Aetna Casualty & Surety Insurance v. McKennedy Bros.

6 Mass. L. Rptr. 91
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedSeptember 27, 1996
DocketNo. 952934F
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 91 (Aetna Casualty & Surety Insurance v. McKennedy Bros.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aetna Casualty & Surety Insurance v. McKennedy Bros., 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 91 (Mass. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Grasso, J.

Aetna Casualty and Surety Insurance Company (“Aetna”) brings this declaratory judgment action to determine its liability under an Employers Liability policy issued to the defendant (“McKennedy”). Aetna moves for summary judgment claiming that it has no duty to defend or indemnify McKennedy. For the reasons stated below, Aetna’s motion is ALLOWED.

BACKGROUND

The following facts, viewed in the light most favorable to McKennedy as the nonmoving party, are not in dispute. On August 9, 1991, Randall Blazonis (“Blazonis”), was injured at a construction site in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. At the time of the accident, McKennedy employed Blazonis to work at that location. D.G.R. was the general contractor on the project, McKennedy was a subcontractor, and Assurance Technology was the owner/custodian.

As a result of the Injuries he suffered, Blazonis filed a claim at the Industrial Accident Board against McKennedy. Benefits were ultimately paid by Aetna for that claim. Then, in 1994, Blazonis filed a complaint against D.G.R. and Assurance for injuries sustained in the accident. D.G.R. filed a third-party action against McKennedy based on an indemnification agreement between the parties, which called for indemnification for any and all claims arising out of the performance of the work. D.G.R. also included claims for common law indemnity and contribution between joint tortfeasors.2

The policy at issue in this case is a Worker’s Compensation and Employer’s Liability Policy (“policy”) issued by Aetna to McKennedy in 1990. One provision of the policy reads as follows:

Aetna will pay, where recovery is permitted by law, damages for which [McKennedy] is liable to a third party by reason of a claim or suit against you by that third party ... as a result of injury to your employee . . . provided that these damages are the direct consequence of bodily injury that arises out of and in the course of the injured employee’s employment by you.

The policy also includes an exclusion, which provides:

This insurance does not cover:

Liability assumed under a contract. This exclusion does not apply to a warranty that your work will be done in a workmanlike manner.

The central question in this action is the construction and applicability of the above-quoted provision and exclusion. Aetna argues that it need not provide coverage under this provision; and it has no duty to defend or indemnify McKennedy in the action by G.D.R.

DISCUSSION

This court grants summary judgment where there are no genuine issues of material fact and where the summary judgment record entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 419, 422 (1983); Community National Bank v. Dawes, 369 Mass. 550, 553 (1976); Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating the absence of a triable issue, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 16-17 (1989).

With respect to any claim on which the party moving for summary judgment does not have the burden of proof at trial, it may demonstrate the absence of a triable issue either by submitting affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the opponent’s case or “by demonstrating that proof of that element is unlikely to be forthcoming at trial.” Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991); accord, Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp. 410 Mass. 706, 716 (1991).

“If the moving party establishes the absence of a triable issue, the party opposing the motion must respond and allege specific facts which would establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in order to defeat a motion for summary judgment.” Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 16-17. The opposing party cannot rest on his or her pleadings and mere assertions of disputed facts to defeat the motion for summary judgment. LaLonde v. Eissner, 405 Mass. 207, 209 (1989).

A. Aetna’s Duty to Defend and Indemnify

It is well settled that an insurance company's duty to defend is broader than its duty to indemnify. Trustees of Tufts Univ. v. Commercial Union Ins., 415 Mass. 844, 847 [92]*92(1993); Boston Symphony Orchestra v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 406 Mass. 7, 12 (1989); Continental Casualty Co. v. Gilbane Bldg. Co., 391 Mass. 143, 146 (1984). In discerning when the duty to defend attaches a court looks to the complaint to see whether the allegations contained therein “state or adumbrate a claim covered by the policy terms.” Continental Casualty Co. v. Gilbane Bldg. Co., supra and cases cited.

Yet, even where a third-party complaint appears to supply a duty to defend, as in this case, the insurer may avoid that obligation by “demonstrating with conclusive effect on the third-party that as a matter of fact. .. the third-party cannot establish a claim within the insurance.” Sterilite Corp. v. Continental Casualty Co., 17 Mass.App.Ct. 316, 323 (1983). To that end, Aetna asserts that relative to the remaining claims for contractual indemnity and common law indemnity D.G.R. has no recourse to its worker’s compensation policy with McKennedy.

1. Contractual Indemnity

The relevant policy provision in this case allows recovery of damages for which McKennedy may become liable to a third-party relative to any suit by a McKennedy employee against that third-party. The policy does, however, contain an express exclusion for “liability assumed under contract.”

Here, the undisputed facts reveal that D.G.R. and McKennedy entered into an indemnity agreement whereby McKennedy would indemnily D.G.R. for any and all claims arising out of the performance of the contracted for work. Aetna argues that this indemnity agreement is exactly the type of “liability assumed under contract” contemplated by the exclusion. McKennedy counters that this agreement implicates the exception to the exclusion for a warranty that work will be done in a “workmanlike” manner. McKennedy’s argument is not persuasive. The agreement between the parties was a broad, general indemnification agreement, not simply one based on “workmanlike” performance.

McKennedy directs this court to Wolov v. Michaud. Bus Lines Inc. et al., 21 Mass.App.Ct. 60 (1985), in support of its contention that the exclusion for contractual agreements should not be given effect. However, the policy in Wolov was a “Comprehensive General Liability" policy. Id. at 62. This is significant because the underlying action in that case stemmed from the kidnapping of a child as he waited for the school bus. Id. at 61. His parents brought suit against the school bus company (“Michaud”), which then impleaded its insurer (“Royal Globe”). Id. at 61-62. Royal Globe claimed that because only a breach of contract claim survived summary judgment, they had no duty to defend pursuant to an exclusion for liability assumed by contract. Id. at 62-63.

In denying Royal Globe’s claim, the Wolov court noted that the contract exclusion probably referred to situations “very different from the transportation contract entered into between the school and Michaud.” Wolov, 21 Mass.App.Ct. at 63.

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Continental Casualty Co. v. Gilbane Building Co.
461 N.E.2d 209 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1984)
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545 N.E.2d 1156 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1989)
Community National Bank v. Dawes
340 N.E.2d 877 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1976)
Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp.
575 N.E.2d 734 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp.
575 N.E.2d 1107 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction
456 N.E.2d 1123 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
Trustees of Tufts University v. Commercial Union Insurance
616 N.E.2d 68 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1993)
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Wolov v. Michaud Bus Lines, Inc.
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Bluebook (online)
6 Mass. L. Rptr. 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aetna-casualty-surety-insurance-v-mckennedy-bros-masssuperct-1996.