Parks v. Williams

SinglEy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On 5 July 1965, Webster Williams, a resident of Pennsylvania, one of the defendants below and one of the appellees here, was involved in an automobile accident in Cecil County, Maryland. At the time of the accident Williams was insured by Bankers Allied Mutual Insurance Company (the Insurer) under a policy which limited the Insurer’s liability for injuries to persons to $10',000 as to any one person and $20,000 as to any one accident. An action instituted against Williams in the Circuit Court for Cecil County by the appellants resulted in the entry of judgments absolute on 28 November 1966 in favor of the appellants in the following amounts: Roy Gilbert Parks $ 5,000 Gladys G. Parks 3,000 David G. Parks 250 Sandra J. Parks 750 Wilmer W. Parks 20,000 Total $29,000 No payments were made by the Insurer, whose operations were suspended on 29 December 1966 by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and, on 8 February 1967, the Insurer was ordered liquidated by the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. ⁶⁰² Meanwhile, on 17 January 1967, the appellants filed a petition for the payment of their judgments by Maryland’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Board (the Fund), which had been joined as a defendant in the action below.

The Fund conceded that it was liable for the payment of $4,900 1 on account of the judgment of $20,000 rendered in favor of Wilmer W. Parks, but denied liability for the payment of any portion of the other judgments. From an order of the Circuit Court of Cecil County sustaining the Fund’s position, this appeal was taken. The appellants rest their case on two contentions: First, that they are entitled to have their judgments satisfied by the Fund when the defendant’s insurer, although solvent when the action was instituted and when judgment was entered, became insolvent before payment was made; and second, that they are entitled to have their judgments satisfied by the Fund when the defendant is insured under a policy having limits less than those required by Maryland law. Since we take the view that the second contention is controlling, we need not consider the first.

Maryland’s Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund is provided for by Code (1957, 1967 Replacement Volume) Art. 66 §§ 150-179. When their judgments were not paid, the appellants acted under § 158 of Art. 66J2, which provides: “When any qualified person or the personal representative of such person recovers a valid judgment for an amount in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00), exclusive of interest and costs, in any court of competent jurisdiction in this State, against any other person who was the operator or owner of a motor vehicle, for injury to, or death of, any person or persons or for damages to property, except property of others in charge of such operator or owner or such operator’s or owner’s employees, arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the motor vehicle in this State on or after the first day of June, 1959, and any amount ⁶⁰³ in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00) remains unpaid thereon, such judgment creditors may, upon the termination of all proceedings, including reviews and appeals in connection with such judgment, file a verified claim in the court in which the judgment was entered and, upon ten days’ written notice to the board, may apply to the court for an order directing payment out of the funds, of the amount unpaid upon such judgment, subject to the limitations stated in § 162.” Art. 66y2, § 159 sets out, in detail, the manner in which the application shall be heard. It provides, in part: “(a) The court shall proceed upon such application, in a summary manner, and, upon the hearing thereof, the applicant shall be required to show— “(e) The judgment debtor at the time of the accident was not insured under a policy of automobile liability insurance under the terms of which the insurer is liable to pay the amount of the judgment, up to the limits set forth in § 162 (a) herein, * * The limits set forth in § 162 (a) are “fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) exclusive of interest and costs, on account of injury to, or death of, one person in any one accident; subject to such limit for any one