American Family Mutual Insurance v. Teamcorp., Inc.

659 F. Supp. 2d 1115, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87173
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 22, 2009
Docket1:07-cr-00200
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 659 F. Supp. 2d 1115 (American Family Mutual Insurance v. Teamcorp., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Family Mutual Insurance v. Teamcorp., Inc., 659 F. Supp. 2d 1115, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87173 (D. Colo. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER ON SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS

WILEY Y. DANIEL, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Revised Pursuant to February 10, 2009 Order, 2009 WL 321679 (Doc. # 165)), Defendants Teamcorp. Inc. d/b/a Laconia Homes/Draft-Tek and Kerry Karnan’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Regarding Plaintiffs Duty to Defend, and the Hubbells’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment Re: American Family’s Duty to Defend Teamcorp, Inc. and Karnan. The motions relate to whether Plaintiff has a duty to defend Defendants under a Commercial General Liability [“CGL”] policy in connection with an underlying action filed by Platt and Kelley Hubbell [the “Hubbells”] against the Defendants.

II. BACKGROUND

This is an anticipatory declaratory judgment action by American Family Mutual Insurance Company [“AmFam”] seeking a declaration of the parties’ rights under the CGL policy issued by AmFam to “Laconia Homes, Inc.” and later by endorsement to “Teamcorp., Inc. d/b/a Laconia Home and Drafttech [sic]”. The Amended Complaint asserts claims for declaratory judgment of *1119 no coverage, recovery of defense costs incurred in defending Teamcorp, Inc. [“Teamcorp”] in an Amended Third-Party Complaint filed by the Hubbells, and a declaration that Thane Lincicome [“Lincicome”] was not an insured person under the AmFam policies issued to Teamcorp.

In the underlying Third-Party Complaint the Hubbells have asserted certain claims for relief against Teamcorp, Lincicome and Kerry Karnan [“Karnan”] [collectively, “the Teamcorp Defendants”] in a liability suit pending in this Court before Judge Arguello, Case No. 05-cv-00026-CMA-KLM, entitled Alpine Bank v. Platt T. Hubbell, et al. v. Carney Brothers Construction, et al. [hereinafter “the underlying action”]. The issues have not been resolved in that case, and AmFam is defending Teamcorp and Karnan in the case under a reservation of rights.

Judge Figa, who previously resided over this case, ruled in an Order dated October 16, 2007, 2007 WL 3024446, that this anticipatory declaratory judgment action can be pursued by AmFam in connection with the duty to defend. Accordingly, he declined to stay this portion of the case. Such an action appears to be appropriate for the reasons stated by Judge Figa and because (1) AmFam “asserts in good faith that its contract of insurance, as a matter of law, does not afford a duty to defend the Teamcorp Defendants in the underlying tort action, whom AmFam has undertaken to defend while the anticipatory declaratory judgment action is being resolved; and (2) the persons affected by resolution of coverage questions are parties to the underlying action and to the anticipatory declaratory judgment action.” See Progressive Cas. Ins. Co. v. Herring, 22 P.3d 66, 67-68 (Colo.2001). Thus, to the extent the TeamCorp Defendants argue in their motion for partial summary judgment that the appropriate course of action is for AmFam to seek a declaratory judgment after the underlying action has been adjudicated and that this anticipatory suit is improper, these arguments are denied.

I note that the summary judgment motions at issue were filed after previous motions were stricken by me by Order of February 10, 2009, because they improperly cited to and/or addressed extrinsic evidence in violation of the “four-corners” rule (also referred to as the complaint rule) for determining the duty to defend. Under that rule, the duty to defend focuses on an examination of the allegations in the complaint, not by looking to facts beyond the allegations of the complaint. See Compass Ins. Co. v. City of Littleton, 984 P.2d 606, 621 (Colo.1999); Gen. Security Indem. Co. v. Mountain States Mut. Cas., 205 P.3d 529, 532 (Colo.Ct.App.2009); see also Order of February 10, 2009, at 5-6.

III. FACTS

Turning to the complaint allegations, the underlying suit for which Teamcorp and Karnan seek coverage is the Amended Third-Party Complaint filed by the Hub-bells against Teamcorp, Karnan and others in the underlying case before Judge Arguello, which Complaint is attached as Exhibit 1 to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment. The original Third-Party Complaint was filed June 11, 2005, and an Amended Third-Party Complaint is now the operative compliant in the action.

The Amended Third-Party Complaint contains the following allegations:

(a) Teamcorp, Inc. d/b/a Draft-Tek is a Colorado corporation that was at all relevant times duly authorized to conduct business in the State of Colorado. (Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. 1,¶5.)
(b) “In January 2003 the Hubbells entered into a contract with [Carney Brothers Construction or “CBC”] to *1120 construct a single family home of approximately 6,000 square feet along with a 3,100 square foot garage and apartment” (the subject property). (Id., ¶ 11.)
(c) CBC, the contractor, recommended that the Hubbells hire Draft-Tek to complete the plans and specifications for the project, and the Hubbells did so. “The Hubbells relied on CBC’s recommendations” to hire DraftTek. (Id., ¶ 14.)
(d) “Draft Tek is not a licensed architect, and none of its principals during the relevant time were licensed architects.” (Id., ¶ 16.) “Kerry Karnan, the principal of Draft-Tek who participated in the design of Hubbells’ home, is not a licensed engineer.” (Id., ¶ 17.)
(e) Draft-Tek hired Lincicome, a licensed professional engineer, to perform and/or approve the structural specifications for the residence. Lincicome reviewed and approved such specifications and affixed his official stamp on the construction plans tendered to the Hubbells and CBC. (Id., ¶ 18).
(f) Lincicome normally reviews drawings prepared by others who work at Draft-Tek, but does not normally perform structural design for DraftTek. (Id., ¶ 19.) Prior to designing the Hubbells’ home, Lincicome had never designed or reviewed the structural design of a building as complex as the Project. (Id., ¶ 20.)
(g) Draft-Tek has no full time employees that are licensed engineers. (Id., ¶ 21.)
(h) Draft-Tek and Karnan did not perform an adequate investigation to determine whether Lincicome was qualified to perform or review the structural design of the Project. (Id., ¶ 22.)
(i) “Construction of the Project began in and around May 2003.” (Id., ¶24.)
(j) “Prior to the start of construction, CBC represented to the Hubbells that all necessary building permits had been obtained.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

DP Creations v. Li
D. Utah, 2022
Rockhill Ins. Co. v. CFI-Global Fisheries Mgmt.
322 F. Supp. 3d 1110 (D. Colorado, 2018)
Auto-Owners Insurance Co. v. High Country Coatings, Inc.
261 F. Supp. 3d 1129 (D. Colorado, 2017)
AMCO Insurance v. Carpet Direct Corp.
157 F. Supp. 3d 1018 (D. Colorado, 2016)
American Family Mutual Insurance v. Teamcorp, Inc.
835 F. Supp. 2d 1083 (D. Colorado, 2011)
American Insurance v. Crown Packaging International
813 F. Supp. 2d 1027 (N.D. Indiana, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
659 F. Supp. 2d 1115, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-family-mutual-insurance-v-teamcorp-inc-cod-2009.