Commonwealth v. Driscoll (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-055-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 15-P-1689 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. BRYAN DRISCOLL. No. 15-P-1689. Suffolk. January 6, 2017. – May 9, 2017. Present: Kafker, C.J., Hanlon, & Agnes, JJ. Fraud. Larceny. Motor Vehicle, Insurance. Insurance, Motor vehicle insurance, Defrauding insurer. Evidence, Insurance, Fraud, Hearsay, Business record, Accident report, Authentication of document, Best and secondary. Practice, Criminal, Hearsay. Complaint received and sworn to in the West Roxbury Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department on May 7, 2014. The case was tried before Paul J. McManus, J. Sarah M. Unger for the defendant. L. Adrian Bispham, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. AGNES, J. The defendant appeals, after a trial by jury, from his convictions on a complaint charging him with motor vehicle insurance fraud in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 111B, and attempted larceny of property with a value greater than $ 250 in violation of G. L. c. 274, § 6. Background. The jury could have found the following facts based on the evidence presented at trial.[1] On August 30, 2012, the defendant obtained compulsory and comprehensive insurance coverage from Commerce Insurance Company (Commerce) on his 2001 Ford Explorer. At 4:00 A.M. on November 11, 2012, Boston police Officer Joseph Galvin responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident on Allandale Road in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston. Allandale Road is a winding, country road sparsely populated with buildings. Allandale Farm is located on Allandale Road. Upon arriving at the scene, Officer Galvin found a black 2001 Ford Explorer abandoned on the sidewalk. It appeared that the vehicle had crashed into a stone wall and sustained damage “all over it.” The defendant filed a “single-vehicle accident” report with Commerce. Joshua Tucker, a claims adjuster with Commerce, explained that a “single-vehicle accident” or “single-vehicle collision” refers to a situation in which a vehicle is damaged and no other vehicles are involved, such as when a vehicle slides on ice and strikes a snowbank. In such a case, an insured with “collision” coverage would be compensated by Commerce to cover the loss. A person with only “comprehensive” coverage would not be entitled to recover for his loss in such a case. If, however, a driver strikes an animal and comes to a stop or after striking the animal swerves and […]