Tustin Field Gas & Food, Inc. v. Mid-Century Ins. Co.
Tustin Field Gas & Food, Inc. v. Mid-Century Ins. Co.
Opinion of the Court
*222This case involves a question of insurance coverage: When has a building or *911part of a building "collapsed" if that term is left undefined in an insurance policy? The gas station owner in this case demanded that its insurance company pay up when the fiberglass sheath of one of its underground gasoline storage tanks split after resting on a rock for 16 years. On cross-motions for summary judgment and/or adjudication, the trial court ruled that this was not a collapse as a matter of law. We agree, and affirm. *223FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I. Facts
A. The underground storage tanks
Tustin Field Gas & Food, Inc. (plaintiff) owns a gas station and minimart in Palm Springs, California. The station stores the gas dispensed by its pumps in two underground 15,000-gallon tanks. The tanks are located approximately 30 feet from the minimart, and are buried beneath a six or seven inch concrete slab and five or six feet of dirt. The tanks themselves are cylinders approximately 30 feet long and nine feet in diameter, and are double-walled: They have an inner wall made of steel, wrapped in a synthetic honeycomb, and then sheathed with an outer wall made of "fragile" fiberglass. The tanks are connected to the pumps through pipes carrying the fuel and are connected to the minimart with electrical conduit.
When these tanks were originally placed underground in 1997, the installer did not follow the tank manufacturer's instructions to bury them in pea gravel or crushed rock. Instead, the installer just dug a hole, placed the tanks into that hole, and then covered them with "native soil" containing rocks, boulders, chunks of asphalt, rusted pipes, and other debris. The first tank, referred to as Underground Storage Tank-1 or "UST-1," was set atop a boulder with a nine-inch diameter as well as atop pockets of air.
B. Discovery of damage to UST-1's fiberglass sheath
In September 2013, plaintiff conducted its annual test of UST-1's integrity and learned that its fiberglass sheath was no longer intact. (Health & Saf. Code, § 25284.2 [requiring annual testing of underground tanks].) This was the first time either tank had failed a test in the 16 years since the tanks were installed. The tanks were excavated. The fiberglass sheath on the underside of UST-1 had a long, narrow crack that partially touched the nine-inch boulder, which had itself cracked in two. UST-1's inner steel wall was still intact, and UST-1's outer fiberglass sheath had not lost its cylindrical shape. There was no "imminent danger" that UST-1's inner steel wall would be crushed inward. Plaintiff paid to have UST-1's fiberglass sheath patched.
C. Claim against insurance policy
At the time of the testing, plaintiff had an insurance policy (the Policy) covering property damage with defendant Mid-Century Insurance Company (defendant). Plaintiff presented a claim for the cost of excavating and repairing UST-1.
*224The Coverage section of the Policy (Section A) provides that defendant "will pay for direct physical loss of or damage to Covered Property at the premises ... caused by or resulting from any Covered Cause of Loss."
As pertinent here, Section A.1. of the Policy defines Covered Property to include *912"[b]uildings, meaning the buildings and structures at the premises ..., including ... (2) Fixtures, including outdoor fixtures; [and] (3) Permanently installed: (a) Machinery; and (b) Equipment."
Also as pertinent here, Section A.3. of the Policy defines "Covered Causes of Loss" as "Risks Of Direct Physical Loss unless the loss is ... Excluded in Section B., Exclusions ..." In its Exclusions section (Section B), the Policy provides that defendant "will not pay for loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by any of the following.... regardless of any other cause or event that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to the loss," and goes on to specify, in pertinent part, "Collapse, except as provided in the Additional Coverage for Collapse" (Section B.2.i.).
