Advanced Spine Centers, Inc. v. Amica Mutual Insurance

As the Supreme Judicial Court recently reiterated, the Massachusetts no-fault insurance system “was intended to control the costs of compulsory automobile insurance.” Metropolitan Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mass., Inc., 451 Mass. 389, 394 (2008). To help effectuate that goal, the Legislature in G.L.c. 90, §34A set out a ‘“coordination of benefits’ scheme providing for the sharing of costs between automobile and health insurers.” Id. at 391. On this appeal, we are called upon to determine the scope of that coordination.

There has never been a dispute about the facts in…