Gilchrist Constr. Co. v. Travelers Indem. Co.
Gilchrist Constr. Co. v. Travelers Indem. Co.
Opinion of the Court
Before the Court is a Motion to Dismiss filed by one of the defendants, Arch Insurance Company ("Arch" or "the Defendant"). See Record Document 25. Arch contends that coverage did not exist under policies issued by it to Gilchrist Construction Company, LLC ("Gilchrist") and therefore it also had no duty to defend Gilchrist. See id. For the reasons that follow, the Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED .
BACKGROUND
I. Procedural History.
This matter arises from a petition filed by Gilchrist in the Thirty-Third Judicial District Court, Allen Parish, Louisiana, against The Travelers Indemnity Company and Arch Insurance Company, and individual defendants Juanita Fontenot ("Fontenot") and T. June Wilder ("Wilder"). See Record Document 1, Ex. 3 (state court record). Gilchrist asserts breach of contract claims against the insurers and seeks declaratory judgments against them based on their denial of defense and indemnity to Gilchrist, in alleged violation of commercial general liability policies acquired by Gilchrist from those insurers. See id. at 4-9. Gilchrist's claims against Arch are in connection with a lawsuit brought by Fontenot and Wilder to recover damages from Gilchrist for trespass and breach of contract. The Fontenot/Wilder lawsuit arose from an agreement between the parties to buy and sell dirt from the Fontenot/Wilder property and to temporarily store debris on their property from a nearby road construction project. See id. at 5-7. Gilchrist alleges that it was forced to defend itself in the Fontenot/Wilder suit and that neither of its insurers has indemnified it for the $ 5,559,000 verdict, plus costs and fees, awarded to Fontenot and Wilder. See id.
In the instant suit, Gilchrist raised no claims against Fontenot and Wilder but instead named them as "interested parties" in its claim for declaratory judgment against the insurers. See id. at 8-9, ¶¶ 39 & 49. The insurers removed the suit to this court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction,
While the motion to remand was pending, Arch filed the instant motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. See Record Document 25. Gilchrist sought, and was granted, an extension of time to file an opposition to Arch's motion to dismiss, requesting ten days after a ruling issued as to the motion to remand to file its opposition. See Record Documents 31 and 32. Gilchrist has now filed an opposition to Arch's motion and Arch has filed a reply. See Record Documents 41 and 43.
II. Relevant Allegations and Policy Provisions.
Arch insured Gilchrist through a commercial general liability policy, which was renewed twice. See Record Document 25 at Exs. C, D and E.
In their state court complaint, Fontenot and Wilder asserted that Gilchrist's actions violated Louisiana law through failure to perform the contract with them in good faith and failure to perform its duties and obligations under the contract. See Record Document 25, Ex. 2 at ¶ 13. They alleged that "Gilchrist [ ] filled in the pit from which they extracted Petitioner's dirt with worthless dirt, debris, concrete, wood and trash from elsewhere" and that Gilchrist "under-measured and underpaid for the dirt that it did haul from Petitioner's land."
The Arch policy provides coverage to Gilchrist for "bodily injury" and "property damage." See Record Document 25 at Ex. C. The relevant coverage provisions and exclusions of the policies state:
SECTION I - COVERAGES
COVERAGE A BODILY INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE LIABILITY
1. Insuring Agreement
a. We will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of "bodily injury" or "property damage" to which this insurance applies. We will have the right and duty to defend the insured against any "suit" seeking those damages. However, we will have no duty to defend the insured against any "suit" seeking damages for "bodily injury" or "property damage"
*587to which this insurance does not apply....
...
b. This insurance applies to "bodily injury" and "property damage" only if:
(1) The "bodily injury" or "property damage" is caused by an "occurrence" that takes place in the "coverage territory";
(2) The "bodily injury" or "property damage" occurs during the policy period....
...
2. Exclusions
This insurance does not apply to:
a. Expected Or Intended Injury
"Bodily injury" or "property damage" expected or intended from the standpoint of the insured....
Record Document 25, Ex. C at 23-24.
Under the Arch Policies, "occurrence" and "property damage" are defined:
SECTION V - DEFINITIONS
...
13. "Occurrence" means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.
...
17. "Property damage" means:
a. Physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the physical injury that caused it; or
b. Loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the "occurrence" that caused it.