The Collapse subsection of the Additional Coverages section (Section A.5.d. of the Policy) provides that defendant "will pay for direct physical loss or damage to Covered Property, caused by a collapse of a building or any part of a building insured under this policy, if the collapse is caused by one or more of the following: ... (b) Hidden decay; ... (d) Weight of people or personal property; ... (f) Use of defective material or methods in construction, remodeling or renovation if the collapse occurs during the course of the construction, remodeling or renovation. However, if the collapse occurs after construction, remodeling or renovation is complete and is caused in part by [an enumerated] cause of loss ..., [defendant] will pay for the loss or damage even if use of defective material or methods in construction, remodeling or renovation, contributes to the collapse." This subsection also specifies that "Collapse does not include settling, cracking, shrinkage, bulging or expansion." (Accord, Section B.2.k.(4) [excluding from Covered Causes of Loss "[s]ettling, cracking, shrinking or expansion"].)
In a letter, defendant denied plaintiff's demand for coverage on two grounds: (1) the damage to UST-1 did not qualify as "damage to a building or any part of a building"; and (2) "it does not appear that the efficient proximate cause [of that damage] is Collapse."
II. Procedural Background
Plaintiff sued defendant for (1) breach of contract, (2) bad faith denial of insurance coverage, in violation of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and (3) declaratory relief pronouncing defendant's "duty to indemnify Plaintiff up to the limit of liability."
*225Plaintiff then moved for summary adjudication of its declaratory relief action, and defendant moved for summary judgment. The trial court viewed the motions as "essentially cross-motions."
In a 10-page order, the trial court granted summary judgment for defendant and denied summary adjudication for plaintiff. The court concluded that UST-1 constituted Covered Property under the Policy, reasoning that (1) defendant "appear[ed] to have conceded" that point, and (2) UST-1 otherwise qualified as "permanently installed equipment" and as a "fixture," both of which satisfied the Policy's definition of "building" and hence of Covered Property.
The court nevertheless concluded that there was no Covered Cause of Loss because there had been no "collapse." Specifically, the court ruled that plaintiff had to show an "actual" collapse of UST-1. The court noted that the Policy did not define the term collapse.
*913Doheny West Homeowners' Assn. v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co. (1997)
Because plaintiff was not entitled to benefits under the Policy, the court concluded that all three of plaintiff's claims failed as a matter of law.
After the trial court issued its formal order granting summary judgment and entered judgment, plaintiff timely filed a notice of appeal.
DISCUSSION
Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendant. We review such grants de novo. (Hampton v. County of San Diego (2015)
*226I. General Principles
Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party demonstrates "[it] is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law" because, among other things, the nonmoving party (here, plaintiff) cannot establish "[o]ne or more of the elements of [its] cause of action." (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subds. (c), (o )(1) & (p)(2).) Here, all three of plaintiff's claims-for breach of contract, bad faith denial of insurance, and declaratory relief-rest on the common element that plaintiff show it is entitled to coverage under the Policy. (Oasis West Realty, LLC v. Goldman (2011)
Whether plaintiff is entitled to coverage under the Policy turns initially on two questions: (1) What does the Policy mean by the term collapse?; and (2) Has plaintiff raised a triable issue of fact as to whether the damage to UST-1 was caused by a collapse, once that term is defined?
The first question requires us to interpret the Policy. Insurance contracts have "special features," but "are still contracts to which the ordinary rules of contractual interpretation apply." (Bank of the West v. Superior Court (1992)
The second question requires us to ascertain whether "the evidence [produced in the summary judgment proceeding] would allow a reasonable trier *227of fact to find the underlying fact [of collapse, once properly defined] in favor of" plaintiff under "the applicable standard of proof." (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001)
II. Analysis
As pertinent here, plaintiff's entitlement to coverage under the Policy turns on whether plaintiff can show that (1) UST-1 suffered "direct physical loss or damage ... caused by collapse"; and (2) that collapse was "caused by" (a) "[h]idden decay," (b) the "[w]eight of people or personal property," or (c) the "[u]se of defective material or methods in construction" "if the collapse occurs after construction" and was "caused in part" by either (a) or (b). This is plaintiff's burden because Section A.3. of the Policy excludes any collapse from coverage, but Section A.5.d. countermands that exclusion to the extent of the exception outlined above. Consequently, the threshold question is what the Policy means by the term collapse.
