Vasilli Katopothis v. Windsor-Mount Joy Mutual Insu
Opinion
Vasilli Katopothis and Francesca Dahlgren (the "Dahlgrens") own a beach home that flooded in a plumbing accident while they were away. They sued their insurance company for breach of contract when it refused to cover the damage. They also sued their cleaning-and-restoration company for failing to adequately remedy the damage and prevent mold. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company based on the plain language of the Dahlgrens' insurance policy and transferred the claims against the cleaning-and-restoration company to the district court in Delaware for lack of personal jurisdiction. We affirm both the grant of summary judgment and the transfer of the claims.
I
A
In May 2000, the Dahlgrens, who reside in the District of Columbia, purchased a beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where they spend most of their weekends. At all times relevant to this litigation, the house was a second residence and remained fully furnished with the accessories of daily life, such as furniture, clothes, food, toiletries, and medicine. When not at their beach home, the Dahlgrens routinely left the heat on to prevent the pipes from freezing and asked a friend to check on the house and retrieve the mail. They did not, however, shut off the water supply.
In February 2013, Ms. Dahlgren returned to the beach home to find two inches of standing water throughout the main level and additional water "gushing" from the ceiling overhead. The Dahlgrens had been away for ten days, and, in their absence, a pressurized hot water pipe in the upstairs bathroom had separated at the joint and flooded the house.
The Dahlgrens notified their insurance company, Windsor-Mount Joy Mutual Insurance Co. ("Windsor-Mount"), about the flooding. They also contracted with R.W. Home Services, Inc., doing business as Gale Force Cleaning and Restoration ("Gale Force"), to remedy the damage and prevent mold. According to the Dahlgrens, Gale Force was negligent in its clean-up effort and mold spread through the house, so the Dahlgrens eventually decided to tear it down and build a new one.
The Dahlgrens timely filed an insurance claim with Windsor-Mount to cover the damage from the accident. The insurance company denied the claim because, while they were away, the Dahlgrens had failed to shut off the water where it entered the house.
B
The Dahlgrens sued Windsor-Mount for breach of contract. They filed suit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, but Windsor-Mount invoked federal diversity jurisdiction and removed the case to the district court.
See
The district court determined that the Dahlgrens could not recover under the clear terms of their insurance policy and granted summary judgment against them on that issue.
See
Katopothis v. Windsor-Mount Joy Mut. Ins. Co.
,
Concluding the Dahlgrens did not allege sufficient contacts between Gale Force and the District of Columbia to establish personal jurisdiction, the district court also transferred the Dahlgrens' claims against Gale Force to the district court in Delaware, where they have been stayed pending the outcome of this litigation.
Katopothis
,
Circuit Judge Kavanaugh was a member of the panel at the time the case was submitted but did not participate in this opinion.
The Dahlgrens appeal, arguing the district court misconstrued their insurance policy under Delaware law and erroneously transferred the claims against Gale Force. We uphold the district court on both issues. And because we conclude the Dahlgrens' claim against Windsor-Mount fails under Delaware law, and the Dahlgrens do not appeal the judgment of the district court with regard to District of Columbia law, we do not need to consider the choice-of-law analysis further.
See
USA Waste of Md.
,
II
The district court had diversity subject-matter jurisdiction over this case pursuant to
III
A
The Dahlgrens' homeowners insurance policy is a twenty-seven page standard contract produced by the American Association of Insurance Services. It provides coverage for damage to both real and personal property resulting from accidental discharge or leakage from the plumbing, subject to specific exclusions. The cover page of the policy also lists a number of endorsements included with the standard contract to amend the terms of coverage. ML-508D is one of those endorsements.
ML-508D was approved by the Delaware Insurance Commissioner and printed on a blue sheet of paper to stand out from the rest of the policy.
It reads in full:
ADDITIONAL EXCLUSIONS FOR UNOCCUPIED RESIDENCES
In addition to exclusions found elsewhere in your policy, if the insured residence is vacant, unoccupied (meaning an absence in excess of 72 hours), or under construction and unoccupied, the insured must:
a. Maintain heat in the residence and shut off the water supply where it enters the residence. If the residence is heated by a hot water system, the water supply to the heating system must be maintained and the water supply to the rest of the residence must be shut off.
OR
b. Shut off the water supply where it enters the residence and completely empty liquids from any plumbing, heating, air conditioning system, water heater, or domestic appliance.
If this is not done, we do not pay for loss caused by freezing of or discharge, leakage, or overflow from any plumbing, heating, or air conditioning system or any appliance or other equipment attached to it.
In other words, when the house remains unoccupied for more than 72 hours, the homeowner must either leave the heat on and shut off the water where it enters the house or shut off the water where it enters the house and drain any remaining liquid from the plumbing. Otherwise, ML-508D voids coverage for any damage caused by plumbing discharge, leakage, or overflow.
B
According to Delaware law, "[W]here the language in insurance contracts is unambiguous, the language is given its plain and ordinary meaning."
Bermel v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co.