LAW AND ANALYSIS
I. The Rule 12(b)(6) Standard.
Rule 8(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that a pleading contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." The standard for the adequacy of complaints under Rule 8(a)(2) is a "plausibility" standard found in Bell Atlantic Corporation v. Twombly,
In considering a motion filed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), a court may consider: (1) the pleadings and any attachment to the pleadings; (2) documents incorporated into the complaint by reference; and (3) documents that a defendant attaches to its motion to dismiss if those documents are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to the plaintiff's claim (such as insurance policies and underlying complaints). See Little v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., No. 09-30948,
II. Insurance Law.
Under Louisiana law, "[a]n insurance policy is a contract between the parties and should be construed by using the general rules of interpretation of contracts set forth in the Louisiana Civil Code." Mayo v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,
"An insurer's duty to defend suits on behalf of an insured presents a separate and distinct inquiry from that of the insurer's duty to indemnify a covered claim after judgment against the insured in the underlying liability case." Martco Ltd. P'ship v. Wellons, Inc.,
Arch contends that it did not have a duty to defend Gilchrist in the underlying action because there was no occurrence as defined by the Arch policies. Arch further asserts that the majority of damages alleged by Fontenot and Wilder were excluded because they were purely economic damages. Finally, Arch contends that if an occurrence did take place that triggered coverage under its policies, the claims are excluded under the Arch policies. Gilchrist contends that the Fontenot/Wilder petition included allegations of "property damage" that was caused by an "occurrence" and that no policy exclusion applies, so as to result in coverage by the Arch policies. Thus, the issues before the court are whether the Fontenot/Wilder petition alleged a potentially covered event triggering Arch's duty to defend under the policies and whether the alleged triggering event fell within an exclusion of the policy.
A. Duty to Defend.
The analysis of the duty to defend begins with an examination of whether any of the facts pled in the underlying state court petition possibly fall within matters covered under the insuring clause. See Martco Ltd. P'ship,
The court first turns to whether Gilchrist satisfied its burden of demonstrating that the Fontenot/Wilder petition alleges a set of facts that would fall within coverage. More specifically, the court must first determine whether the Fontenot/Wilder petition alleges that the "property damage" at issue was caused by an "occurrence." As mentioned, under Louisiana law, "[t]he duty to defend is determined by examining the allegations of the injured plaintiff's petition ... and the insurer is obligated to tender a defense unless the petition unambiguously excludes coverage." Edwards v. Cont'l Cas. Co.,
Under the language of the Arch policy, Arch "will pay those sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of 'bodily injury' or 'property damage' to which this insurance applies" if the " 'bodily injury' or 'property damage' is caused by an 'occurrence.' " Record Document 25, Ex. C at 1. The policy defines an "occurrence" as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions."
The complicating factor is that the word "accident," as used in the definition of "occurrence," is not defined in the policy. Arch directs the court to the definition of "accident" provided by the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans Deli & Dining, LLC v. Continental Casualty Company., No. 10-4642,
Based on the definition of "accident," Arch contends that a reading of the Fontenot/Wilder petition shows an overriding theme of non-accidental conduct in that Gilchrist's conduct intentionally harmed the Fontenot/Wilder property. See Record Document 25 at 11. Arch argues that as the Fontenot/Wilder suit alleged that Gilchrist "maliciously made an outright refusal to pay Petitioner the amounts owed under contract or to remove the debris they dumped on Petitioner's land in violation of the contract" and that "Gilchrist's bad faith refusal to faithfully perform its obligations owed to Petitioner," these allegations indicate intentional misconduct so as to not qualify as an "occurrence" under the policy. See Record Document 25 at 11;
*590In determining whether an accident has been alleged, this Court finds New Orleans Deli and Dining beneficial. In addition to defining the word "accident," the Eastern District in New Orleans Deli and Dining also addressed the duty to defend and intentional conduct in relation to a coverage clause that was similar to the one currently before the court. See New Orleans Deli & Dining, LLC v. Cont'l Cas. Co., No. 10-4642,
All of the allegations in the McCollum plaintiffs' complaint allege intentional acts on the part of NODD. The McCollum plaintiffs allege that NODD implemented a tip policy whereby the tips were purposefully taken by the managers or other employees of the restaurants and either kept or donated to charity. The alleged acts of implementing the tip policy and taking the tips were done intentionally, not accidentally nor negligently. Thus, plaintiffs' claims do not sound in negligence, but rather the intentional tort, and intentional acts are excluded by the policy. Therefore, CCC does not owe NODD a duty to defend it in the McCollum litigation.
Id. at *4.
