Daniel Ro v. Factory Mutual Insurance Company, as Subrogee of Trustees of Dartmouth College; Sebastian Lim v. Factory Mutual Insurance Company, as Subrogee of Trustees of Dartmouth College

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire considered whether college students living in Dartmouth dormitories are implied coinsureds under the college’s fire insurance policy. Applying the anti-subrogation doctrine adopted in Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Crete, the court held that the students’ contractual relationship with Dartmouth, including payment of room and board and the right to occupy dormitory rooms, created a reasonable expectation that the insurance would benefit them. The court affirmed summary judgment for Daniel Ro and Sebastian Lim and concluded that the doctrine also applied to Ro, who lived in a different dormitory from the one where the fire originated.

Holdings

1. The anti-subrogation doctrine adopted in Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Crete applies to the contractual relationship between Dartmouth College and its residential students, even if the students lacked a traditional possessory interest in land and the relationship was not technically one of landlord and tenant.
2. The Crete doctrine applies to Ro even though he lived in a different dormitory from Morton Hall, where the fire originated.
3. An agreement negates the Crete anti-subrogation doctrine only if it explicitly addresses insurance by informing the tenant or student of the obligation to insure the building against fire or of potential liability to the landlord's or college's insurer in a subrogation action. A provision merely imposing responsibility or liability for damage caused by negligence is insufficient.
4. Equity did not permit Factory Mutual to pursue subrogation against the plaintiffs for the negligently caused fire because Factory Mutual accepted premiums for the very risk of negligently caused fire in a college dormitory.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the anti-subrogation doctrine adopted in Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Crete applies to college students residing in campus dormitories.
2. Whether the plaintiffs had a sufficiently tenant-like contractual or possessory relationship with Dartmouth College for purposes of treating them as implied coinsureds under the college's fire insurance policy.
3. Whether the Crete anti-subrogation doctrine applied to Daniel Ro even though the fire occurred in a different dormitory from the one in which he lived.
4. Whether Dartmouth's student-handbook policies expressly displaced the anti-subrogation doctrine by making the plaintiffs responsible for fire damage.
5. Whether equitable considerations permitted Factory Mutual to recover from the plaintiffs for the negligently caused fire.

Disposition

affirmed