Adams Tree Service, Inc. v. Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co.

573 P.2d 76, 117 Ariz. 385, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 768
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 7, 1977
Docket2 CA-CIV 2478
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 573 P.2d 76 (Adams Tree Service, Inc. v. Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams Tree Service, Inc. v. Hawaiian Insurance & Guaranty Co., 573 P.2d 76, 117 Ariz. 385, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 768 (Ark. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

RICHMOND, Judge.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of The Hawaiian Insurance and Guaranty Company, Ltd. (Hawaiian) and Employers Reinsurance Corporation (Employers) on the basis that comprehensive general liability insurance policies issued to Bill Breck Dodge, Inc. (Breck) did not afford coverage for damages previously awarded to Adams Tree Service, Inc. (Adams). We affirm.

The motion for summary judgment was submitted on the insurance policies and the pleadings, findings of fact and conclusions of law in the action brought by Adams against Breck for negligent modification of a truck that collapsed during use. 1 In the prior case the court had entered judgment against Breck in the amount of $99,956.33, including $73,956.33 for loss of use of the truck. 2 Hawaiian and Employers had refused to defend Breck, and Breck assigned its rights under the insurance policies to Adams.

Breck was engaged in the business of selling new motor vehicles and repairing, reconditioning and selling used motor vehicles. Following negotiations for the sale to Adams of a used Dodge tractor truck, Breck agreed to convert the tractor truck into a dump truck by cutting the chassis and placing a 24-inch extension into the basic frame members, and by installing a dump body. The court in the prior action concluded:

On or about August 22, 1969 [Breck] sold and delivered a 1967 Dodge CNT-900 ten wheel dump truck to [Adams], which was in a defective condition; prior thereto, [Breck] through its employees and agents, was negligent in the modification of the chassis of said 1967 Dodge truck and such negligence was the proximate cause of the said breakdown and damages suffered by [Adams]
[Breck] was negligent in failing to recognize that the original chassis on said 1967 Dodge truck was not of sufficient weight and strength to accommodate modification and that such negligence was a prox *387 imate cause of the breakdown and the damages suffered by [Adams].
[Breck] through its employees, was negligent in failing to adequately supervise and inspect the modification work to see that it was done in compliance with industry standards and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the breakdown and the damages suffered by [Adams].

Refusal of Hawaiian and Employers to defend Breck was based on policy exclusions applicable to products and completed operations hazards. Hawaiian’s 1966 revised standard comprehensive general liability policy provided:

“This insurance does not apply:
******
“(7) to property damage to the named insured’s products arising out of such products or any part of such products; “(m) to property damage to work performed by or on behalf of the named insured arising out of the work or any portion thereof, or out of materials, parts or equipment furnished in connection therewith;”

Exclusions in the Employers policy were identical in all material respects. 3 Both policies contained the following definitions:

“ ‘Damages’ includes . . . damages for loss of use of property resulting from property damage;
“ ‘Named insured’s products’ means goods or products manufactured, sold, handled or distributed by the named insured or by others trading under his name, including any container thereof (other than a vehicle), . . .;
“ ‘Property damage’ means injury to or destruction of tangible property.”

Hawaiian in its policy agreed to pay “on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of property damage to which this insurance applies, . . and ... to defend any suit against the insured seeking damages on account of such . . property damage.”

Employers’ obligation also is to indemnify “for damages because of . property damage to which this policy applies,” and “to defend any suit . . . seeking damages on account of such . . . property damage.”

Adams contends that exclusions (7) and (m) in the Hawaiian policy are not applicable to damage to the truck, because Breck’s product was the modified chassis, rather than the entire truck, and the work performed by Breck was modification of the chassis. It relies on a line of cases summarized in L. D. Schreiber Cheese Co. v. Standard Milk Co., 457 F.2d 962, at 965 (8th Cir., 1972):

“Some courts have been able to make a distinction in cases where an entity made by the insured is composed of components made either by the insured or another, and one of the component parts is defective and damages the entity. In such a case, these courts would allow recovery against the liability carrier for the entity less the cost of the defective component by construing the ‘out of which the accident arises’ exclusion as only applicable to the part or component that was defective.”

These cases include S. L. Rowland Construction Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 72 Wash.2d 682, 434 P.2d 725 (1967), fire damage to a home resulting from negligent placement of wooden floor joists in close proximity to a firebox; Owens Pacific Marine, Inc. v. Insurance Co. of North America, 12 Cal.App.3d 661, 90 Cal.Rptr. 826 (1970), destruction of a boat when a hot water heater exploded; Pittsburgh Bridge & Iron Works v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 444 F.2d 1286 (3rd Cir., 1971), damage to a tramway resulting from negligent construction of a saddle. At the very least, Adams *388 argues, the results reached in those cases create an ambiguity that must be resolved in favor of coverage. See Federal Insurance Co. v. P.A.T. Homes, Inc., 113 Ariz. 136, 547 P.2d 1050 (1976).

The trouble with Adams’s argument is that the cases on which it relies are construing a different exclusion, which recited that the policy does not apply:

“To injury to or destruction of any goods [or] products * * * manufactured, sold, handled or distributed * * * by the named insured, or work completed by or for the named insured, out of which the accident [or occurrence] arises.”

The significance of the variance in the exclusionary clauses has been explained by Dean Roger C. Henderson: 4

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Bluebook (online)
573 P.2d 76, 117 Ariz. 385, 1977 Ariz. App. LEXIS 768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-tree-service-inc-v-hawaiian-insurance-guaranty-co-arizctapp-1977.