Napolitano v. Ace American Ins. Co.

Citations

• 350 Conn. 871

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed, on the granting of certification, from the judgment of the Appellate Court. The plaintiff had sought, inter alia, a judgment The listing of justices reflects their seniority status on this court as of the date of oral argument. 872 DECEMBER, 2024 350 Conn. 871 Napolitano v. Ace American Ins. Co. declaring that the defendant workers' compensation insurance carrier was legally obligated to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in connection with a claim filed by the plaintiff's employee. In granting the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, the trial court determined that the defendant did not effectively cancel a workers' compensation insurance policy that it had issued to the plaintiff because the purportedly conflicting notices the defendant had provided to the plaintiff prior to cancellation, including a notice that the plaintiff had failed to cooperate in connection with certain of the defendant's requests and a separate cancellation notice, did not consti- tute an unambiguous and unequivocal notice of cancellation. The Appellate Court reversed the trial court's judgment, concluding, inter alia, that the defendant effectively cancelled the policy prior to the employee's purport- edly compensable injuries by virtue of the defendant's compliance with the statute (§ 31-348) governing the reporting of risks by workers' compensation insurance companies and the cancellation of workers' compensation insur- ance policies. The plaintiff claimed that the Appellate Court had incorrectly concluded that the cancellation notice effectively cancelled the policy. Held: This court concluded that, although insurers must strictly comply with the requirements of § 31-348 when seeking to cancel a workers' compensation insurance policy, compliance with that statute does not supplant an insurer's obligations under otherwise applicable principles of contract law as they relate to the insurer and the insured, including the principle that a notice cancelling an ins