Baker v. St. Paul Travelers Insurance Co.

This case arises out of a car accident on December 17, 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts. On that day, Heidi M. Baker, the plaintiff-appellant and a resident of Rhode Island, was driving a vehicle owned by her employer, Safety Source Northeast*fn1 (“Safety”), as part of her job duties. Baker was seriously injured in the car accident, which was caused by the other driver. Baker filed a third-party claim against the tortfeasor, but the other driver’s insurance coverage was insufficient to cover Baker’s damages. Baker also filed for and received workers’ compensation (“WC”) benefits through the Rhode Island workers’ compensation system. Finally, Baker sought to recover under the Underinsured Motorist (UIM) provision of her employer’s automobile insurance policy,*fn2 which was provided by St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company (“St. Paul”), the defendant-appellee in this case. St. Paul denied Baker’s attempt to recover under the UIM provision, citing Massachusetts law for the proposition that an employee cannot recover for work-related injuries under both workers’ compensation and her employer’s UIM coverage.

In response to the denial, Baker filed a complaint in Rhode Island state court seeking a declaratory judgment regarding her eligibility for coverage under St. Paul’s UIM coverage.*fn3 St. Paul removed the case to Rhode Island District Court and Baker and St. Paul both moved for summary judgment. A magistrate judge recommended granting St. Paul’s motion and denying Baker’s, on the grounds that Massachusetts law governed the matter and Massachusetts case law prohibited recovery by an injured employee under both workers’ compensation and her employer’s UIM coverage. Baker filed a written objection to the report and recommendation, arguing that Rhode Island law should apply, but that even under Massachusetts law the bar on recovery under both workers’ compensation and the employer’s UIM coverage did not apply where the UIM coverage was a bargained-for provision. Nonetheless, the district court adopted the magistrate’s report and recommendation in full, writing additionally only to correct an error in the magistrate’s report. See Baker v. Safety Source Northeast, No. 07-314 ML, 2009 WL 211865 (D.R.I. January 28, 2009). This appeal followed.