American Ref-Fuel Co. v. Resource Recycling, Inc.

248 A.D.2d 420, 671 N.Y.S.2d 93, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2343
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 9, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 248 A.D.2d 420 (American Ref-Fuel Co. v. Resource Recycling, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Ref-Fuel Co. v. Resource Recycling, Inc., 248 A.D.2d 420, 671 N.Y.S.2d 93, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2343 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

—In an action, inter alia, for a judgment declaring that the defendants have a duty to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in an underlying personal injury action entitled Risk v American Ref-Fuel Co., pending in the Supreme Court, Nassau County, (1) the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering appeals, as limited by its brief, from (a) so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Feuerstein, J.), dated October 22, 1996, as (i) granted that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was for summary judgment on the complaint insofar as asserted against it, and (ii) granted the cross motion of the defendants Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company and Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company for summary judgment, and (b) so much of a judgment of the same court, entered May 30, 1997, as (i) declared [421]*421that it is required to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in the underlying action, (ii) severed the cross claims between it and the defendants Jack O.A. Nelsen Agency and Donald Miller, and (iii) declared that the defendants Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company and Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company were not required to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in the underlying action; (2) the plaintiff cross-appeals, as limited by its notice of appeal and brief, from (a) so much of the order dated October 22, 1996, as (i) granted the cross motions of the defendants Home Insurance Company of Illinois and Home Insurance Company for summary judgment, and (ii) granted the cross motions of the defendants Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company and Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company for summary judgment, and (b) so much of the judgment entered May 30, 1997, as (i) declared that the defendants Home Insurance Company of Illinois and Home Insurance Company are not required to defend and indemnify it in the underlying action, and (ii) declared that the defendants Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company and Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company are not required to defend and indemnify it in the underlying action; (3) the defendants Jack O.A. Nelsen Agency and Donald Miller cross-appeal, as limited by their notices of appeal and brief, from stated portions of the order dated October 22, 1996, and the judgment entered May 30, 1997; and (4) the defendants Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company of Illinois and the Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company cross-appeal, as limited by their brief, from stated portions of the order dated October 22, 1996, and the judgment entered May 30, 1997. The notice of appeal of the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering from the order dated October 22, 1996, is deemed to be a notice of appeal from the judgment entered May 30, 1997 (see, CPLR 5501 [c]).

Ordered that the cross appeals by the defendants Jack O.A. Nelsen Agency, Donald Miller, Minnesota Fire & Casualty Company, and Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company from the order dated October 22, 1996, and judgment entered May 30, 1997, are dismissed, without costs or disbursements, as those defendants are not aggrieved by the portions of the order and judgment cross-appealed from (see, CPLR 5511); and it is further,

Ordered that the appeal by the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering and the cross appeal by the plaintiff from the order are dismissed, without costs or disbursements; and it is further,

Ordered that the judgment is modified, on the law, by (1) [422]*422deleting the first decretal paragraph thereof which declared that the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering is required to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in the underlying action and substituting therefor a decretal paragraph granting the plaintiff summary judgment against Universal Welding & Engineering on its claim to recover damages for breach of contract, and (2) deleting the third decretal paragraph, which declared that the defendants Home Insurance Company of Illinois and Home Insurance Company are not required to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in the underlying action and dismissed the complaint as against them and substituting therefor a decretal paragraph declaring that the defendants Home Insurance Company of Illinois and Home Insurance Company are required to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in the underlying action; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from by the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering and cross-appealed from by the plaintiff, without costs or disbursements.

The appeal by the defendant Universal Welding & Engineering and the cross appeal by the plaintiff from the intermediate order must be dismissed because the right of direct appeal therefrom terminated with the entry of judgment in the action (see, Matter of Aho, 39 NY2d 241, 248). The issues raised on that appeal and cross appeal from the order are brought up for review and have been considered on the appeal and cross appeal from the judgment (CPLR 5501 [a] [1]).

The plaintiff American Ref-Fuel Company of Hempstead entered into a contract with Resource Recycling, Inc. (hereinafter Resource), by which the latter would provide a ferrous recovery system at the plaintiff’s recycling plant. Resource, in turn, hired Universal Welding & Engineering (hereinafter Universal), to install the ferrous recovery system.

Pursuant to the contract, Resource obtained a general liability policy from Home Insurance Company of Illinois, a subsidiary of Home Insurance Company (hereinafter collectively Home), naming the plaintiff as an additional insured. The contract between Resource and Universal required that Universal also obtain a general liability policy naming the plaintiff as an additional insured. Universal asked its insurance broker, Donald Miller of the Jack O.A. Nelsen Agency (hereinafter collectively Nelsen Agency), to add the plaintiff as an additional insured to its policies with Minnesota Fire & Casualty, a subsidiary of Minnesota Mutual Insurance Company (hereinafter collectively Minnesota). Nelsen Agency issued a certificate of insurance naming the plaintiff as an additional insured on the [423]*423Minnesota policies. Upon receiving this certificate, the plaintiff permitted Universal to proceed with its performance under the subcontract.

On February 22, 1994, Randall Riek, a Universal employee working at the plaintiff’s recycling plaint, fell from a catwalk. Riek subsequently commenced an action against the plaintiff in the Supreme Court, Nassau County. Thereafter, the plaintiff demanded that Home and Minnesota defend and indemnify it in the underlying action. Home refused, contending that the Minnesota coverage was primary to its coverage. Minnesota also refused, asserting that the plaintiff had never been named as an additional insured on the policies.

Thereafter, the plaintiff commenced the instant action seeking a declaration that Home and Minnesota were obligated to defend and indemnify it in the underlying action. In the alternative, the plaintiff sought to recover damages from Resource and Universal for breach of their contractual obligation to obtain insurance coverage for the benefit of the plaintiff. The plaintiff also sought to recover damages from Nelsen Agency for its failure to procure the insurance requested by Universal.

In this case, the certificate of insurance recited that it was “a matter of information only and confer [red] no rights upon” the plaintiff. Such a certificate is insufficient, by itself, to establish that the plaintiff was insured by Minnesota (see, McGill v Polytechnic Univ., 235 AD2d 400, 402). The Minnesota policies conclusively establish that the plaintiff was never named as an additional insured.

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Bluebook (online)
248 A.D.2d 420, 671 N.Y.S.2d 93, 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-ref-fuel-co-v-resource-recycling-inc-nyappdiv-1998.