The definition of collapse in insurance policies varies. When a policy defines the term, that definition controls. (See Rosen , supra , 30 Cal.4th at p. 1073,
*915Stamm Theatres, Inc. v. Hartford Casual ty Ins. Co. (2001)
*228Under these interpretive guideposts, the trial court correctly concluded that plaintiff has not raised a triable issue of fact regarding coverage. Several key facts are undisputed. It is undisputed that the construction company that placed UST-1 in the ground did so negligently because it placed UST-1 on a big rock and next to several air pockets, and then buried it with debris-filled "native soil." It is undisputed that, 16 years later, UST-1's fiberglass sheath and the big rock both split. And it is undisputed that UST-1's inner steel wall remains intact and that UST-1's fiberglass sheath retained its cylindrical shape, but that UST-1 was not usable until its fiberglass sheath was patched.
These undisputed facts show that the damage to UST-1 constitutes at most a "substantial impairment of [its] structural integrity." However, because the Policy excludes "settling" and the like, a "substantial impairment of structural integrity" is not a "collapse" as a matter of law. (See Doheny West , supra , 60 Cal.App.4th at pp. 405-406,
III. Plaintiff's Arguments
Plaintiff resists our analysis with four categories of arguments.
A. The definition of collapse, generally
Plaintiff urges us to construe the term collapse broadly, and offers up three arguments in support of such a construction.
First, plaintiff asserts that a building has collapsed if any part of it is "materially impaired so that [that part] cannot perform its structural function as part of the building." Because state law requires a gasoline storage tank to have an intact fiberglass sheath (Health & Saf. Code, § 25291 ), plaintiff reasons, UST-1 collapsed. In support of this definition, plaintiff cites Sabella v. Wisler (1963)
This argument lacks merit because none of the authorities plaintiff cites support its argument. Sabella confronted whether a policy that excluded coverage for loss by "cracking[ ] [and] shrinkage ... unless loss by ... collapse of buildings ensues" provided coverage when a house built on improperly compacted fill dirt "sank in many places." (Sabella , supra , 59 Cal.2d at p. 26,
Grebow discusses the "split of authorities over the scope of collapse coverage when the policies leave the term 'collapse' undefined," and goes on to detail the " 'modern' " or " 'majority' view" holding that "collapse" encompasses " 'damage [that] materially impairs the basic structure or substantial integrity of the building.' " (Grebow , supra , 241 Cal.App.4th at pp. 572-573,
For much the same reasons, the treatises plaintiff cites are beside the point because two of them (from Couch on Insurance and American Jurisprudence) examine only out-of-state law, and the third (from the California Insurance Law Dictionary and Desk Reference) relies on the out-of-state law set forth in Couch on Insurance for its view that collapse reaches a "material[ ] impair [ment] [of] the[ ] function" of a building or its being "render[ed] ... unfit for habitation." That other states may define collapse more broadly is of little persuasive force. (See Episcopal Church Cases (2009)
Second, plaintiff asserts that California law defines collapse as any "substantial impairment of structural integrity" of a building. This is incorrect. As described above, California law specifically holds to the contrary, at least where, as here, a policy excludes from collapse "settling" and the like. (Doheny West , supra , 60 Cal.App.4th at pp. 405-406,
Third, plaintiff makes a few policy-based arguments in support of a broader definition of collapse. It contends that the absence of a definition for collapse in the Policy creates an ambiguity that must, under general principles of insurance law, be construed in its favor. To be sure, when an insurance policy is ambiguous-that is, when " 'it is capable of two or more constructions both of which are reasonable ' [citation]"
*230(Bay Cities Paving & Grading, Inc. v. Lawyers' Mutual Ins. Co. (1993)