Gilchrist argues that, under Louisiana law, an "occurrence" is an event that is "unusual and unexpected" from the standpoint of the person injured, citing Gray v. State,
The real basis for determining whether an illegal removal of dirt is an "accident"
*591within the meaning of the policy should be by ascertaining the intention of the parties. By a comprehensive general liability policy, a contractor seeks protection against the almost infinite ways in which he might unintentionally (i.e., by accident) be held liable in the operation of his business. The policy should afford protection against liability which, as here, arises out of the conduct of the contractor which he undertakes without actually knowing or expecting that he will be held liable for damages as a result. In this sense, the unexpected loss to the landowner for which [the contractor] is held liable is within the ambit of the protection intended to be provided by [the] policy.
Gray,
Gilchrist contends that the instant facts are "parallel" to those in Gray. Gilchrist asserts that there are no allegations in the Fontenot/Wilder petition that they knew they would be damaged by Gilchrist's use of the land nor were there claims that Gilchrist was aware of the liability it faced associated with its actions on the land. Gilchrist thus contends that these allegations, taken as true, are sufficient to survive the instant motion to dismiss. See Record Document 25 at 8. This Court disagrees.
The Fontenot/Wilder petition does not allege conduct undertaken by Gilchrist that would result in Gilchrist not "actually knowing or expecting that [it would] be held liable for damages as a result." Gray,
Louisiana courts have held that "[i]t is well settled that the allegations of fact, and not conclusions, contained in the petition determine the obligation to defend." Duhon v. Nitrogen Pumping & Coiled Tubing Specialists, Inc.,
Despite Petitioner's efforts to have the worthless dirt, debris, concrete, wood, and trash dumped on its property removed by Gilchrist, and despite Petitioner's efforts to be properly compensated for the amount of valuable dirt removed from its property, Gilchrist has continually and maliciously made an outright refusal to pay Petitioner the amounts owed under contract or to remove the debris they dumped on Petitioner's land in violation of the contract.
B. Duty to Indemnify.
Arch contends that it has no duty to indemnify Gilchrist for the judgment in the underlying lawsuit for the same reasons that it had no duty to defend. See Record Document 25 at 13. Arch relies upon the fact that prior to trial in the underlying lawsuit, Fontenot/Wilder sought leave to file an amended petition, which was granted by the trial court, "clarifying that [Fontenot/Wilder] are not seeking loss of farming income or asserting claims in tort." Record Document 17, Ex. 1, First Amended Petition at 1 ¶ 3. Thus, the causes of action that proceeded to trial were for breach of contract and bad faith breach of contract. See
The Court has found that Arch had no duty to defend because Gilchrist has not *593shown that the allegations in the Fontenot/Wilder lawsuit are an "occurrence" that would be covered by the policies. Since there is no additional evidence before the Court that would change the determination of coverage, the Court concludes that Arch has no duty to indemnify.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, the Motion to Dismiss filed by Arch (Record Document 25) is GRANTED .
An order consistent with the terms of the instant Memorandum Ruling shall issue herewith.
The language of each of the policies is the same as applied to the instant facts. Therefore, for ease of reference, the Court will refer to the original policy issued, Ex. C to Arch's Motion to Dismiss.
Similarly, in Pylant v. Lofton,
Gilchrist improperly attempts to take its arguments beyond the eight corners of the policy and petition in relation to the duty to defend. As Arch correctly noted in its reply brief, Gilchrist's arguments regarding what allegedly occurred after the completion of the Fontenot/Wilder contract are immaterial to the inquiry.
Even if the court concluded that coverage existed under the Arch policy, Gilchrist's claims would likely ultimately be excluded, as the Arch policy excludes coverage for "property damage" that is "expected or intended from the standpoint of the insured." Record Document 25, Ex. C at 2. However, the Court need not reach this issue.
Arch has also sought dismissal of Gilchrist's claims on the basis that "the majority of damages alleged by Fontenot/Wilder are excluded from coverage as purely economic damages" such as "failure to pay amounts due and loss of income." Record Document 25 at 11. As this Court has determined that there was no "occurrence" under the Arch policy, this issue also need not be addressed.
Regarding the indemnity analysis, the court may take judicial notice of the jury verdict form in the state court record as a matter of public record. See Norris v. Hearst Trust,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GILCHRIST CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, LLC v. The TRAVELERS INDEMNITY COMPANY, Arch Insurance Company, Juanita Fontenot, and T. June Wilder
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published