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Piersa v. Phoenix Insurance Co.5/10/2005
t in the present case, it certainly would be within the realm of reason for such an employer nonetheless to elect more than the minimum coverage so as to provide greater protection to its employees who are injured by uninsured motorists. Those who elect to be covered by commercial insurance often elect greater coverage than the minimum; we see no reason for the law to attribute to a self-insurer a presumption that its silence necessarily means an election of only the minimum coverage.
We emphasize that there is no particular form that a self-insured entity must use in order to take advantage of the permitted reductions in limits. The required written document may be part of its written notice to the commissioner of its election to be self-insured, pursuant to § 38a-371 (c), as the defendant in the present case did with respect to its election of the minimum coverage of $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident. Or, as our discussion of § 38a-371 (c) in this opinion indicates, it may be as part of a written document that the self-insured entity maintains in its files. Nor is it necessary for the document to repeat verbatim the language of the regulation that the defendant intends to adopt as limits on its coverage. As the plaintiff suggested at oral argument before this court, the defendant could adopt those limits by appropriate language indicating incorporation by reference. The purpose of the document is to require the self-insured entity to fulfill its obligation as insurer by providing a kind of rough equivalence to the obligation of a commercial insurer to limit its coverage by appropriate language in its policy of insurance. Any document that reasonably fulfills that purpose will suffice.
The defendant contends, nonetheless, that it was not required to create such a written document in order to avail itself of the reductions in limits permitted by the regulation. The defendant offers four reasons for this contention: (1) the word "policy" in the regulation does not have its statutory meaning; (2) pursuant to § 38a-371 (c), the only obligation of a municipal self-insurer is to file a notice of self-insurance with the commissioner; (3) case law has not required such a document from municipal employers; and (4) uninsured motorist coverage requirements are construed from the perspective of the municipal self-insurer, rather than from the perspective of the claimant. We disagree with each contention.
The defendant first argues that, although the word "policy" in § 38a-334-6 (d) (1) of the regulations ordinarily means a written contract of insurance between a commercial insurer and an insured; see General Statutes § 38a-1 (15); that definition only applies "unless it appears from the context to the contrary . . . ." General Statutes § 38a-1. Thus, the defendant argues that, in the context of self-insurance, the usual definition does not apply and, instead, the word "policy" has the broader meaning, as used in other contexts, of "a definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Giving the word that meaning, however, would be to give it a meaning entirely different from its statutory definition. It is obvious that, when the commissioner promulgated the regulation, she did not contemplate its use in the self-insurance context. It is up to the court, therefore, to fill that gap by interpreting it, recognizing that its statutory definition does not fit strictly within that context. Given a choice between interpreting the word in such a way as to be consistent with the statutory definition and interpreting it in such a way as to be completely diffe
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