Plaintiff further asserts that public policy favors a broader definition of collapse. If collapse is interpreted narrowly to require a more complete collapse of an underground storage tank, plaintiff reasons, insured parties like plaintiff would have little incentive to repair lesser damage to their tanks, which could result in interim damage to the environment. Putting aside for the moment that this argument overlooks the fact that state environmental authorities would likely step in to prevent this interim environmental damage (as they did here), our Supreme Court rejected a nearly identical argument in Rosen . There, the plaintiff argued that a policy defining the term "collapse" as "actually fallen down or fallen to pieces" should reach imminent collapse short of actual collapse because public policy favors repair of buildings before they actually collapse rather than afterwards. (Rosen , supra , 30 Cal.4th at p. 1077,
B. The definition of collapse in the policy
Plaintiff argues that the Policy is akin to the policies with a broader definition of collapse discussed in Doheny West , Panico , and Stamm Theatres *231because the Policy's definition of Covered Causes of Loss refers to "Risks Of Direct Physical Loss." Because the Policy uses the word "risk," plaintiff reasons, the Policy reaches imminent collapse as well as actual collapse. This argument is both incorrect and, ultimately, beside the point. It is incorrect because the Policy excludes collapse from its definition of Covered Causes of Loss, and then creates a more limited "exception to the exception" that re-extends coverage for collapse-related damage, but only "for direct physical loss or damage to Covered Property, caused by a collapse of a building or any part of a building insured under this policy, if the collapse is caused by one or more" enumerated reasons. Because this revival of coverage for collapse does not include "risks of" collapse (just collapse itself) and because the Policy nowhere covers damage "involving collapse," the broader definition of collapse discussed in Doheny West , Panico , and Stamm Theatres is inapplicable. (Cf. Doheny West , supra , 60 Cal.App.4th at p. 405,
Plaintiff suggests that we must interpret the term collapse in the Policy in light of the expert testimony it proffered indicating that UST-1 "collapsed" and in light of defendant's concession that UST-1 "collapsed." Plaintiff is wrong. Although plaintiff's expert repeatedly characterized the damage to UST-1's fiberglass sheath as a "collapse," and plaintiff's owner parroted that characterization when relaying what that expert told him, the trial court sustained defendant's objections to this evidence, and plaintiff does not attack those evidentiary rulings on appeal. (Frittelli, Inc. v. 350 North Canon Drive, LP (2011)
Nor did defendant concede the issue of collapse. Although defendant in its opposition to plaintiff's motion for summary adjudication stated, in one sentence, that "[t]he damaged tank, UST-1, along with its fiberglass jacket collapsed down onto the rock due to the improper installation of the tank," this sentence is not, as plaintiff urges, a concession to the meaning of the *232term collapse in the Policy that defendant is now judicially estopped from denying. In the very same filing, defendant argued at length that the damage to UST-1 was not a collapse within the meaning of the Policy. At best, the sentence at issue used the term collapse in its colloquial sense to describe what happened; at worst, the sentence is a misstatement. In neither case does it constitute judicial estoppel. (Aguilar v. Lerner (2004)
D. Triable issue on causation
Plaintiff suggests that, even as we interpret the term collapse, there is a triable issue of fact warranting denial of summary judgment because there is a factual dispute over whether UST-1 pressed down onto the rock, or whether the rock pushed up into UST-1's fiberglass sheath. However, this dispute is not "material" because no matter how it is resolved, the damage to UST-1 is the same and amounts at most to a "substantial impairment of [its] structural integrity."
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed. Defendant is entitled to its costs on appeal.
We concur:
ASHMANN-GERST, Acting P.J.
CHAVEZ, J.
In light of our conclusion, we have no occasion to examine whether UST-1 qualifies as a "building" under the policy or whether the "collapse" was caused by one of the several causes set forth in the policy.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.