,
The Dahlgrens cannot recover under the clear and unambiguous terms of their insurance policy. If their house remained unoccupied "in excess of 72 hours," the Dahlgrens were required to "[m]aintain heat in the residence and shut off the water supply where it enters the residence," or else the plain language of ML-508D excludes coverage for "loss caused by ... discharge, leakage, or overflow from any plumbing ... system." There is no dispute the Dahlgrens were away from their beach home for ten days and failed to shut off the water supply where it entered the house. There is no question that the damage for which they now seek coverage was caused by flooding from the plumbing. It is a plain and simple matter that they cannot recover from Windsor-Mount for their loss.
Nevertheless, the Dahlgrens offer several arguments for why we should disregard the straightforward application of ML-508D and grant them relief. None are persuasive.
The Dahlgrens first argue that the policy extends coverage to real and personal property for damage that results from plumbing accidents. They contend that this coverage cannot be limited by a subsequent endorsement because doing so would create conflicting contract terms or render the policy ambiguous.
We disagree. By definition, endorsements amend the terms of an insurance policy.
See
Endorsement,
Black's Law Dictionary
(10th ed. 2014) ("An amendment to an insurance policy; a rider."). That's their very purpose. A policy is not ambiguous or contradictory just because an endorsement amends its provisions.
See
Intel Corp. v. Am. Guarantee & Liab. Ins. Co.
,
The Dahlgrens also assert that the provisions in their policy extending coverage to real and personal property refer only to two sets of exclusions, neither of which include ML-508D. They reason that this means ML-508D does not apply to real or personal property coverage. At the very least, the Dahlgrens contend, it isn't clear that ML-508D applies.
This argument ignores that ML-508D is titled " Additional Exclusions for Unoccupied Residences" (emphasis added) and is listed on the cover page of the policy with other endorsements that amend the terms of the contract. It does not matter that other exclusions also apply to the Dahlgrens' house because ML-508D operates in addition to whatever other exclusions exist. By its terms, ML-508D expressly forecloses recovery for all loss associated with plumbing accidents, including damage to real and personal property, unless certain requirements are met.
Next, the Dahlgrens claim their beach home was "neither vacant nor unoccupied in any conventional sense" because it remained furnished with the accessories of daily life. Dahlgrens Br. 14. In the alternative, they assert the terms "vacant" and "unoccupied" in ML-508D are ambiguous. Either way, they explain, ML-508D should not apply to their situation.
The policy, however, leaves no doubt what "unoccupied" means. ML-508D explicitly defines "unoccupied" as "an absence in excess of 72 hours." We agree with the district court that this "can only be reasonably read to refer to the absence of people."
Katopothis
,
The Dahlgrens did ask a friend to periodically check on the house and retrieve the mail while they were away, and the parties dispute whether such neighborliness was enough to "occupy" the house under the policy. Like the district court, we need not resolve this question because the good neighbor had not been to the house in six days when Ms. Dahlgren discovered the flooding.
See
Katopothis
,
In any event, the Dahlgrens urge us to adopt the approach of the Supreme Court of Delaware and "look to the reasonable expectations of the insured," not just when a policy is ambiguous, but also "if the policy contains a hidden trap or pitfall, or if the fine print takes away that which has been given by the large print."
Hallowell v. State Farm Mut. Ins. Co.
,
We see nothing hidden or deceptive about ML-508D. It was written in plain language and listed on the cover page of the insurance policy as an applicable endorsement. And, to further draw attention to its terms, the endorsement was printed on blue paper to stand out from the rest of the policy. Windsor-Mount in no way disguised the endorsement or the conditions it imposed on coverage.
Nor is there anything surprising about endorsements like ML-508D. They are designed to prevent extensive damage from plumbing accidents that might otherwise be avoided with early detection or simple preventative measures.
Cf., e.g.
,
Windsor-Mount
,
The Dahlgrens essentially ask us to "destroy or twist policy language under the guise of construing it."
O'Brien
,
Finally, the Dahlgrens argue ML-508D is simply "ineffective" because it was printed below a notice that Windsor-Mount did not file with the Delaware Insurance Commissioner. Dahlgrens Br. 34; cf. 18 Del. Code § 2712 (requiring insurers to file insurance forms with the Delaware Insurance Commissioner). The Dahlgrens insist that the presence of unapproved language on the same page, even separate from ML-508D, voids the endorsement.
To the extent this argument has any merit, we would still apply ML-508D in this case because the endorsement is "unambiguous and not contrary to public policy" so "there is little basis for invalidating it."
Hercules, Inc. v. AIU Ins. Co.
,
While the Dahlgrens suggest yet other reasons why they should prevail, they forfeited those arguments when they failed to raise them in the district court.
See, e.g.
,
Zevallos v. Obama
,
C
The Dahlgrens fault the district court further for concluding it lacked personal jurisdiction over Gale Force and transferring any related claims to the district court in Delaware. The Dahlgrens introduce this issue in their opening brief with a section heading that asserts Gale Force has "contacts" with the District of Columbia, although the Dahlgrens make no effort to explain what those contacts are. Dahlgrens Br. 34. They then state in a single, vague, and unsupported sentence that the district court's decision to transfer the claims against Gale Force was "inextricable" from its decision to grant summary judgement to Windsor-Mount and should be reversed.
IV
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.
So ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Vasilli KATOPOTHIS and Francesca Dahlgren, Appellants, v. WINDSOR-MOUNT JOY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. and R.W. Home Services, Inc., Doing Business as Gale Force Cleaning and Restoration, Appellees.
- Status
- Published