for the emergency vehicle at issue.
The District Court's certification order included the following stipulated facts. At the time of the incident underlying this case, the plaintiff was a firefighter employed by the defendant's fire department.
On November 23, 1994, responding to an injured person call, the plaintiff was driving a fire emergency vehicle (vehicle), specifically, a Ford Yankee coach F-350, equipped with a Ford Ambulance Preparation Package. The vehicle, which was owned by the defendant through its department of fire protection services, was an " uthorized emergency vehicle" pursuant to General Statutes § 14-1 (a) (4), and was registered with the department of motor vehicles as a municipally owned motor vehicle with registration number 125-NH. The vehicle was a truck-type vehicle with a maximum payload of more than 4000 pounds and less than 6000 pounds, and was used by firefighters employed by the defendant primarily to transport medical emergency equipment and technicians to emergency calls.
The plaintiff was driving the vehicle on a public highway when a collision occurred between it and a motor vehicle owned and operated by Anthony Palluzzi, who was not an employee, officer or agent of the defendant. As a result of the collision, which was caused by the negligence of Palluzzi in failing to yield the right-of-way to the vehicle as required by law, the plaintiff sustained serious and permanent injuries.
The plaintiff exhausted the $100,000 liability coverage possessed by Palluzzi, and recovered approximately $270,000 from the defendant pursuant to its workers' compensation plan, for which it is a self-insurer. Those payments have not fully compensated the plaintiff for his injuries.
The following stipulated facts relate to the defendant's status as a self-insurer on and prior to November 23, 1994, the date of the incident. The defendant, a political subdivision of the state of Connecticut, was a self-insured municipality in accordance with the meaning of §§ 14-129 and 38a-371 for automobile and motor vehicle liability protection. The defendant owned more than twenty-five motor vehicles, and all of the motor vehicles, including the vehicle at issue in the present case, were protected by the defendant's self-insurance plan.
The defendant had established a specific fund for its self-insurance plan to pay for claims against it arising out of its compensation and public liability. The self-insurance plan had not been reduced to a written document outlining the limitations of the defendant's exposure for its motor vehicles. The def
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