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Gerry Bubar v. Concord General Mutual Insurance Company
Docket No. INS-07-2032
Decision Issued June 18, 2007, Revised Decision Issued August 8, 2007.

The insured requested a hearing following receipt of a notice of automobile insurance cancellation alleging a driver’s license suspension. A hearing was scheduled, and the insured and company staff attended the hearing. The Hearing Officer issued a Decision and Order in favor of the insured. In a timely motion under Bureau of Insurance Rule 355 §§ 5(A), 12, the company petitioned for reconsideration of the Decision and Order and for the hearing record to be re-opened for the submission of evidence not previously available. The Hearing Officer granted the Company’s motion and a new hearing was held for the specific purpose of receiving the new evidence.

At the first hearing, the company submitted a copy of the driving record of a resident of the insured’s household. The driving record showed a suspended license. The insured testified that the person has never held a driver’s license and has never driven his vehicle. Subsequent to receiving the original Decision and Order, in which the Hearing Officer ruled that there was no evidence that the person had ever been an operator of the insured’s or any other vehicle, the company was notified of an accident in which the person at issue was driving the insured’s vehicle. The accident occurred just two days before the first hearing. During the second hearing, the company submitted evidence of the accident.

Held: For the company. The Maine Automobile Cancellation Control Act, 24-A M.R.S.A. §§ 2911-2924, allows policy cancellation if “the named insured or any operator who either resides in the same household or customarily operates an automobile insured under the policy has a driver’s license suspended, other than a first or 2nd suspension under Title 29-A section 2471, subsection 2 or section 2472, subsection 2, or a suspension under Title 28-A section 2052, or revoked during the policy term or, if the policy is a renewal, during its term or the 180 days immediately preceding its effective date.” 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2914(4).

Although “operator” is not defined in the Maine insurance statutes, it is defined in statutes pertaining to motor vehicles as “an individual who drives or is in control of a vehicle or who is exercising control over or steering a towed vehicle.” 29-A M.R.S.A. § 101(48). The original Decision and Order concluded that because the person at issue never held a driver’s license and there was no evidence that he ever drove a motor vehicle, he was not an “operator” within the meaning of § 2914(4). The new evidence submitted into the record, however, demonstrates that the person drove a vehicle on at least one occasion. As the person qualifies as an operator who resides in the same household as the named insured, and whose ability to obtain a driver’s license has been suspended during the policy term, this cancellation action is permitted.